I hadn't really run since a Thanksgiving day 10K, and had never run a 1/2 marathon before, but for some reason (mostly that it was forecast to be 30 degrees F) I got it into my head to run the Securian Half Marathon in St. Paul last Saturday. Very fast conditions and/or crowd. Median pace was 8:33 min/mile. (I guess only the die-hards come out in the middle of winter. In summer races the median is slower. The Red, White and Boom on July 4th in Minneapolis had a medium pace just under 10 min/mile).
Since this was my first 1/2 (and I hadn't trained) I decided to just see if I could run at roughly a constant 8:00 minute pace in my Bikila VFF's. Did this (although my Garmin has the race a bit longer than the organizers, so they say I averaged 8:01.) My PR for a 10K is 45 minutes and those online race calculators say, with training, I should be able to do a 1/2 marathon at a 7:38 pace.
First, the entire race got screwed up at the turnaround. Due to what they say was a volunteer mistake, they had everyone turn around about 3/4 mile too early. (The volunteers at the actual turnaround were supposedly just standing around wondering where everyone was!). So the race was only 11.6 miles according to them. My Garmin had it as 11.77.
But overcast, 30 degrees and only a little wind seem to me to be near perfect conditions. I did have a good time and wasn't really winded because, while not running, I've done a lot of cardio this winter (swimming and x-country skiing).
I met one other minimalist wearing water shoes. Saw no actual barefooters. Lots of interest in the VFF's! Lots of evangelizing on my part.
And boy was I sore! My calves are finally ok, 6 days later. On Sunday and Monday, I could hardly walk and even then, only very slowly. I was able to walk full speed by Wednesday and without calf pain by Thursday. Minimalist is much easier on the joints (no hip or knee pain, which was bad before I switched), but much much harder on the calves! (Of course, everyone here already knows this.)
Has anyone else taken this long to recover?
Since this was my first 1/2 (and I hadn't trained) I decided to just see if I could run at roughly a constant 8:00 minute pace in my Bikila VFF's. Did this (although my Garmin has the race a bit longer than the organizers, so they say I averaged 8:01.) My PR for a 10K is 45 minutes and those online race calculators say, with training, I should be able to do a 1/2 marathon at a 7:38 pace.
First, the entire race got screwed up at the turnaround. Due to what they say was a volunteer mistake, they had everyone turn around about 3/4 mile too early. (The volunteers at the actual turnaround were supposedly just standing around wondering where everyone was!). So the race was only 11.6 miles according to them. My Garmin had it as 11.77.
But overcast, 30 degrees and only a little wind seem to me to be near perfect conditions. I did have a good time and wasn't really winded because, while not running, I've done a lot of cardio this winter (swimming and x-country skiing).
I met one other minimalist wearing water shoes. Saw no actual barefooters. Lots of interest in the VFF's! Lots of evangelizing on my part.
And boy was I sore! My calves are finally ok, 6 days later. On Sunday and Monday, I could hardly walk and even then, only very slowly. I was able to walk full speed by Wednesday and without calf pain by Thursday. Minimalist is much easier on the joints (no hip or knee pain, which was bad before I switched), but much much harder on the calves! (Of course, everyone here already knows this.)
Has anyone else taken this long to recover?
