Mileage reporting 27th week of 2014

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Barefooters
Jul 9, 2013
557
2,138
93
54
5.34 easy miles this morning, the last day of June and the 181st day of the year. It seems kinda crazy the running numbers I've been putting up these last couple of months, but everything is feeling good so I think I've managed the mileage increase appropriately.

This week will be a cutback week for me. It sounds utterly crazy that my cutback week plans to have somewhere around 35 miles for it. Before this year I had never run more than 35 miles in a week.

Finished up the month with 189.1 miles, about 90 of them were barefoot and the rest in Xeros.

I really like this running thing. I especially like it when barefoot or in something minimal.
 
5.5 barefoot miles in the morning on wet pavement. Heavy rain the day before put a lot of debris on the roads. Managed to avoid the larger gravel while oggling the beautiful yards and houses. I am getting garden envy for sure over here. Afternoon a 6 mile shod hike with two of my kids. Rainy and cold but a lot of fun. I don't think my 10 year old had ever walked though fog before. Evening, I did a 6 mile shod run. Was going to take it easy after dinner and 1.5 liters of Weiss bier, but I felt great and did the run in 48 minutes. Under 7 mm pace for mile 3. Love the elevation here, but need to be careful not to push the pace.
 
14 somewhat difficult barefoot running miles, but with my daughter along side, so that was nice, and my husband running the opposite way on the pond loop so he could go his own pace but see us more often. Followed by minimalist grocery shopping in my Luna's, as it was heating up by the afternoon and I didn't want to fry my tootsies in the parking lot.
 
5.6 miles in the steambath this morning. It's Tuesday, so I tried out 4 x .5 mile intervals with 2 minute recoveries. No complaints except for how while doing them, I could see drops of sweat flying off my arms.
 
I found myself being "chased" by a couple of guys who were determined not to let a barefooter beat them whilst on my way to work this morning so I upped my pace and let them follow me for a mile before they turned off. That set me up well for a quick trip to the office on a warm and muggy morning.

My grin was even broader than usual after that run!
 
I took Fri, Sat, and Sun off last week, had family in town and needed some recovery ...I did some running drills each day though.

Monday 5 miles, two were warm up at around 11:15 mm pace, then the next three miles I would walk about 20 paces then do an 80 to 200 meter stride....just having fun and enjoying RUNNING :)

I had a good breakthrough in my form and technique over the weekend , and feel like I am actually running now, whereas before it was a kind of fast shuffle almost.

I will probably have to rebuild my endurance running this way, cause its using completely different muscle groups it seems.

All my core muscles are sore after those stride intervals yesterday....I'm using my hip flexors and lower abdominals way more, and running on a more bended knee...also, I gave up worrying about how to land altogether, and focussed on how to lift off, which is where my breakthrough came from...

Seems like running is about lifting not landing, and its easier to lift a more bent leg than a less bent leg.

By engaging the core to lift the feet instead of using the hamstrings to lift the feet, I have dramatically increased the speed and ease of running, but at the sacrifice of endurance...but endurance can be built...I can run in that shuffle kinda gait at around 11:30 per mile for hours and hours, but it does not have the same joy as 'lifting off' and flying/running lol

I completely eliminated the 'push off' and replaced it with bent knee 'lift off'...this allows for a much more aggressive forward lean and more speed...I can only run about 200 meters like this before going anaerobic, but thats fine, cause its pain free joyous running...and I will just run 200 meters like that over and over until the body adapts, it might take a year to build up to the mileage I was doing with that shuffling gait, but I think I will have more fun, and will be a better runner for it in the long run.
 
Walked dogs for an hour in the morning before it got hot. Went for a bike ride in between games. Damn Argentina made me miss a few minutes of US. I told em not to go into overtime but they didn't listen. What's new.
 
I found myself being "chased" by a couple of guys who were determined not to let a barefooter beat them whilst on my way to work this morning so I upped my pace and let them follow me for a mile before they turned off. That set me up well for a quick trip to the office on a warm and muggy morning.

My grin was even broader than usual after that run!

Haha, thats really cool Chris.
 
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4.5 recovery pace miles this morning. It seems like I've had a little notch forward take hold. This morning for the first time ever while using my recovery heart rate ceiling, I didn't have to take a walk at any of the places that I've usually had to, in spite of the fact that it was 75 degrees and nearly 100% humidity. With a similar run compared to last Wednesday, I ran today with a lower average heart rate and ran about 30 seconds per mile faster than last week, although I imagine if I had covered as many miles as last week, I probably would have seen the average heart rate for the run creep up another beat or two. That still would have been lower than last week.

