The Tyranny of Rest Days

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Barefoot Josh

Mr Lydiard, when should I take rest days?
Lydiard: Never.

I’m not running this morning. It’s not because I’m tired; if anything it’s to give my dog Sunny a break. She’s been running with me all week, and the distance I’d like to run today is a bit much for her at this time. I can’t leave the house in the early pre-dawn for a run by myself, otherwise she’ll wake up the whole house by poking them with her nose. Instead, I’ll be running nine-to-twelve miles this afternoon after work. Not too fast, but a little faster than an easy frotz-about trot.

Today will be my thirty-third day of running in a row, averaging over six-and-a-half miles a day. I feel good. I’ve cut down on the speedwork to a very fun fartlek on Wednesdays and a long tempo on Saturdays (when I’m not fun-racing). Not once have I woken up and felt unprepared to run. Every step is welcome, unaccompanied by an “ugh.”

To learn how to run barefoot and enjoy it, you don’t just take off your shoes and PRESTO CHANGO you’re transformed. The education comes from trying to first figure out how to do it without pain (gently! relax! patience! reflection!) and injury. By removing the protection of the shoe, your running choices need to change in order to accomodate that new environment. If you learn to run so gently that the hard ground feels welcoming to the feet, you’re running gently indeed!

What does this have to do with running every day? I wonder if rest days are like shoes. That is, it’s self-destructive to run in a way that requires them. The answer to the question, “what if you ran so gently that you didn’t require shoes?” might be the same as “what if you ran so gently that you didn’t require rest days?”

Of course, life is tough and sometimes there’s no room to fit in a run. That’s not the kind of “rest” day I’m talking about, and my streak might end when we have to travel to and from our future home in the Olympic Mountains this June. Or it might not. The point is, I’m running each day with the mindset that I’m going to run again the next day, and the day after that. Sure, sometimes I will do too much, or give my all in a race, and a rest day will be needed. Or maybe life’s struggles will demand a day off. If I’m sick, yes, absolutely, I’ll take a few days off. Resting due to circumstances is not what I’m talking about, though. It’s the required one-two-three days off every week in 99% of the training plans out there that I suspect might actually be counter-productive. If you need regular days off each week, why?

Just as a shoe allows you to do more than you should, maybe rest days do too. If we know we have a rest day coming up, do we push harder? Run farther? Let me ask the same question from the other direction: if you were forced to run at least a couple of miles every day, would your running habits change? I think they would, and maybe that change would be for the better.

In the end, I think this comes down to how you think about running. If you think of running as punishment, as something you do to deserve that second piece of cake, then running everyday will seem masochistic. If instead running is who you are, it’s what you do, a part of your existence on this speck of dust in the universe, maybe running should be put in the same category as eating, sleeping, smiling, and breathing: something to be done in the right amounts every day.

A Giant Leap Forward in the Progress of Socklessness: Rocket Pure Review

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Barefoot Josh

I got home from work as a Canine Peace Keeper, sat down and removed the Vapors from my sockless feet. It was a warm day, and I was a tad dewy. Usually in such circumstances the wife, engrossed in something productive, will scrunch up her nose and exclaim, “Holy hell, is that your feet?”

“It’s not my feet. It’s the shoes. My feet wouldn’t stink if society would allow me to roam barefoot as I please,” I explain with practiced patience.

“Ugh. Whatever. Why won’t you wear socks?”

I’d try to conceal my sigh of exasperation, but she knew. She always knows.

“Socks diminish my ground feel,” I answer, futilely.

“I knew you were going to say that.”

“I knew you were going to say you knew what I was going to say. Anyway, I’ll put my shoes in the office and wash my feet pronto, because even I realize I’m not going to win this one.”

Aaaand scene! That’s how it usually goes. Until Rocket Pure Natural Body Care For Athletes came along. A couple of spritzes of some kind of magical tea-tree/eucalyptus/minty Natural Foot Deodorant Spray totally neutralizes the stench of socklessness.

