Unlike many things ordered on-line: my Christmas ‘post’ comes before Christmas!
I have just finished a Christmas eve run off road in unfamiliar territory… …in failing light. Having chosen to do this in my trusty PDQ aqua shoes rather than my also trusty Salomon Xa Pros, the undulating terrain of damp sticky mud proved to be a ‘challenge’. Some time during the conversation I was having with myself to pass the miles of lack of traction and slight pulled muscle from a particularly strenuous fighting for balance, I realised that I have not written on the activity that I have undertaken as part of my training more than anything else… …rest.
Any of you that have ventured a look at the ‘stats’ section of my site will realise that I am running only twice a week at the most so far. Back in my early 20s when I was at my peak I was running 4-5 times a week and running hard. Since undertaking the barefoot running experiment I have been running when I feel my body can cope with another run. There is a natural rhythm to my training schedule due to the recovery of the muscles of my calves, my feet and the hardness of the skin on my oft blistered feet. What I have been doing a lot of is resting, and trying to rest effectively. Progression has become not so much about how much I can push myself, but how quickly, effectively and successfully I can rest.
Stretching and conditioning work is not a chore but a means to an end. I’m the last person to enjoy ‘exercises’! I would much rather progress physically by performing an activity – such as the simple and almost primal activity of running. Now the enjoyment of the performance of my chosen activity necessitates peripheral exercises and huge lashings of well earned Christmas REST.
I’m not sure what patience looks like but impatience looks a lot like a mild case of accidentally induced frost bite!
Gripped recently by an impatience to progress in my running (not least because I have recently told various people about my blog and now feel I have a responsibility to be showing some signs of improvement): I set off on my one of my favourite 3.5 mile runs with a mind to push myself and see just what my Mk2 calves are capable of. Putting in a time of 27.21 (sadly 18 seconds slower than I managed back in November) I had managed to push my calf muscles close to bursting point. Upon returning home I set about my usual custom of cooling my calves with frozen gel packs.
Given the particularly warm nature of my calves after this particular run I decided to dispense with any kind of intermediate fabric between my skin and the frozen gel packs. I settled down to a quick game of galaxy on fire 2 on my wife’s iPhone* to pass the time while my legs cooled. Whether it was solely my impatience on pushing myself and my further impatience in wanting to cool my legs quickly, or whether my undertaking one to many ‘space missions’ had anything to do with it: the result is x2 patches of mild frost bite and x1 lesson learnt. Re-learning to run has required much patience up until now and will almost surely require much more patience to progress in future.
*neither of these mentions are product placement in any way. I could have easily been playing any other popular sci-fi game on any other ‘must have’ consumer electronic device.
…blisters on blisters and blisters on blisters (these are a few of my favourite things)…
With the increase in strength of my calves allowing my to gently increase the intensity of my runs either in terms of duration of speed, the next weakest link is beginning to show itself. The simple action of running (especially down hill) is causing friction in my now favourite aqua shoes resulting in my skin coming off slightly worse than the wear to the shoes. I have undertaken two things in response to this:
1. I have invested in some surgical spirit. This was mostly purchased with the intention of toughening the skin, but may have the added side effect of cleansing the blisters on the skin of my weary soles.
2. I have invested in a new pair of ‘barefoot’ running shoes! Disappointed? Don’t be – as they are simply another pair of PDQ surf shoes. Exactly as I have been running in before, but this time a size smaller. This has helped a lot due to them being slightly snugger on the feet leading to less movement and thus fewer blisters.
In other foot / shoe related news: I am considering getting rid of my vintage Filas (though they are a favourite of yester years pre-’barefoot’ running experiment). I only wear these on occasion now when I don’t feel I can manage a longer distance. The reason for abandoning them is mostly because I have found that they now lead to pain in my toes – this may be due to my change in running gait but also the fact that my feet have increased by at least 1/2 a shoe size. You know what they say about men with increasingly large feet!? That’s right, “increasingly tight shoes”!
I put this down to the muscles in my feet strengthening in response to both the ‘barefoot’ running and the wobble cushion conditioning I often undertake. This is only anecdotal, but the muscles in my feel are often tired for a few days following a good run.