Barefoot running

I've been reading Born to Run.

It's really interesting, about the Tarahumara Indians living in the Copper Canyons of Mexico and how they are arguably the greatest distance running culture in the world.  Anyway, to make a long story short there's a section in the book that extolls the virtues of barefoot running, listing it as the magic bullet that will solve all running-related injuries, make you faster, make you taller and grow your hair back if it has left for greener pastures - okay so the last item is not completely true but all the rest is there.

This morning was my long run and I decided to build in a segment of barefoot running, just to try it.  I figured I'd throw in 2k on a nearby highschool track, after finishing 18-20k or so and just before heading for home.

IT HURTS!

Running barefoot is not easy if you've spent your whole life in big, heavy, clonky "motion-control" thumper shoes.  It takes some time to build up the outer sole toughness to be able to run barefoot.  I managed to get in 2k (but not without slowing down a bit by the end) and my feet are still "crackly" at the end of the day.  I also feel some muscle pain in the arch.  Logically this is where the benefits are supposed to be felt.  After all if the arch of the foot is fully supported every time you run then that muscle doesn't get worked at all.  With no shoes the foot muscles have to do all the work.  In the long run (no pun intended) this is supposed to strengthen the foot, improve form, economy and posture, eliminate all those pesky runner's injuries (ITB, PFS, etc.)  As well, the elimination of injuries and their associated downtime and the improved form is supposed to make the runner FASTER, which is the ultimate goal.

What they don't do, is make your feet any prettier, and mine were bad enough to begin with.  There will be no pictures posted of feet here, but I think I'm going to keep giving this a try.  We'll see what comes of this.

Six days to Milton - opening of the season!

Peace.

Open water swimming

Read this in jono's blog the other day and it got me interested in some open water swimming.  I just might give this a go on one weekend this summer.  This is interesting to me, since the swim is the leg of the race that  I find the hardest to get out and train for and the most work on race day.  I used to be a semi-competitive swimmer, but perhaps the fifteen years' downtime in between events caused me to lose the edge somewhat?  Nonetheless, it is not like riding a bike (well, duh).  I found a few open water event listings for this summer.  I'm giving this some thought, and considering working it into the schedule.

And two last shout-outs to my man Cliff who blazed the Mississauga half today in a PB 1:38 - woot!  And to my other sometime training partner Darren, who I guess has put a little more work into his run since the Chilly - double woot!

Welland - under the four bridges

Buckhorn

Other open water swims 

Peace.

Bottle rockets and speeding tickets

What a beauty of a day.  Warm, sunny and permission slip signed to go off on a monster ride.  Turned out to be the first 100+ km ride of the year (111 to be exact) with only one "where the  frig am I?" moment.

So bottle rockets?  Yep, I'm seriously peed at this (maintaining the PG rating here).  I launched my bottles three separate times today.  Twice I heard them - the third I was stopped at a traffic light where I was saved by a guy in a truck who informed me one was gone.

Three?  Seriously?  I need a new method here.  It's tough to stay aero when you're constantly reaching back to make sure your bottles are still there, to say nothing of drinking from bottles that drop and roll through the muddy brown shmuck on the back country roads still defrosting from the frozen winter just ended.

I also got in some excellent climbs today - the escarpment is great for that, no matter what part of it you're on.  Up Main/Wilson into Ancaster is a beaut - 10-12 minute climb, helped out today by "the unknown roadie" who happened out of a side street and proceeded to pull me all the way up the hill.  I meant to take a turn, but he just kept on going and going and going.  Going down the same street is way better - under 5 minutes.

Lastly, since my wife occasionally reads this, we won't talk about the adventure with the black pick-up truck and apparently no turn signal whatsoever in Waterdown.  Jack@$$.

Peace.