I’m not sure where the “Rocket” comes into play, but it gets that Elton John song, Rocket Man stuck in my head.

Now I come home from work and interrupt the wife’s productivity with witty banter instead of the odiferous expressions of bacteria. Recently she asked, “So how’s that spray thing working?”

I pointed to the door, where a pair of recently abused Vapors sat stenchlessly. “Go ahead, take a whiff,” I suggested, thrusting the shoes that had been exposed to the dog yard for a week, and also a frotz in the Whatzinit Creek.

Is it safe to step in? Better drink it to make sure…

They should have been wretched. Oh, and I forgot you don’t know, since you don’t live with her like I do: Iris has a Super Nose. She’ll ask from her office, “Are you cooking onions?” and I’ll reply, “No, but I was going to. Tomorrow.” She’s that good, she can smell into the FUTURE.

Needless to say, after the initial shock of having such muddied and gross apparel enter her olfactoril periphery, she said, “Huh, smells like safety from lice [tea tree oil is, among other things, used to treat head lice].” I knew this product was the real deal.

Look, I never meant for this to be product review blog. I don’t really covet things, so the thought of accumulating a lot of things just sounds like a burdensome chore to me. But c’mon, what would you have me do? This guy says, “Hey, this spray will de-stink your shoes and is made with stuff well-associated with being in contact with skin, so try some for free!” So I did, and events transpired as transcribed above with very few if any creative liberties. This isn’t a commercial, it’s a public service announcement.

How about you, dear reader? Do the ol’ foot coffins need a little freshening up? Click on over to Rocket Pure and enter the promo code BFJosh13 for a 15% discount!

State of the Bunion Address

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Barefoot Josh

I think it would be a little dramatic to call it an identity crisis; identity reassessment maybe? I haven’t been spending much mental energy thinking about what’s going on in the running world, barefoot or otherwise, lately. Studies, criticisms, revelations, celebrity sightings, all very interesting and important I’m sure, just outside of my inward-focused radar. So what is that radar picking up? Oh, you know, randomness.

I hear minimalist shoe sales are down, which makes sense. That’s what happens when you make a product that doesn’t get worn out in a few months.

Speaking of shoes, not a single shoe company has expressed any disappointment in my decision to retire from the shoe reviewing business. Not even so much of a “please, just one more shoe review, for old times sake.” Instead, I have been sent something shoe-related to review: a de-stinker spritz. So far, this product has kept my work shoes smelling not too bad after over a week of sockless prancing in the dog yard. Stay tuned for this revolutionary development.

The dog yard is pretty much the only place you’ll see shoes on my feet now that winter has transitioned to summer, skipping spring almost entirely. While my feet are happy to be out in fresh air, the warmer weather serves as a frustrating reminder that we haven’t sold our house yet. So does my first tick bite of the year.

Iris and I decided to switch to the half-marathon on the North Olympic Discovery Trail (it’s a path, not a “trail” trail) in June. I’m actually the one who suggested it. Marathon training just doesn’t feel like where my body is at right now, and the thought of trying, again, to figure out how to fuel for that distance leaves me feeling more anxious than the long runs I’d rather not be running. I do feel like running, though, and I have a plan in mind that should hopefully get me a new PR without much strain: streaking. No, not naked running (the universe just sighed in relief). The goal is to never run so hard that I feel a need to take a day off, making consistency and moderation the main objectives. “Moderation” and “consistency” are new words in my vocabulary. For structure, I’m following a Lydiard-style training program for marathon base-building. To keep myself in check, I’m keeping track of my resting heart rate, weight, and sleep. Today will be my eighth day running in a row, and I feel pretty good. This could be an enlightening experience.

Wow, this post isn’t entertaining at all, but I spent all morning writing it and the cobwebs of this neglected blog need dusting off. Just curious, is there anything you, dear reader, would like me to write about? Or is there a general blogging malaise? If not, that’s fine. Maybe a stable running life rarely makes for funny blogging. That’s a sad trade-off, if it’s true, but one I will happily make right now.