Breakthrough ... albeit a small one!!

This mornings run marks the 7th in 7 days.  All of them 20 mins or less.  All of them at an easy pace.

This was in marked difference to the previous 10 to 12 weeks, where I had been running every two or three days, but trying to make up for the gaps by running harder or longer than I should have.

So, this week was like calming things down, taking advantage of the things I'd learned (consciously and subconsciously), and really concentrating on landing under the hips.

And the last 2 or three days really feel like I've cracked it.  Everything is going very smoothly.  And all the aches and pains have gone (aches and pains brought on by trying to run too hard using muscles that just weren't ready for it yet).

So, more of the same next week.  And the week after. And the week after.  In fact I think I'll keep going - easy short and frequent - for the month of November, perhaps letting myself go for up to 30 mins by the end of the month.  But certainly no speed work or tempo runs for now!

Very happy

Coldplay sang

"Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard
Oh take me back to the start"

Some days that's how I feel.

I found, even at week 12, I had so many little niggles and aches, I just wondered if it's worth it.

The Book says "think of this as taking up a new sport".  Well, does that mean I need to put in another 10,000 hours (10 years) to perfect it?  Of course not, but sometimes it feels like it!

It's all my fault.  A bit like a recovering addict, I've fallen off the wagon a few times, and every time I do, it feels like starting from the start.  The falls, in my case, have been that one session, or that parkrun, or that race, where I've thought "oh, I'll just test myself" or "I must be ready by now".  But I haven't been, and I'm left feeling like a bag of spanners.

The latest lapse was a parkrun, 9 days ago (19 mins).  I pushed hard in the second half because I felt good.  But it left me with aches in the feet, ankles, legs and hips for at least 5 days. 

However, Everything's Not Lost (last track, Parachutes)!!

I took 4 days off running, completely, and all the niggles have gone, save the subtlest of what feels like bruising under the heels.  I'm walking down stairs looking straight ahead, not looking like a crab.  I ran Eastleigh parkrun (grassy, hilly, 5km) on Saturday in bare feet (24 mins).  I waited all afternoon for the pain to kick in, but it never came.  I ran off road today in Merrell Gloves, and it felt great.

So this is my promise to me:  No more speed of any kind, until the muscles, tendons, and ligaments are ready to take it. 

But I do want to acknowledge that I've been at this for 12+ weeks now.  So I am going to start running every day, strictly 20 mins max (more likely 15 mins), at a very steady pace.  Off road where possible.  I'll listen to my body, and at the first sign of a niggle, take the day off.

I will behave!

I had an email from Keith (thanks Keith!).  12 weeks in, Keith gave me these balancing exercises to try.  Keith's exercise in blue, my results in black, below.

KEITH: A couple of ideas to experiment with. You only need to get the balance right now. And possibly experiment with the cadence to find what's comfortable.

 

KEITH: (a) Run along and feel the heels landing in front of you for 4 or 5 landings (heel strike)  (b)now switch and feel the toes landing way behind you for 4 or 5 landings (c) now try for a whole-foot landing - so you have decelerated, accelerated, gone at constant speed. Repeat a few times with the feet going less in front and less behind until you can subtly feel yourself precisely balancing

MY RESULT: The deliberate extending brought back memories of a heel striking past!  As you would expect, brought about a deceleration.
Then switching to toe landing, behind the hips brought about scuffing of the shoes upon landing, but apart from that, did not feel that unnatural. Moving the landing so far back also required some leaning forward with the hips, but I could start to feel what you mean by balance.
Bringing the feet back under the hips felt comfortable. And then I was able to move slightly back and forward with the landing, and interestingly, I think that the balance point is possibly a few millimetres behind where I have been landing the past few weeks. But we're talking millimetres here!!

KEITH: While running raise the back heel slightly and feel an acceleration. then raise the back heel less and feel the deceleration. This too is a balancing exercise.

MY RESULT: I was raising the heel, then dropping the heel, to feel the acceleration and deceleration. I could easily feel the effects here! I know you're not suggesting that the runner raises heels to accelerate, rather that the runner leans forward from the hips. But it was interesting nonetheless. Again, the balance point was clear. I think I'd already had a go at this one, without realising, because of when I was filming at the track on Friday, a the UK National Jumps Coach (happened to be at the track) pointed out that he thought I was raising the heel too much - he was right - I was accentuating the movement for the camera!

