Running errands

I've been a running fool this week. After doing a double on Sunday, I did another double on Monday. I chose to take Tuesday off to rest, but when I was in the middle of assembling a pot roast in the crock pot last night, I discovered I wanted onions and a couple other ingredients.  Doing the math, I couldn't imagine my whole shopping list would have been very heavy. See, I wanted to run.  I was itching to go run.  I haven't felt that way in a while.  So I stuffed my Vibrams and my wallet into a backpack and ran barefoot to the grocery. I hadn't literally run an errand in a long time, so this was a fun, spontaneous way to get a couple miles in.  Since my ankles are tender today, I believe my body is telling me to ease up.  Hump Day is Rest Day for me for sure. Honest.

Sure, transforming an errand into an opportunity to run is cool, and saving a pint or two of gasoline is smart. But what I found most remarkable about that run was how well my feet handled it.  A couple weeks ago, a half-mile run around a freshly-paved, smooth track made my feet extremely tender.  Yesterday, I ran two miles over asphalt of varying quality, adjusting my technique to accomodate pebbly or smooth road. Several times during the brief run, I stopped thinking about my feet altogether and just ran. I got into a flow like I hadn't before, especially while barefooting.  Now I am thinking about what would happen if I went a little further.  Three miles?

Turning into a hobbit

Pretty soon, they are going to have to call me Barefoot Ed or something. This weekend, I ran totally barefoot twice.  I did two miles on Friday morning, and I did two-and-a-half hilly miles on Sunday.  Later Sunday morning, I did another 1.5 miles -- shod -- with my daughter.  This morning, I gave the soles a break and ran two shod miles.  All in all, my feet are doing well, and I am pleased with how the transition is going.  No stubbed toes or lacerations. I feel like I could probably start adding mileage in another week. Not too much.  Maybe a half mile barefoot here and there.

My daughter is doing great with cross-country.  Thursday, she did hill repeats.  I watched as children transformed from snarky, sassy, noisy bundles of energy to sweaty, whining, miserable goo-sacks in about fifteen minutes.  I should be ashamed at how much I enjoyed watching their suffering, but I think adults are supposed to encourage them to suffer.  It builds character or somesuch.  In any case, watching my baby girl grind up the long, merciless hill six times made me proud.  I was 38 before I dared to do such an unpleasant workout, and I certainly never tried it when it was >90°.  She'll have character coming out of her ears before this season is over.  I won't say she's enjoying it. She's like me in some ways.  She looks back on her practices fondly when they are behind her.

By the way, I didn't join her because a) I was helping Coach run the practice and b) I friggin' hate hill repeats.  Yeah, I was the bastard counting repetitions and telling the poor whipper-snappers to go Go GO!  Muahahahaha!

All in all, I am pleased with how my running is going. I'm impatient to increase my miles, but that's managable.  I'm thinking about my next race and wondering where and when it will be.

You never regret a run

Yesterday, I had the best of intentions. I woke up at 5 AM to run. Bleary-eyed, I staggered around the room, weighing my options, and ultimately, I decided to go back to bed. I haven't been sleeping well; every hour of sleep I can manage is precious to me. I'll run at lunch, I thought.

Lunchtime came, and my day up to that point had been so stressful that all I wanted to do was get out of the office and gorge myself on something fried. So rather than run, I went to a Japanese restaurant and filled up on pork katsu.  Looking back, rather than self-medicating on pig, I obviously should have self-medicated with a run. I can be dumb sometimes. But I told myself that I would run at my daughter's cross-country practice. I believed the lie.

Well, friends, my daughter was at the grandparents' house, and my wife went there in the afternoon to pick her up when a complication arose. My in-laws were grilling barbecue ribs. Ribs are my #1 trigger food. I am utterly incapable of resisting them.  Wifey called and asked whether or not I wanted to go out there after work and have some. Like a puppet on a string, I drove out there and stuffed myself with pig again and talked and talked, and before you can say arteriosclerosis, the time for cross-country had come and gone. 

I know what you are thinking because I said it to myself about a dozen times yesterday. The moral of my story is that I should have run when I had a chance, first thing in the morning. I would have started my day on a positive note. The exercise would have put me in a frame of mind other than "ticking time bomb." Plus, I wouldn't have been looking in vain for a slot to jam a 20-minute run into.

