- Attention DC residents: I’ll be racing the “Men Run After The Women” 5k next Saturday, August 27th. I’ll be visiting my sister, and this is her running group’s graduation race. It’s also her birthday weekend. What better way to celebrate than a 5k? I’m feeling like I might be speedy, and the course is described as flat and fast. The cool thing is, because the men and women race separately, we’ll be able to see each other cross the finish line. What the hell, let’s say 18:15. I like how both numbers on each side of the colon are divisible by three.
- I logged a tempo run and a long run this week, with a bunch of fun miles logged in my legs only. Questions for the No Mile Left Undocumented supporters: how often do you look back at your running history to extrapolate meaningful data? How confident are you in your ability to find patterns that actually exist, rather than find the patterns you want to see?
- I’ll be reviewing a pair of Branca Sandals next week. Spoiler alert: I like ‘em! Shoot, that was going to be the review.
- Speaking of sandals, the Invisible Shoes continue to be a treat. Since I’m an affiliate now and make a little coinage every time someone clicks the link on the sidebar and makes a purchase, I suppose you shouldn’t believe a word I say. But, you never did believe the words clickity clackitying forth from my fingers, did you? Good, as it should be. Anyway, I feel like my feet are stronger for spending the day running around on gravel wearing such sweet nothings. Plus, the tan lines are cool.
- Now that I’m Cmr. Josh (Chocolate milk representative), I purchased a half gallon for my fellow runners who meet at a Panera for a post-long run face stuffing contest. The chocolate milk was a hit.
Thanks, Samuel!
- Last week I was loitering at Off’n Running when in walks a runner I know from races. He had been experimenting with this barefoot fad you may have heard about. I may or may not have had something to do with that. He was there to buy regular running shoes after coming down with a case of Plantar Fasciitis for his efforts. I felt bad, since I’m all “do it! It’s awesome!” all the time. Then he introduces me to the lovely lady he walked in with, the one whose eyes turned to fiery laser beams upon introduction. That would be his wife. “So you’re the jerk who broke my husband’s feet?” she said telepathically. Being the coward I am, I ran.
I ran the course yesterday for my practice run and it is perfect for your barefootery. There are some small inclines to make things interesting and overall it is a nice twisty jaunt around a lake. I won’t be breaking any speed records, but I am definitely looking forward to it! You may be getting the “fiery laser beam” eyes again from a few people in my group for being the inspiration For the footwear that caused my recent torn foot.
Oddly, I still defend barefootery/minimalism…just not running such while already aching or engaging in TMTS with sloppy form. So sadly no watershoes for this 5K race. It will be in NB Minimus shoes likely modded prophylactically with superfeet and arch tapping. Me paranoid? Never!!
BF causes PF? Really?
I bought a pair of NB Minimus Trail Shoes this weekend and took them back after one run in them. They fit like a glove, like a really tight fitting glove. Not comfortable for my foot.
Sis:
Great. More fiery beams. Well, they’ll have to catch me first. Wait, no they won’t. I can’t outrun lasers.
Kelly:
Weird, no? For the longest time the platonic fascists was one of the running injuries notably absent from barefoot injuries, even minimalist injuries. Then BAM! Gajillions of people are dancing the fashionista plantara. Well, two. But I know both of them, which makes it weird.
Kelly, I apparently strained my PF around the ball of my foot (but apparently it is still called Plantar Fasciitis even if it is not anywhere near the heel) doing hill repeats. Who knows though, I have thrifty doctors…
It was dumb because the foot was already sending dull aching signals that I chose to interpret as some stiffness that needed to be loosened up. Nope, suddenly I suddenly started to get sharp pain every time I lifted my foot too fast off the ground. It could have been a lot worse and is generally better after a 3.5 week break from running. Annoyingly it doesn’t feel 100% normal yet so I want to keep babying it for at least another couple weeks. To run the race, I struck a deal with myself that I had to shoe up, tape up, and run the practice race w/o problems. Check, check, and check.
I have the NB Minimus running (not trail) model. It is ok. I hated most of the shoes I tried on and it had the roomiest toebox and lightest weight. The shoe store experience was a pretty miserable experience because the salespeople were giving me dirty looks when I protested afainst their custom thick inserts and “supportive” shoes for
Sorry, my fingers aren’t the most nimble on my Ipod. No more posting with it, I promise.
Anyways, I have the NB Minimus running (not trail) model. It is ok. I hated most of the shoes I tried on and it ended up having the roomiest toebox/inside and lightest weight. The shoe store experience was a pretty miserable experience because the salespeople were giving me dirty looks when I protested against their custom thick inserts and “supportive” shoes for small footed people with mile-high arches like me. I miss feeling the ground and I feel a bit wonky with the inserts, taping and such, but at least I didn’t cause damage to the still tender arch. I briefly tested my foot out in my un-soled water-shoes a few days ago in an indoor track and my foot was getting noticeably cranky. I am planning on amping up my feet’s restrengthening regime once this week is over. Can I say: VFF trotting and yoga, here I come? I have learned the hard way that training in water shoes with shod people can be tricky because I suppose my training curve is different.
Sister Barefoot: from my simple perspective, it could be that you and Mr. Laser Beam were doing too much too soon, but I can only guess. I should point out that this is another reason why our XC coach doesn’t want kids training barefoot. Our training regimen is pretty rigorous and trying to adapt to barefoot in those conditions could present injury risks.
I on the other hand am finding it difficult to transition to shoes. I really fell in love with those $100 orange n black NB Minimus Trails, but the stupid things blistered a toe. Length wise the fit was fine, but width wise they were tight enough that I was quite happy to take them off after a 5 mile run. Can’t imagine running a marathon in them?
Josh, How do the Merrell’s fit? Is there no return from the barefoot world?
Kelly, Agreed on the whole too much too soon. I am a quick student and I hope this is the only rambling injury tale I’ll be having to tell for a long while.
Your feet situation is probably different, but I’ve seen a lot of people online splicing and duct taping their shoes around the toe area to make them less tight. It seems you may have to hone your DIY skills or band-aids if you want some protection without the chafing. Do ultra thin socks help at all?
I am starting to give up on regular shoes. I recently had a failed shoe shopping experience (sandal season is going to be over soon) because I already can’t tolerate the casual/work shoes I currently own. The hunt for work appropriate shoes (let alone running shoes) that don’t squish/blister my toes is becoming tricky and pricey.
This whole barefoot/minimalist thing is like going down the rabbit hole…
I started to answer your mileage documentation question three times. But, each response turned into a five-paragraph essay, the kind of writing that no one likes to read. So, I’ll just say that I only look at my running history every week to extrapolate total miles run last week or last month. I’m too much of a novice to extrapolate anything else, I think.
Kelly:
I thought they (the merrells) were too tight until I figured out I could loosen the lacing. It grips the foot around the instep, which takes a little getting used to. And no.
Ash:
Feel free to be as verbose as you’d like. I think running logs are like easy diaries. Maybe that’s my problem – I need to enter each run with a “Dear Diary” at the beginning.