Sunday, Dec. 12th - I smiled the entire time . . .

The weather was pretty nice so I warmed up barefoot for 1 mile, then put on the Evo II's started my run. This run was a mixed hilly tempo run with a combination of paces ranging from easy to 10k paces. This was such a fun run and I'm pretty sure I was smiling the entire way. These are the types of runs where you feel blessed and honored to have the ability to run.

After the warm-up, I ran for 8.74 miles with an average pace of 7:43, which included 4 miles at 6:54 pace. Considering it was a pretty hilly run, I was quite happy with the workout as it was a good medium effort run. I was also pleased because I hurt my groin yesterday playing tennis and it hurt last night and this morning but I decided to run nonetheless and it only hurt a few times while running and it feels pretty good right now.

HHH

Saturday, Dec. 11th - a beautiful stroll with the wife

A perfect Saturday morning easy run with my beautiful wife. We don't get to run together nearly enough so this was a joy. It was beautiful outside as we ran mostly on back dirt trails. She is a serious runner and has run many more marathons than me but she sacrifices her running so I can get in more miles for my racing. During the week, we can't leave at the same time with the kids, so she tends to run on the treadmill while I run outside. There's no substitute for running outside, so I know she really enjoyed a good outdoor run.

We also did some walking and talking so it was an all-around perfect morning. Total run on 4.47 miles in 46:46. Tomorrow is my long run but I have decided what level of intensity I will run it as I will just play in by ear and she how I feel. I'd like to throw in a good tempo surge in the middle of the long run, something in the 6:00 pace range.

HHH

Friday, Dec. 10th - 1 mile repeats

After a 5 minute barefoot warm-up on the treadmill, I laced up the Evo II's and headed out for a mile repeat intervals. After a 3 mile warm-up I moved into 1 mile repeats and ran a 5k in 19:37 with my 1 mile pace at 6:47, 6:23, and 6:27 pace. The total run was 7.49 miles in 1:01:58.

It was a comfortably hard pace and everything felt good from my body to my breathing. I didn't completely open up my stride because my body didn't want to so I maintained a slightly shorter stride and higher stride rate and it felt great. I truly believe you must listen to your body and it will tell you how you want to run that day.

I will run short and easy tomorrow to recover for Sunday's long run which will be more of tempo run (in the 8-12 mile range) than a long slow run.

HHH

Quote of the Day

Running has taken me in, and continues to comfort, heal and challenge me in all kinds of magical ways. I am not a 'good runner' because I am me. I am a good 'me' because I am a runner. Kristin Armstrong, Author and runner

Thursday, Dec. 9th, the short easy run

This was an all hills easy recovery run. I'm trying to incorporate hills into the majority of my runs and, in fact, I'm starting to search for hills while I run. Hill running really builds the legs muscles, especially the calves which come in hand when racing, especially on the flatter surfaces. I ran for just over 30 minutes, totaling 3.17 miles. My legs feel pretty fresh which should be useful for tomorrow's hard tempo run.

I've read that tempo runs are the most important training for the Kenyans and it makes complete sense. I've also been told that in order to get the most out of the hard runs, you must have discipline to run easy on the easy days and even feel like you held back a bit, and that's how I feel right now. I'm curious to see how my body responds tomorrow. I usually run for 45 minutes to 1 hr. on my easy days so this felt like nothing but my legs feel pretty fresh.

My thought is that it may be better to add 1-2 miles on the end of my hard runs and cut back on my easy run days, so I will maintain the same weekly base but there will be a big delta between my hard and easy days as my easy days will be easier and my hard days will be harder.

Today I ran in the 9 minute pace range, and tomorrow I'll be back in the 6:00 and sub 6:00 minute pace range so I'm curious to see how my body reacts to such a difference in paces day to day.

HHH

Balance & Vertical Impact: Role of Shoe Sole Materials

If you think cushion under the foot is good and/or if you wonder if cushion is related to running injuries, check out the article posted by my friend Luis:

http://download.journals.elsevierhealth.com/pdfs/journals/0003-9993/PIIS000399939790157X.pdf

It's actually quite logical if you think about it. Traditional running shoes create an unstable landing and base that causes increased impact through reduced flexion at the hip and knee so as to briefly achieve improved stability by compressing the interface materials of the shoe sole, and the force to create the compression increased the impact.

