Mileage Reporting 38th week 2013

[Scratch]

Around 2.7 miles recovery pace last evening. It was recovery pace in more ways than one. I'm taking on some new responsibilities at work and went into the main office in Philly to learn them from the person who is retiring. The traffic for the drive in wasn't so terrible but the rush hour traffic on the way home was a nightmare. But the worst thing was I didn't think it would be a good idea to walk into the main office barefoot or wearing sandals, so I took a pair of shoes and socks with me and put them on after I got parked.

Holy cripes those things felt awful. It felt like I lost all connection to the ground and I wondered how it was I used to walk around in those shoes and thought they were comfortable back in my shodden days. I gained a full appreciation of why barefooters sometimes call them foot coffins. It really felt like they made my feet dead.

Needless to say, as soon as I left that day and got to my car, I took them off. Still, the whole drive home it felt like I had been, I don't know, violated or imprisoned.

By the time I got home, I knew all I wanted to do was run easy and reconnect. It took about 15 minutes before the run started feeling right and good, and then I just took that until the end. I get to look forward to wearing shoes again next Wednesday. Ugh.

 

[Owlrun]

Had a first class 5 miler this morn 5 am. Started out with a jumbotron moon hanging low in the western sky. 80 degrees still and still humid as usual. I was rewarded with a falling star at mile 3 ish. That was really unique and a nice screech owl calling going through several different vocialazations. No cowbells at all. Only a low key 3 for tomarrow and 10 k on Saturday. Looks like the sky will be clear and temps in the 70’s.

Feet and legs just fine
Happy trails

 

[mokaman]

Sunday - nice refreshing rain run...9 miles on smooth sidewalks, no watch but keep a good medium pace. Mostly this was one long gradual uphill then back downhill.

Monday - went up to Summit Lake below Mt Evans...short trail hike then ran about 2 miles plus 1 mile of walking on the paved road that goes up to the the Mt Evans peak. Altitude is about 13,000 here had to take it a bit slow...my son even ran about 1/2 mile on the downhill part.



Today back home in Georgia...ran the local roads 7.3 miles. no watch guessing a bit under an hour...mixed up the speeds mostly medium pace.

 

[scedastic]

wednesday:
am: about 3 mi early, perfect temps,
a few sit ups and such

lunch: 30 min swim

 

[NickW]

About 20 minutes of weeding this morning. No running because I have to much to do today to get ready for tomorrows little bundle of joy. On a side note, I've been wearing shoes lately and my heels, ankles, and achilles have been feeling better than they have in a long time. I think I may be done with barefoot and sandals for awhile. My new Nike Free 3.0 v5 seem to fit really well thanks to the mesh upper and the much wider forefoot than the normal nikes. Hope I'm not disappointing you all too much. I wonder if my having been in shoes for most of my life has just permanently damaged my calves and feet to the point that I will never be totally free from shoes. At least they are only 4mm of drop and are super flexible and don't restrict my toes much. They are a bit warm though, I do miss my sandals and barefoot for that.

 

[NickW]

Oh, and I forgot to mention that my soles are still way bruised from the Warrior Dash race a couple weekends ago. I stepped yesterday from the hardwood floors in the house to the rug and only had half the foot land on the rug while the other half was on the hardwood floor and it hit just right and nearly had me in doubling over in pain. Hopefully the bruising will go away soon.

 

[Bare Lee]

About 20 minutes of weeding this morning. No running because I have to much to do today to get ready for tomorrows little bundle of joy. On a side note, I've been wearing shoes lately and my heels, ankles, and achilles have been feeling better than they have in a long time. I think I may be done with barefoot and sandals for awhile. My new Nike Free 3.0 v5 seem to fit really well thanks to the mesh upper and the much wider forefoot than the normal nikes. Hope I'm not disappointing you all too much. I wonder if my having been in shoes for most of my life has just permanently damaged my calves and feet to the point that I will never be totally free from shoes. At least they are only 4mm of drop and are super flexible and don't restrict my toes much. They are a bit warm though, I do miss my sandals and barefoot for that.

All the best to you and yours tomorrow Nick! I got a peek at my wife's guts and uterus when our son was born. C-sections are trippy!

As for the shoes, hey man do what works! Running is more important than barefoot running. It could very well be that your feet have been permanently altered, or that it will take even more time for them to adapt. Only you know if it's worth continuing the experiment. In any case, please don't disappear like Lomad did.