Now if I could just find some way to lower the sweat rate and stay cool in the southeast PA summer weather, it'd be like running bliss.
 
4.5 recovery pace miles this morning. It seems like I've had a little notch forward take hold. This morning for the first time ever while using my recovery heart rate ceiling, I didn't have to take a walk at any of the places that I've usually had to, in spite of the fact that it was 75 degrees and nearly 100% humidity. With a similar run compared to last Wednesday, I ran today with a lower average heart rate and ran about 30 seconds per mile faster than last week, although I imagine if I had covered as many miles as last week, I probably would have seen the average heart rate for the run creep up another beat or two. That still would have been lower than last week.

Now if I could just find some way to lower the sweat rate and stay cool in the southeast PA summer weather, it'd be like running bliss.

Haha, great job!

But...



EMBRACE THE SWEAT SCRATCH!


EMBRACE THE SWEAT.... :)
 
5 km. Ended up with a piece of glass in my heel. (Running over the glass wasn't a problem, but as soon as I walked...). Trip to the GP. Anaesthesia. Gynaecological chair (! I don't even know what you call them; the doc needed better working conditions, ie better light.) Surprisingly long for the wound to heal properly.

And yet, all I want is to run again... (Different course, though).
 
15km exploring around the little town of Warrnambool, where we are staying for a few days. Running is a great way to see a place. I started out running through the residential areas, with some nice houses, then ran around the back of a school near the railroad tracks on freezing cold grass before picking up a path that led along the Hopkins River to the ocean. I ran out of path and took to the beach for a bit, and saw a seal on the beach. I kept my distance though, and headed back up to a path that followed the shore. I got slightly disoriented on the way back into town, but I made it back with only one or two wrong turns and a couple of lucky guesses. Going out of my way a little bit added to the distance, and I did end up with my feet feeling a bit sore after some rough surfaces scuffed them up a bit. Tomorrow might need to be a rest day.
 
9 miles. Started out in Lunas because of a bruise, but couldn't stand it anymore after 6 miles and took them off. The sandals are great for thr desert terrain, but on the regular paths they just leave me feeling flat. Could have been the heat, too, but even though I had to slow down to baby the foot some, bare still felt better. Funniest thing I saw today was a lady walking 2 full grown (and very nicely groomed) sheep on the greenbelt path that runs between all the houses! Didn't stop to ask her why, partly because my dog thought it was a little odd, too.

Oh, yesterday all I could manage was a swim. 30 minutes.
 
9 miles. Started out in Lunas because of a bruise, but couldn't stand it anymore after 6 miles and took them off. The sandals are great for thr desert terrain, but on the regular paths they just leave me feeling flat. Could have been the heat, too, but even though I had to slow down to baby the foot some, bare still felt better. Funniest thing I saw today was a lady walking 2 full grown (and very nicely groomed) sheep on the greenbelt path that runs between all the houses! Didn't stop to ask her why, partly because my dog thought it was a little odd, too.

Oh, yesterday all I could manage was a swim. 30 minutes.


Haha, thats funny about the sheep.


Bruises on the feet seem to heal faster if ya stay active through the pain...more blood going in and out of the area is probably the reason if I had to guess....sorry to hear you got bruised, but it can be a good thing sometimes I think, because running on bruised feet makes you run 'lighter', and lately I've come to realize how important, and fun, it is to run light fun and easy, even when its a strong cardio lift :)

Don't get distracted by the aches and forget to HAVE FUN while lifting yourself into a beautiful RUN!
 
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Haha, thats funny about the sheep.


Bruises on the feet seem to heal faster if ya stay active through the pain...more blood going in and out of the area is probably the reason if I had to guess....sorry to hear you got bruised, but it can be a good thing sometimes I think, because running on bruised feet makes you run 'lighter', and lately I've come to realize how important, and fun, it is to run light fun and easy, even when its a strong cardio lift :)

Don't get distracted by the aches and forget to HAVE FUN while lifting yourself into a beautiful RUN!
We have to know ourselves. I have experimented and learned more about when it works for me to "run through pain." But I also know that I can easily push too hard and exacerbate things. This particular spot on my foot is more than a surface bruise and nearly drives me to tears if I am not careful. Sometimes pain is a message that needs to be heeded.