HHH

Wednesday, Dec. 8th, my favorite tempo run

I started with a 5 minute barefoot warm up on concrete then laced up the Evo II's and hit the trails for a good hard tempo run. The progressive tempo run is my favorite run. In fact, it is one of the runs that the Kenyans do religiously, many times twice per week. Here's a good article at it:

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-267--11909-2-1-2,00.html

After a 30 minute warm-up, I moved into a progressive tempo of 3 miles of running at 6:38 pace. I was running at about a 7/8 effort level on a scale of 1-10. It was a nice comfortably hard run. The complete run, including warm-up, was 6.22 miles in 52:41. My form felt really good and I felt great.

On slate for tomorrow (Thursday) is a nice easy recovery run then I'll throw in another tempo run for Friday.

HHH

Tuesday, Dec. 7th - my day off

Enough said.

I'll be back to work tomorrow with a good tempo run, alternating 5k and 10k paces.

HHH

Monday, Dec. 6th - Last Run of the Week

My legs were a bit tired but that's to be expected since it's the last run of my weekly run routine, and it follows my long run. However, my stride felt good as did my breathing. I did a lot of big hills and finished 5.41 miles in 49:02.

I can definitely feel the fatigue in my quads but that's normal after some hilly runs. I've been adding more than more hills to all my runs and it really pays off when you move to a flatter surface. It also strengthens the quads and calves.

While I'm feeling fine I will be taking tomorrow off. Regardless of how good I feel, I take one day completely off during each 7 day running cycle. I figure if Sammy Wanjiru takes one day off, there must be something to it.

HHH

Sunday, Dec. 5th, I believe in karma . . .

I guess I do believe in karma because my running form and technique is really coming together even more since I decided to never run in traditional running shoes anymore. It solidified that my body has completely adjusted to barefoot/minimalist running and any other type of running will require a long and tenuous adaption for which I was no interest.

This is my long run of the week. This run was all hills for 10 miles. I completed 10.73 miles in 1:31:27, averaging a 8:37 pace, however, I finished the final 1.5 miles at a 6:45 pace.

Since my decision to run solely barefoot/minimalist, it's as if my body was waiting for me to let go of the traditional shoes and I noticed a few new tweaks in my form that felt unbelievable.

HHH

Saturday, Dec. 4th, good recovery run

It was just a solid good comfortable run. It can be no more clearer that my body, after 2+ years, has fully adapted to barefoot/minimalist running and anything else I try to put on my feet requires adapation that I'm not willing to deal with.

I ran 5.57 miles in 46:45, a 8:29 pace. It was a nice recovery type run after yesterday's hard tempo hilly run. Tomorrow I have a nice and comfrotable 10 mile hilly run scheduled. My legs feel good. They are a little tired but that good type of tired.

HHH

I've accepted the inevitable . . .

As I've been saying over the past few days, I think the shod vs. unshod analysis starts with balance and joint alignment. I've accepted, after numerous trials, that my body has fully adapted to barefoot and minimalist (true minimalist) running and while I can/could run in cushioned shoes (i.e., minimal racing flat type shoes) it would require me to go through another adaption period to learn how to run with more cushion under my feet and I have no interest in going through another adaption period.

After spending 2 yrs. since I starting barefoot running, I've been adapting or, as I prefer to call it, returning my body to its natural state and relying on my body for performance as opposed to gear/ gadgets. My body has been always talking to me but I've always tried to return to racing shoes, or at least add racing shoes to my
rotation, and I've been able to do so and do so without injury or pain for limited periods of time. I can rotate racing shoes just fine but if I run in racing shoes on too many consecutive days, then tension arises in parts of my body, starting with me knees. I always stop at that point so it's never turned into a serious injury but it would if I continued.

This morning, I had a hard 1 hr. all hill run at 5k "effort" pace. It was very warm this morning in Denver (41F at 6:30 am) so I warmed up barefoot on the asphalt and "loved it." Normally, it's too cold and I warm up on the treadmill barefoot. Then, I laced up the Evo's and hit the hills for 55 minutes at a 6:25 pace and it was absolutely "effortless." The ability to control my body, my stride length, my stride rate, etc. is uncanny while barefoot, in Evo's or KSO's. But, even with racing shoes like Nike Zoom Streak XC's, Katana's, or F-Lite 195's, I can immediately feel the difference and my body does adjust but the problem now is I hate the adjustment because my body has fully adapted to barefoot/minimalist running and in fact, expects a certain level of ground and sensory feel.