KEITH: Wile running fast start lifting the knees slightly you should feel a deceleration - now stop lifting them - this too is a balancing exercise.

MY RESULT: Not as successful as the other two experiments, but I ache a bit today so never quite got up to what you or I might call "fast"! But I did notice that it brought on what you might call "prancing". And also the deceleration you talk of.

A couple more videos, 

Here are a couple of drills from the book.  At the start of each drill (and mid-run sometimes too) I like to raise my arms to check my posture.  One of the best bits of advice from the book is to simulate reaching up as high as possible.  You'll see this at the start of each drill.

In this clip are a mixture of drills, particularly "Keith's Game Changer"
In the first clip, I experiment with the bum flicks, leaning forward, standing upright, leaning forward once more.
The second is more of the same
The third is some high knees
https://youtu.be/HmcBYOcr9Og


In this video, I take a trip down memory lane, and demonstrate how not to do it, in shoes you shouldn't be wearing!
https://youtu.be/-b9Kc5zz9rc

Videos.

I took some footage - her are just 4 clips from about 12

Each clip has one or two real time passes, followed by a 20% speed slow motion.

Barefoot, steady, about 5:30/km, possibly 5:15/km
https://youtu.be/3KjClrxYitA

Barefoot, about 4:30/km
https://youtu.be/aPQ1gAb_gmk

Vivobarefoot Stealth, about 4:30/km
https://youtu.be/INFuRO_GmGk

Vivobarefoot Stealth, about 3:00/km
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGMycTCefYU

I've been thinking about warm ups, and what the optimum is.

It's clear that the first 500m is actually quite hard work!  At the moment, I'm very stiff, particularly in the calves and ankles (especially if I haven't rolled my feet on the spikey ball for a couple of days).

After 1km things have loosened up considerably.  At this point, I usually pause the run and do some dynamic stretching, particularly leg swings across the body.  There is a marked improvement in flexibility, and how comfortable the run is, after this.

But still at 2km, and even 2.5km, there's yet further loosening, and much more of a feeling of "floating" across the ground.  It feels like most of this is down to the calves being fully warmed up.

I think I've said in this blog before, but it's easy to see why the Kenyans take time to warm up, then pick up the pace after a few km.

Also

I've now got some Vivobarefoot Stealth shoes, which make the New Balance Minimus look and feel like padded monstrosities!!  I ran with the Vivo's in the woods tonight, and despite the near-slick soles, with a vertical foot landing beneath the body, there was very little slipping going on, even in the stick mud sections.

This weekend it really dawned on me that I will never be wearing the Asics Kayanos ever again.  All three pairs are up at the 700km mark, so near end of life anyway, but still...

More books...

Over the past couple of months, I've been catching up on running books.  Amongst others, this has included:

• Born to Run - by Christopher McDougall about native Mexicans
• Running with the Kenyans by Adharanand Finn
• The Bolt Supremacy by Richard Moore, about Jamaican running

All have a common theme (apart from the obvious!): that the kids in these cultures grow up running without shoes.  They may put shoes on later in life, but the point is that [virtually] none have shoes before teens, at the earliest.

This is slightly depressing because I can't see that a middle aged, pampered, western man will ever be able to replicate this upbringing!  But I'm going to have a good go at trying!

Here's a good-ish article that argues the point, although I can't yet get my head around the advent of poor running style in young teens as a result of education..??

http://www.runnersworld.com/barefoot-running/growing-up-shod

Perhaps it's also to do with too much sitting down.

Meanwhile...

It's now 10 weeks since I started the programme so here's a summary update:

• I can tell that my feet are a LOT stronger. 
• There are still muscles and ligaments/tendons in my legs that ache, but I'm keeping a close eye on them - nothing out of control. 
• I'm running every other day, for between 20 and 30 mins
• I had my second completely barefoot run on a tartan track yesterday.  Just 3km this time, so no blisters!  I can see why Keith says you'll develop good style faster with no shoes on, though.  Even though you can still get away with planting your heel in the rubber surface, the feedback through the foot from the landing/take off is a great constant reminder.

Onwards...