Back again. Figured I've had enough time to recover and set out once more to conquer week one day two. I made sure to have some fuel once I got home from work, and hydrate. Destressed from work while I gave myself some time to digest my food. About an hour and a half later I got off my duff and got into my makeshift running gear. This time I left my shoes at home altogether. Big step, but had to be done. If I maintained my good form, and kept vigilant for rocks and glass pieces, I ought to be fine.
I stuck to the nice smooth sidewalks as I started my warmup walk. I had my Garmin on and hit start. I made 4 cycles per the program going around my planned route from week one day one. I could feel all the tiny pieces of gravel through the soles of my feet but I carried on. I found only about 10 gravel sized pieces of glass along the route as I did the walks in between. Hindsight, if I had encountered any pieces glass too small to notice (slivers) during my run, they did no damage I can see.
I got a wild hair and headed to the crappy asphalt walking path that did me in last time to check out the difference. I did one cycle on that surface. I definitely feel uncomfortable on that surface, and in compensation I hit with a midfoot strike.... more like a whole foot kind of plop which doesn't seem to hurt. Even when I tried to force my landing more onto the ball of my foot, my instincts kept putting me back to a midfoot strike. I noticed this is not springy and takes more energy, so after I did the minute run, I walked right back to the sidewalk route which added to my walking time.
Once there, I decided to do one more minute run then head home. I found out that last run was the fastest of my day and covered the greatest distance. That sidewalk felt awesome compared to the asphalt walking path. I plugged in and found I had covered a total distance of 1.6 miles. After a bit of math, 1 mile of that was walking before or between runs. I looked at my feet which looked great (considering), and I could definitely feel the most sensitive place was on the pad behind the third and fourth toes where I land most often. Idon't believe I have any blisters, and certainly there are none at the surface. My landing areas are all the cherry pink/red and some small reddish dots where I must have ran onto tiny pieces of gravel on my run I couldn't see and avoid (stuff smaller than a chia seed I usually don't worry about). No wounds, so it's all good. We'll see what tomorrow brings as I wait to feel what I have wrought.
I stuck to the nice smooth sidewalks as I started my warmup walk. I had my Garmin on and hit start. I made 4 cycles per the program going around my planned route from week one day one. I could feel all the tiny pieces of gravel through the soles of my feet but I carried on. I found only about 10 gravel sized pieces of glass along the route as I did the walks in between. Hindsight, if I had encountered any pieces glass too small to notice (slivers) during my run, they did no damage I can see.
I got a wild hair and headed to the crappy asphalt walking path that did me in last time to check out the difference. I did one cycle on that surface. I definitely feel uncomfortable on that surface, and in compensation I hit with a midfoot strike.... more like a whole foot kind of plop which doesn't seem to hurt. Even when I tried to force my landing more onto the ball of my foot, my instincts kept putting me back to a midfoot strike. I noticed this is not springy and takes more energy, so after I did the minute run, I walked right back to the sidewalk route which added to my walking time.
Once there, I decided to do one more minute run then head home. I found out that last run was the fastest of my day and covered the greatest distance. That sidewalk felt awesome compared to the asphalt walking path. I plugged in and found I had covered a total distance of 1.6 miles. After a bit of math, 1 mile of that was walking before or between runs. I looked at my feet which looked great (considering), and I could definitely feel the most sensitive place was on the pad behind the third and fourth toes where I land most often. Idon't believe I have any blisters, and certainly there are none at the surface. My landing areas are all the cherry pink/red and some small reddish dots where I must have ran onto tiny pieces of gravel on my run I couldn't see and avoid (stuff smaller than a chia seed I usually don't worry about). No wounds, so it's all good. We'll see what tomorrow brings as I wait to feel what I have wrought.