 

[Barefoot Dama]

About 20 minutes of weeding this morning. No running because I have to much to do today to get ready for tomorrows little bundle of joy. On a side note, I've been wearing shoes lately and my heels, ankles, and achilles have been feeling better than they have in a long time. I think I may be done with barefoot and sandals for awhile. My new Nike Free 3.0 v5 seem to fit really well thanks to the mesh upper and the much wider forefoot than the normal nikes. Hope I'm not disappointing you all too much. I wonder if my having been in shoes for most of my life has just permanently damaged my calves and feet to the point that I will never be totally free from shoes. At least they are only 4mm of drop and are super flexible and don't restrict my toes much. They are a bit warm though, I do miss my sandals and barefoot for that.

Good luck tomorrow Nick and don't you worry about running in shoes we still want you around do what you know is best for you.
Keep us posted about your little bundle of joy when she arrives..if you happen to have time thou.

 

[NickW]

All the best to you and yours tomorrow Nick! I got a peek at my wife's guts and uterus when our son was born. C-sections are trippy!

As for the shoes, hey man do what works! Running is more important than barefoot running. It could very well be that your feet have been permanently altered, or that it will take even more time for them to adapt. Only you know if it's worth continuing the experiment. In any case, please don't disappear like Lomad did.

Hey thanks man. 2.5 years in and still having problems... I have learned a lot about form and I still believe that barefoot is best, unless you have actual health or medical problems that is. I still am very adamant about the types of shoes my son wears and I always win on that with my wife. She actually see's the difference in his form now from barefoot to sandals to shoes. Barefoot and his sandals his form is nearly identical and he is fast and graceful, shoes, not so much. We just got him new shoes that are super flexible and wide and his form is nearly the same as in his sandals and barefoot. Anyhow, I do know I will be disappearing for a few days at least, but I don't plan on completely leaving here. I bet Lomad is still lurking on here, just probably doesn't reply as much. It's kind of amazing how good I feel today despite having run 5 miles yesterday. Normally my ankle/heel/achilles are killing me within a few hours of a run. I don't really know that I have pf anymore, but maybe still have the achilles tendonitis or tendinosis.

 

[Barefoot Dama]

one mile warm up, one mile cool down and hill repeats in between.

 

[NickW]

Thanks Dama!

 

[NickW]

I should also say after trying these newest Nike free 3.0 v5, I am surprised by our hate on Nike so much. If I had been wearing these my whole life I doubt my feet and lower legs would be so screwed up. I guess I just remember Nike's more traditional shoes and didn't realize just how different their free 3.0's are. Now, I can understand the hate for their traditional shoes, but the free's are a huge step closer to being a good shoe. Still a lot of cushion which I know some don't like, but they are still less cushion by a large margin than a lot of trainers. There's the ultra low minshoes, under 10mm of sole, just minshoes 10-17mm of sole, and then the standard trainer of today that's closer to 30mm of sole. Nike free 3.0 is at the top of middle category and bottom of top category. Of course, these categories are subjective, but I think most of the runnimg world would say it's fairly fair and reasonable, and they might even raise the thickness of that middle category some. Anyhow, it was just an interesting observation I had of these. Oh and I find them better fitting than any of Merrells line up of "barefoot" shoes.

 

[Line Kolbe]

Today: 6 km morning walk and later a back workout in the gym

 

[Barefoot Dama]

I should also say after trying these newest Nike free 3.0 v5, I am surprised by our hate on Nike so much. If I had been wearing these my whole life I doubt my feet and lower legs would be so screwed up. I guess I just remember Nike's more traditional shoes and didn't realize just how different their free 3.0's are. Now, I can understand the hate for their traditional shoes, but the free's are a huge step closer to being a good shoe. Still a lot of cushion which I know some don't like, but they are still less cushion by a large margin than a lot of trainers. There's the ultra low minshoes, under 10mm of sole, just minshoes 10-17mm of sole, and then the standard trainer of today that's closer to 30mm of sole. Nike free 3.0 is at the top of middle category and bottom of top category. Of course, these categories are subjective, but I think most of the runnimg world would say it's fairly fair and reasonable, and they might even raise the thickness of that middle category some. Anyhow, it was just an interesting observation I had of these. Oh and I find them better fitting than any of Merrells line up of "barefoot" shoes.

back on my shoe wearing days i had two pairs of the free originals and at the time i did love them- light and flexible then i went barefoot.
anyways, i tried to wear them to work one day and i just couldn't stand the rubber arch of the shoe touching my arch. i went a little insane because of that so i gave them away
i am glad you found them to be helpful to your needs. and for the record i didn't like the merrels either

 

[NickW]

The new Nike free 3.0 V5 Dama don't really have an arch in them at all. The free 5.0 does and I couldnt stand those. Not sure about the Free 4.0 because no where locally had them to try on.

