5 Lessons from My First Maximum Aerobic Function Barefoot Race on Sharp Gravel with Hills

SS_logo_sm.png
5 Lessons from My First Maximum Aerobic Function Barefoot Race on Sharp Gravel with Hills
By Happysongbird


Last Saturday, I ran my first running race at maximum aerobic function pace AND my first race barefoot on a significant amount of of sharp asphalt while participating in the Final Kick Events 2014 Shamrock Shuffle. Here is a summary of lessons I learned from the experience: To continue reading, please visit: http://dailyimprovisations.com/less...ic-function-barefoot-race-sharp-gravel-hills/
 
[URL='http://funfitnessafter50.com']http://dailyimprovisations.com/about/[/URL]
View all 6 featured items
Brilliant report Laura THANK YOU!! It's so great to hear I'm not the only one who has had had to acknowledge that sacrificing speed for enjoyment has been bloody fantastic :) I still struggle with how slow I feel ( compared to the good 'ole Saucony days o_O) but then I remind myself how much more fun running barefoot is, and that its not about the race its about the challenge and the achievement. I'd love to pick your brains about being S2G going into the colder months...we are in Autumn in Australia now and I'm apprehensive to see how my tootsies will deal with the onset of cooler temps etc .
Thanks again for sharing! :barefoot:
 
  • Like
Reactions: happysongbird
Loved the RR. Great job on the race as well as the report.
 
  • Like
Reactions: happysongbird
The most important fact I learned was that somehow the camera turned your hair a different color from your avatar pic's.

Great report. It sounds like you are coming through the winter in very respectable shape. (unlike my own sorry self!) Good on ya!
 
... Do you have suggestions for relaxing your hips? I find my tighten up at about 20 km.


Think about running low and loose (but with torso vertical, not rigid, and knees bent - at the very least slightly bent - before the foot touches). After 20km, this will take some self-reminding to do.

Relax, relax, relax.
-Ken Bob Saxton
 
knees bent

Oh lordy this has become my mantra ( just ask Murls!)
Ken- Bob you kindly helped me out with a blister question I posted over on your own site, and the long and the short of it seems to me ...if in doubt BEND THE KNEEEES!!!!!!!!!! And it bloody well works too!! EVERY TIME!!!!!!! :happy:
Unfortunately as I am reciting this in my head tiptoeing over the gravel..... I get an awful subliminal picture of KB in a sparkly tutu banging the ground with a stick and yelling BEND ZEEE KNEES....akin to my old ( russian or something?) ballet teacher ( except she would whack our legs and say POINT ZEEE TOES! o_O)
Remember the picture on "walking like a supermodel" in the Barefoot Running Book
yep
you get the picture!
Thank you Kenzalina Saxtonovovich!!!
 
Great report Laura. You looked like you had fun (the most important of reasons to run). Glad the training is going well. Do you have suggestions for relaxing your hips? I find my tighten up at about 20 km.
I wish I could say something more helpful, but I just think about relaxing all over and especially from the waist down. The more I practice doing it, though, the better I seem to get at it! I suppose another way of looking at it is that I'm avoiding trying to force myself to feel propelled. That is made easier by rhe fact that I'm doing things at this maf pacing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DNEchris
Brilliant report Laura THANK YOU!! It's so great to hear I'm not the only one who has had had to acknowledge that sacrificing speed for enjoyment has been bloody fantastic :) I still struggle with how slow I feel ( compared to the good 'ole Saucony days o_O) but then I remind myself how much more fun running barefoot is, and that its not about the race its about the challenge and the achievement. I'd love to pick your brains about being S2G going into the colder months...we are in Autumn in Australia now and I'm apprehensive to see how my tootsies will deal with the onset of cooler temps etc .
Thanks again for sharing! :barefoot:
I have only tried running bare for parts of 2 winters. I think any advice I might be able to offer is test your limits gradually, giving yourself a day in between to really be able to judge how your feet are reacting, and do NOT feel pressured by what other people are trying or say is comfortable.
 
The most important fact I learned was that somehow the camera turned your hair a different color from your avatar pic's.

Great report. It sounds like you are coming through the winter in very respectable shape. (unlike my own sorry self!) Good on ya!
ah ha ha ha! Yeah, I started letting my hair show its gray and am waiting to post a new avatar for that service. I have the "right" color for my BRS avatar, though. :)
 
... I get an awful subliminal picture of KB in a sparkly tutu banging the ground with a stick and yelling BEND ZEEE KNEES....akin to my old ( russian or something?) ballet teacher ( except she would whack our legs and say POINT ZEEE TOES! o_O)
...
Thank you Kenzalina Saxtonovovich!!!


I do believe we had the same ballet teacher. Only I dropped out after a month. Hey they wanted me to be in a show, after only 4 lessons... not because I was very good (I wasn't) but because I was the only guy in the class!
 
Yeah, I started letting my hair show its gray ... :)


I cannot criticize. I won't let my beard grow out because it would conflict so severely with my mental image of myself. I just can't stand the thought of looking at Ken Bob in the mirror every morning! (No offense intended!)