Island loop

Distance 38.3km [total: minimalist 136.5km: Barefoot 1166.7km] Week 12


Tuesday, 22-Mar. 7.7km
A day off work always feels good, this one was because I had put an effort in to get a job out on time they gave me a 'free' day that doesn't come off my holiday time, very nice.
The weather was a bit changeable today but I managed to get out for a run before the rain came in. Tomorrow is going to be wetter again so choosing today as my free day was probably fortunate.
As a change I decided to have a run around the lake at West Lakes. The last time I did this was a couple of weeks leading up to Christmas as a bit of training run for my race on Christmas day.
That training run didn't go all that well, I ended up with sore feet and ankle.
This time it was no problem. I extended the run out by adding some extra distance on at the top end of the lake I covered a distance (Google measured so its probably more than this) of 7.7km in a time of 45:05m or 5:51m/km average heart rate 137bpm.
I got one comment from a runner going the other way asking if my feet were ok, 'Fine' I replied, I could have been clever and came out with 'what! I've forgotten my shoes, oh dear' but be nice I told myself.

Thursday, 24-Mar. 8km
the weather has been very wintery this week, wet and blowing wind, very unusual for March, more so in that Perth, some 2000km to the west is enduring a drought and has had a few months of temperatures above 30C now.
In Adelaide the weather is like Perth but 3 days later, not now it seems. We are stuck in cold weather patterns.
I covered 8km on Thursday evening 4km on road and 4km on beach. I put in a good effort on the road as I gave chase to a fellow runner but didn't catch her in the end , I had to run a slightly less direct course to stay on the paved surface as the road was very rough in places.
The tide was high on the beach section of the run and I could see more erosion of the sand dunes due to the stormy weather through the week. All the sand manipulation and drift fencing put up by the council will not stop the ocean going where it wants to.

Saturday, 26-Mar. 12km
I ran a shorter distance today, only 12km as I was due to meet a friend of mine after the run so that he could film my running style with his camera to make sure that I have the right form.
The sand was cold today and my feet were numb after the first kilometre. How the hell do you warm your feet up. I must admit I do not like running with cold feet.
On the way back I was running into the cold southerly wind so to conserve my energy I kept my steps short and quick and before I knew it I was back.
I met up with my friend at 9.30am and went back to the beach to do a few runs up and down on the sand to see if my feet were landing under or in front of my body. I will have to slow the video down to really get a good idea of what is going on. I shall post in once I have it edited.

Sunday, 27-Mar. 10.6km
Just started reading the book Slow Burn, lent to me by a friend who said it was well worth a read. I always devour books on running and so I am about a quarter of the way through so far.
One thing I have picked up on is that you should not pressure yourself on every run to beat previous times, instead enjoy the art of running, look around you, observe the scenery, the sounds and smells. If you make the experience enjoyable you will be eager to get out and do it again.

For todays run I decided to run around the lake at West Lakes again, take it easy, relax and enjoy. It definitely works, it becomes like an exploration adventure. I increased the distance from what I ran the previous time around the from 7.7km to 10.5km by doing a loop of Delfin Island, a man made island full of snazzy homes in a man made lake.
It was nice and quiet running around the roads, people mainly drive, not many walk these days.

A triathlon was under-way around the south part of the lake, quite a large gathering by the look of it. I got to run alongside the runners on their run leg of the race, that must have brought them some amusement. I passed one or two before I peeled off and made my way back to the car.
That was a nice easy 10km and it took me around 61minutes, a good fat burning pace.

sn't it amazing how ruthlessly efficient the body is when it comes to allocating resources.
What do I mean by that, well, let me explain.
Over the past 2-3 weeks I have stepped up my running as the weather had been just right, at the same time I have been doing less gym workouts, after all it is nicer to be out in the open air rather than in a sweaty gym with steroid taking blokes grunting over weights.
When I get back to the gym (it's not been a complete break just less times per week) I find that I can hardly lift anything, or rather my weights are 30% below what I was lifting a month ago. It seems that my body has said 'umm, we don't need all this muscle in the arms, chest and shoulders to run so lets remove it and put it into the legs that seem to be being used'. So while my running has been improving my gym work has been going backward, my arms have shrunk back and strength evaporated. When I weighed myself at one point during the week I found my weight had slipped momentarily below 70kg (a year ago my weight was 77kg) wow, just from running.
Isn't that easy, no expensive trainers, diets or any other weird and wonderful things, just putting one foot in front of the other.

Neil