I move slow and steady

I've had to temporarily abandon my transition to minimalist running due to what could be plantar fasciitis or what I generally class as a bloody sore foot! The facts are this. I'm too fat and my running style too inefficient to carry on in those shoes to be able to run a half marathon in what is only around 8 weeks time around Maas.

Today, I reverted back to the old faithful's that got me through the Berlin Marathon. You know, the ones that made my toes go numb for 4-6 weeks!! Brilliant. Quite frankly though, I needed to get some k's back into the legs. I know I can get through the 3 days of cycling on our trip to Belgium but I needed to prove to myself that I can run more the 7km without dying. I can!

I left this morning with the words 'I don't know where I'm going and I hope to be back sometime between 35 mins and an hour' depending on how it was going. Well it went OK. As per the Of Monsters & Men inspired blog post title, it wasn't quick but 12.3km completed in 1hr 6mins.

What made it better was some good coffee when I got home. Now rather embarrassingly, I cannot remember for the life of me, who sent it to me but I can vouch that it is bloody tasty despite having quite frankly, the most bizarre packaging. What has a picture of a pouting/angry women and a fake monkey got to do with coffee. Any who, it's called Bounce or Aroma, I think. Who knows.... However, as I said, really, really tasty and highly recommended. So much so, I'm off to make another pot!

Running with sugar

Now the pins and needles have finally died down after the Berlin Marathon (it took 3 and a half weeks!!), I finally got to go out for a run a couple of weeks ago which was bloody lovely I can tell you. You know how long I had to run? As long as I wanted! You know what pace I had to run at? Whatever I liked! The horrendous monotony of the training schedule is done. Bring on enjoying my running again!!

Although being me, I need something to focus on. If I don't have it, I tend to let me training slip and get fat(er) and lazy(er). So, what to do. After plenty of aches and pains in knees and hips etc during the training, I've decided to pick up with my barefoot running again. It's something I looked at very briefly in the summer after seeing eatingtrees convert and enjoy it but then there was no way I could train my body to run differently that quickly so I quickly cast it aside.

I now have the time to learn again and the best thing about learning from scratch is that I'm going to teach myself to run quicker too. Just lace up the shoes, step outside and run as fast as I feel I can for a set distance. That distance is currently 2km. I want to run that in 9:00. 4:30 km pace. Once I do that, I'll add half a km to the route until I achieve that pace for the longer distance and so on and so forth until I hit the 10km or HM. That's the plan anyway. I have no idea whether this plan will work and whether there's any science to back it up but I have a logical argument in my head and I'm sticking with it. It is going OK. My first attempt came in at 9:04 when I hadn't run for 3 and a half weeks and the second attempt was 9:07 when snotty and wheezing like a good 'un.

During that time I also had a lovely run with a friend who I've hardly ever run with which was a pleasant 10k around a lovely undulating route although I had to revert back to the old trainers and style which I could feel the difference instantly. The barefoot, although only shorter distances so far, feels more springy and bouncy which is good.

Having, last night, finished 'Running with the Kenyans' by Adharanand Finn, it bought my new plans into context and made a reasonable amount of sense. Recommended by @LongJogRoz on twitter, whether you're for or against barefoot running, it really is a good read. Mind you, I really could do with losing a stone in weight to really feel the benefit and I will attempt to lose some but quite frankly, I have the Christmas season coming which is never useful as well as a baby due in December which will set new standards in lack of sleep, lack of exercise and too many biscuits! This I'm confident of BUT I do know that to get quicker, I need to stop carrying the equivalent of 6 and a bit bags of sugar tied round my waste. Shit! Really?? That's mental. 1 stone equals 6.35kg. No wonder I'm slower than last year!! That's depressing, I'm off to have some sweet Pumpkin Tart to cheer myself up!

Golf balls and barefoot

8:47am on Monday morning and I'm sitting at my desk rolling a golf ball under my arch to stretch the tendons/muscles/stuff (I don't actually know what's down there) as I've heard it's the right thing to do. Calves and arches. Thems the things to stretch too make sure they're in good condition when you start running 'barefoot'. Or minimalist as I'll call it.

I blame 2 people for this foray into minimalist running, eatingtrees and New Balance. eatingtrees as he's been doing it a couple of years, raves about it and I've seen the improvements in his times and New Balance as the replacement for the faithful 1063's and 1064's that I've worn since day dot, was the the 1080 and quite frankly, it feels like you're running on pillows and last time I checked, running on pillows wasn't very efficient!

Not very efficient

Efficiency... I guess that's what I'm looking for with this new direction. Less wasted energy. A way of running that gives me the ability to run the same distance with less energy used and less impact on the legs and knees.

Slightly more efficient

Now the science of 'minimalist' running is a bit woolly to stay the least. It seems there are as many advocates as there are detractors and the old saying that you can prove anything with stats seems to apply. I've kind of gone with the logic that I can comprehend which is that forefoot runners have a softer impact with the ground than that of heel strikers and because of the springy nature of a persons arch, we don't put as much weight and impact through the knees and hips. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.

So Saturday was my first trip out in the brand new BRIGHT RED beauties! Knowing how my feet swell when I run, I thought I should go out first in the cushioned shoes to warm up so I went for a lovely run with @MrsSophieHMC. As I run slower when I'm with Mrs HMC, I did a few extra bits, like pushing myself round the lake twice at a quicker pace and then catching her back up but it was a very pleasant 7 ish km which at the end of, I changed into the new shoes and went back out around the block. With all the advice being don't overdo it, I planned to run just a kilometre at a 5 min/km pace but it was feeling good and torn between turning home early or going that little bit extra, I pushed on and ended up doing 1.5km in which the shoes felt fine and I had no awkward aches or pains. Result! 2 days later and still the calves, arches and achilles are all fine. Tomorrow has run number 2 written all over it.