Tired feet

Distance 28.5km [total: minimalist 132km: Barefoot 861.9km] Week 3

Monday, 10-Jan
Well in a few days I go from great form, good distances to feeling tired and having sore feet, what went wrong?
Well the only difference between this week and last week is now I'm back at work.
It started on Monday, the first day.
I drive to work, get out of the car, twisting as I get out with my bag and I manage to jar my knee.
It doesn't help that my car, an old Honda Civic is pretty low to the ground, unlike modern cars which have a much elevated driving position.
I limp into work and fire up my computer and within 2 hours I've developed back ache from sitting in the same position for too long.
I took some pain killers for the back but still decided not to run or go to the gym during the evening.
I decided to walk to the shops (barefoot) as I needed a few groceries. It had been a warm day of over 30C but it was cooling down slightly now. The footpath was warm but not raging hot like during the middle of the day.
I did a brisk walk 1.5km to the shops the 1.5km back, my feet feel a bit sore at the end and on examination I find I have managed to rub up a blister on each foot, damn! So walking is not as safe as running.

Tuesday, 11-Jan
Not much time to run tonight so I did some Pose drills on the field. I felt rusty and it just didn't feel right during the runs in between the drills.
I felt slow, I felt my timing was out and that I may even have been landing incorrectly. Not happy.

Wednesday, 12-Jan. 7km
A beach run today, or rather, a half road/beach run. So here I am at the beach and I don't like running on top of new blisters but I persevere, landing as gently as I can.
I didn't make them any worse. I ran back along the beach but I felt sluggish, lacking in energy.
The only conclusion I can draw is that I need more sleep. While on holiday I would have been getting around 8.5 hours sleep, now, back at work that drops to 7 hours. Could it be that the extra 1.5 hours makes a difference?

Friday, 14-Jan. 7km 
At last a good running day, felt good today, got the groove back, the timing is good.

I did the road section first as I have been doing recently to make sure I get equal time on soft and hard surfaces.

When running barefoot on pavements it is always good to be at your most conservative and cautious when starting the run, my first km is always a slow easy warm up.

At the end of 1km my legs know how much they should be bent and my feet are familiar with the surface.

What they were telling me this evening was the the surface was bloody hot. I ran alongside any shade giving walls I could find, I was constantly aware if there was any change in the temperature and if it was becoming dangerously damaging to my feet.

I reached the Henley Hotel where the pavement changes sides of the road. On the side I was on I had a nice 'cool' concrete, the other side had much hotter paving stones.

I crossed the road and that was hotter still, I had to sprint at high speed as it felt like around 50C.

The paved section was hot also but I found by running on the outer set of of stones they were just slightly cooler as they were neighbours to the grass verge.

I was looking forward to the cool of the sandy beach.

The beach run was good, my feet felt a little cooked by now and a bit tender. I had a nice soak in the water when I arrived back at Grange Jetty.

Saturday, 15-Jan. 14.5km

Got to the beach by 8.30am, nice and cool, 22C. Once again it took me a while to wake my legs and feet up, there were a few aches but they soon disappeared after 2km and I settled into a steady running groove, trying to stay focused on the present so I didn't lose track of my form.

I made it to Semaphore jetty is a slightly faster time than I did last time , only by around 30s which is not really significant.

After a brief rest at the jetty I came off the beach to run along a bitumen walkway alongside the beach to see if some of my relatives were there on their early morning training session.

I didn't see them, maybe the class hasn't resumed yet due to people being on holiday.

I then moved back onto the beach for the 6km section back to Grange jetty.

I did another 4km and I could feel my energy levels diminishing like a rechargeable battery just before it pack up.

My feet were also hurting now, the blisters were puffing up. I ran in the water to cool my feet off but this probably softened the skin and made them more sensitive.

I walked the last 2km back feeling exhausted, I should eat more before setting out on a longer run.

The hardest part was then getting off the beach. My feet were very tender now and the soft sand that was well trodden on the path off the beach was too much. I hobbled off the beach very slowly using the side of my foot.

I thought maybe the blisters had torn open, I washed the sand off my feet and found that the blistered area was still intact but the blisters were more extensive now and I had on on my right big toe.

I think this is telling me to rest my feet for a few days. Learn the lessons. Walking barefoot is harder than running (on hot hard surfaces.

Left foot blistering

Right Foot Blistering - much more extensive

Neil