 

[Barefoot Dama]

The new Nike free 3.0 V5 Dama don't really have an arch in them at all. The free 5.0 does and I couldnt stand those. Not sure about the Free 4.0 because no where locally had them to try on.

do they fit you weird feet(sorry but you have say that in the past about your feet) are they really wide?
maybe I sould take another look at them if what you're saying about the arch is true.

 

[Bare Lee]

back on my shoe wearing days i had two pairs of the free originals and at the time i did love them- light and flexible then i went barefoot.
anyways, i tried to wear them to work one day and i just couldn't stand the rubber arch of the shoe touching my arch. i went a little insane because of that so i gave them away
i am glad you found them to be helpful to your needs. and for the record i didn't like the merrels either

Ha, I also bought a pair of the Nike Frees, 2.0 I think. When I first came back Stateside in 2010, I knew I needed to get back into weights and running, and I heard about the barefoot running trend soon after (my younger brother sent me a link to the Lieberman YouTube video), so I bought the Frees, although I did a few short runs barefoot. (I had run barefoot 20 years before as part of my karate training in Japan, but it never occurred to me that I was 'barefoot running,' since everything in karate is done barefoot.)

Then one thing led to another and I didn't actually start running until November. At that point I figured I best first get the running part down and then the barefoot running part, so I started running in the Nike Frees I bought in the summer. My heels felt a little funny in them although I too enjoyed how light and flexible they were.

So, as is typical, I threw money at the problem and bought some Kayano gels around New Year's, after a cute thing at footlocker talked me into the idea that I was over-pronating or something. They didn't feel right either, so I ran for about a month in both the Frees and the Kayanos, neither one feeling quite right, then I stopped exercising altogether in February as we began some serious nesting in preparation for our son's entrance into post-uterine life. In the spring, after a month or two of barefoot walking, I started running again, this time really committed to both getting back into running and doing it barefoot.

Since then, I've used the Kayanos and Frees as cycling shoes, but like Dama says, I hate the way they touch my arch. I feel violated. So 180 dollars or so down the drain. I still use my Merrel Bare Access shoes as cycling shoes though. But I didn't like running in them as a cold weather shoe. I had to think about my form and foot landing with them on, and I hate having to think when I'm running. The Merrel Vapor Gloves are pretty good though, and they've become my go-to shoe in cold but dry conditions.

 

[Barefoot Dama]

Since then, I've used the Kayanos and Frees as cycling shoes, but like Dama says, I hate the way they touch my arch. I feel violated. So 180 dollars or so down the drain. I still use my Merrel Bare Access shoes as cycling shoes though. But I didn't like running in them as a cold weather shoe. I had to think about my form and foot landing with them on, and I hate having to think when I'm running. The Merrel Vapor Gloves are pretty good though, and they've become my go-to shoe in cold but dry conditions.

Very anoying isn't it? maybe I should look at the vapors instead

 

[NickW]

I'm with both of you about the arch thing. I hate it. Dama, as far as the width thing is concerned, my midfoot being wide is where I have the problem. With these due to the way the upper is constructed, with very very little structure, my wide midfoot is able to spill over as needed. My biggest complaint is that the upper is a bit like a sock at first and feels slightly constricting, but after several days of use they are breaking in quite nicely and are not bothering me anymore. The Free 5.0 and the Free 4.0 both have some structure to the uppers and so does the older versions of the Free 3.0, which for me is a serious no go because of the wide midfoot. My toes have lots of splay room though with the mesh upper. One thing to note, typical Nike shoe, they run half size small. So my normal size is an 11.5 but in the Nike's I where a 12.

 

[Bare Lee]

Very anoying isn't it? maybe I should look at the vapors instead

The Vapors are similar to the Moc3s in groundfeel, only a bit snugger, so it depends on your preference for snug or loose. I think the size is a bit off though. I normally wear 10 men's but with the Vapor Gloves I wear 9.5. The traction isn't great either, so for snowy conditions I prefer the Vivobarefoot Neo Trails, which are awful on dry asphalt, because of the lugs. I also tried the Vivobarefoot Agua Lites, which also have excellent groundfeel, but a bit less traction than the Vapor Gloves, and are more expensive. I'm still looking for a minimalist minimalist winter shoe to wear in dry conditions with better grip, but perhaps with a super thin sole there's only so much that can be done. Dutchie has recommended the Kigo Drives I think, so I might look into those. I dunno though. I only need shoes a couple dozen times in the winter, I wonder if it's worth the extra expense of continuing my search for the ideal.