3 miles, 22:48, VFF's, dirt track

Back on the track for 3 miles to finish out my first week of training at 40 miles.

mile 1: 8:13
mile 2: 7:57
mile 3: 6:37

Weekly total: 40 miles

Ran 10 miles this morning on a dirt track, in my XC racing flats. I love running in the wilderness as much as the next trail runner, but unlike many trail runners I also enjoy going round and round on a 400 meter track. It makes me feel like I have total control over my pace, and I like knowing exactly how fast I'm going, and seeing how much harder I can push myself. I would say it comes from my roots of running track in high school, but I never ran track in high school, so I don't know where it comes from.

I was pleased with my time on the track today. I started of slowly the first mile, then kept a pretty good pace through the next 4 miles, then reigned it back in so I could finish the 10 mile run, then let it fly the last mile. I was happy an surprised that I was able to bust our the last mile in 6:39. This was an excellent workout conisdering my lack of training over the last 6+ months.

splits:

mile 1: 8:43
mile 2: 8:11
mile 3: 8:08
mile 4: 7:52
mile 5: 7:34
mile 6: 8:26
mile 7: 8:24
mile 8: 8:21
mile 9: 8:26
mile 10: 6:39

Total time: 1:20:49
overall pace: 8:05
dirt track, XC flats

7 miles, 8:30 pace, roads, VFF's

felt good, bottoms of feet a bit sore, but no blisters. Felt better than yesterday, probably because I had more sleep.

7.5 miles, VFF's, road, 8:56 pace

I am in Billings today for work, it's a little over 2 hours east of where I live in Bozeman. Billings is the antithesis of Western Montana, Big city, no mountains, both things I would rather avoid. They do of the Rimrocks, which in essence is a rim of rock that goes along the city, other than that it's got nothing for me. I got out for a 7.5 mile run this morning in my Vibrams. It was the longest continual run I've done in months, I felt good, though i was definitely getting tight at the end.

3 miles, 30 minutes, barefoot

nice and easy. tender feet, but no blisters...yet. I'm learning to relax more which helps ease the pain of stepping on tiny things on the sidewalk, relaxed feet are more absorbent than stiff feet.

This afternoon my feet were still tender from my barefoot run to work so I decided to start my run home with my homemade huarache running sandals . These are nice sandals to walk around in but I had never tried running in them, after a few minutes a realized that A.) they were heavy (heavier than anything i've run in in a long time anyway) This is because I used the bottom of an old rubber boot to create my sandals, and B.) they were effecting my foot strike, and causing some foreign stretching in my Achilles, so I ditched the sandals and went barefoot, instantly I felt better. The feet were still tender but I'm learning more and more how to lessen the impact of those tiny pebbles and debris.

A few hours later I went back out for another short run, I started in my VFF's because of tender feet but ditched them for bare feet after about 3/4 mile. I am really starting to realize the difference between minimalist footwear, like the VFF's and barefoot, there's a big difference! VFF's are great for improving running form, but nothing is as good for your form as running in bare feet. With VFF's you're still blocking a lot of the feedback your bare soles get from the ground. You're still able to be a little sloppy with foot placement and dragging your feet off the ground. If you really want to perfect your form, eliminate blisters and injury skip the VFF's and go barefoot. build up short and slow until you reteach your feet how to run. That being said I'm still going to wear my VFF's because I need to step up my training and put in the miles, and right now I can't put in the miles I need to get ready for a 100 miler with bare feet alone. If you need to wear something on your feet VFF's are the way to go!

so I ended up running another 3+ miles bringing my daily total to 7.5 miles. All around 10 minute pace, due to being barefoot and generally just taking it easy. This week I'm not focusing on speed. I'm just putting in some miles to remind my body what it's like to run consistent mileage, something I haven't done in a long time!

I ran to work this morning barefoot. it's about 2.2 miles. The pace was slow (about 10:30) due to teeny tiny pebbles on the sidewalks which can be a pain to a tender foot. I've come a long way in my minimalist running. My lower legs and feet muscle are strong enough to handle barefooting for long distances, but the soles of my feet are still tender, so that's what I'm working on now. I'd like to be able to run a marathon barefoot sometime in the near future.