The cool thing is I can honestly say I tried the standard shoe thing,
over and over, and gave it a fair try even as I continued to improve
my form. What I like is that it's not that I can't run in shoes, it's
that it feels weird and would require me to learn how to run in shoes
and I have no interest in going back to that world. I can't come up
with one reason to return to that world when all my PR's times are in
Evo's so I can't even say I run faster in racing shoes when it's the
opposite as I run faster in Evo's. And, more importantly, I run
injury free while running barefoot/minimalist.

I never thought I'd reach the point where it's weird to even run in the lightest and most minimalist racing shoes available. I attribute most of it to the cushion but obviously the heel differential probably has some impact but I think the biggest impact to me at least, is the cushion, especially soft cushion where the foot sinks into the cushion which obviously makes it more difficult to balance thus impacting joint alignment.

So I'll remember this day as the day I had to finally draw the line in the sand and call "true" minimalist shoes as the most I can deal with on my feet down to barefoot (anything above the true minimalist threshold is a "no go"). I still need something for more difficult trails but instead of relying on shoes, I've decided to commit to learning how to run on more difficult trails in minimalist shoes. At one time, I couldn't run on the packed trails barefoot and I do it without problems today but it took over 1 yr. so it will take time but the end result is worth it.

HHH

Friday, Dec. 4th, it's all about the hills

I started with a 5 min. barefoot warm-up, then laced up the Evo's and hit the road for a 1 hr. "all hills" run which included a progressive warm-up, then 10 min. at 5k pace into 5 min. relaxed, into 6 sets of 1 min. very hard, 2 min. comfortable, then a 5 min. warm-down.

I averaged about a 6:25 pace and it was an effortless run (for the 1 min. surges I ran progressively faster from a 6:18 pace down to 5:57 pace, depending on the elevation of hill).

I've decided I can't run in regular running shoes, even racing shoes, anymore. My body has fully adapted to barefoot and true minimalist running and I can't go back to the old world as it would require me to go through an entire adapation phase to learn how to run in cushioned/heel elevated shoes and I have absolutely no interest in doing that. It took my about 2 years to get to this point, so it was a 18 month or so period of adapation, or as I prefer to call it, a return to my natural body state when I rely on my body for performance and speed and not shoes. No shoe can match the performance ability of the body/barefeet.

At the end of the day, it's about balance and joint alignment and cushion/heel elevation throws off my balance and joint alignment and I have no interest in leaning how to run off-balance.

HHH

Thursday, Dec. 2nd - Easy Short Run

After some dynamic stretching, I did 5 min. barefoot warm-up on the treadmill, then laced up the Evo I's and and headed out the door for a "run by feel," meaning I ran without a watch and let my body tell me what a "easy" pace feels like without regard to actual pace. I picked a route I run often so I know the approximate distance and checked the clock in the house before leaving and I estimated at the end of the run that I finished close to 4 miles at a 8:33 pace.

Everything felt right and I just ran relaxed and the stride felt great, just relaxed and easy. I went back to the form that I felt I had when I set my 5k PR last month. I'm getting back to letting body feel determine my stride length and stride rate as opposed to forcing it. A 8:30 pace for an easy run is exactly where I'd like my easy runs to fall (8:00 - 8:30 is a great easy run pace).

HHH

Dec. 1st, tempo trail run

I had a nice hard trial tempo run this morning. I started with a 15 min. warm-up barefoot on the treadmill, then laced up the Evo's and headed for the trails. After a 20 min. warm-up, I moved into 3x1 mile intervals (first and last at 5k pace, middle at 10k pace) with 2 min. recovery in-between each.

I completed the 1st mile @ 6:05 pace, 2nd mile @ 6:31 pace, and 3rd mile @ 6:22 pace. I had a slightly quicker/shorter cadence than I would like during the first mile but the 2nd mile was nice & smooth, and for 3rd mile, the first 800 meters was smooth but struggled the 2nd 800 meters.

This was a stride issue battle with myself but as I warmed down at a 8:15 pace, my natural slightly longer stride started to take over and it felt very smooth and easy and reminded me of my form during my 5k PR race last month.

This is directly related to the balance, joint alignment and cushioned shoe issues. My stride is slightly different in racing shoes as compared to the Evo's as compared to barefoot. I have a smoother stride in the Evo's or barefoot and I believe it is related to balance. While we are probably talking about small degrees of difference, it must have a material impact on me.

As I mentioned, we are optimally balanced when barefoot so as we add more under the foot, especially EVA cushion and heel differentials, our balance is thrown a bit off and we have to further engage muscles and adapt to maintain good balance. This is no issue for some but it appears to be a major issue for me as it must slightly alter my joint alignment from the ankle up to the knee and that causes other issues for me.

HHH