I didn't reproduce yesterday's error today. I produced a whole new error, sort of. So eager was I to leave work yesterday, I left my gym bag containing a set of running clothes, my Nikes, my Vibrams, and my Garmin. In the past, this would have been enough of an inconvenience to justify blowing off yet another day of running. But I was determined to run no matter what. I threw on a shirt and a pair of shorts and ran two miles totally barefoot. It was great. I know I shouldn't have run such a distance barefoot without building up properly, but I regret nothing.  It's been the highlight of my day so far.  It reminds me of the old runner's saying, which I will now butcher.

You never regret a run. You always regret the runs you blow off.

Work that skirt

Last week, my average run was two miles with .25 miles of those runs totally barefoot. That's not great, but in my limited experience, the transition to barefoot goes best when you go slowly.  This week I plan to add another quarter-mile of barefoot running to each workout and see how that goes.  My feet are happy, and I'm not experiencing any major aches and pains, apart from a sore back that kept me on the bench yesterday.

This week will be Little One's second week of cross country.  She's got time trials today.  We've been having fun with it, running together as much as possible.  I'm very glad she's enjoying herself, even though it's been frightfully hot during her practices.  She's able to run about a mile-and-a-half with brief walk breaks at the half-miles, but I doubt she really needs them.  Her seven-year-old body is strengthening up so quickly, I bet she'll be leaving me in the dust in a matter of weeks.  I'm a proud papa.

In other news, they have running skirts for guys now.  Or, if you like, sport kilts.  Jason Robillard reviewed one.  If I got a free one in the mail, I would wear and review it.  Still, it would take a few shots of scotch before I'd wear a sport kilt out in public.  I'm still trying to get comfortable going barefoot in public, or worse, wearing Vibrams.  I'm not quite at the kilt level of self-confidence yet. In my view, if you have the physique to carry off a kilt, like if you are an ultramarathoner like Jason or a NFL linebacker, then go for it.  Or phrased another way, if you look like you could kick someone's ass for making fun of your kilt, then rock on you magnificent bastard.  I've had enough sand kicked in my face for one lifetime.

What's Runner's World Thinking? [August 2010]

Ten pages about triathlons in Runner's World is like a large, unpeeled carrot jammed sideways in the middle of an ice cream cone.  There's nothing wrong with ice cream; nothing wrong with carrots; one just doesn't belong inside the other. 

Listen, I totally get the allure of triathlons.  Triathletes are awesome.  Ironmen and -women are incredible examples of human achievement. I am always humbled when I meet one, even if they turn out to be douchebags. I see someone with one of those IM tattoos, and I imagine him or her in a cape, fighting crime. I also have nothing against biking. Swimming is wonderful for cross-training. Hell, I even love Peter Sagal, the writer of the main article. But there's absolutely no reason why Runner's World needed to devote ten, precious pages to triathlons.  Runner's World is magazine for runners and their world. Bikes and wetsuits are a distraction.

I'm a believer in things being in their place. For instance, I don't write about my ongoing struggle with lawn care in these pages because this is my running blog. It's a place to house my writing about running. There's a time and a place for everything, you see. I've recently been suffering trauma because my local grocery store has been remodeling, and every time I go to get beer and pasta [foundation of every runners' diet], nothing is ever in the same place.  Stuff is shuffled around to different aisles as the work proceeds. It's like a fun house at the carnival. 

You remember those Reese's Peanut Butter Cup commercials from back in the day?  "You got your peanut butter on my chocolate!"  "You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!"  I totally relate to that moment of anxiety where you feel your world just turned upside down because THAT CANDY BAR DOESN'T BELONG THERE.  I have that feeling often.  Note: chocolate and peanut butter are awesome together.  I think I will have some now.

What I am saying, Runner's World, is please stick to running. It's what you do best.

To end this on a positive note, I actually found the information riveting. I learned things I never knew about transitions and gear, and it made me think about possibly watching or volunteering at Louisville's Ironman some year. And Peter Sagal is always great to read.

Review: The Barefoot Running Book

Jason Robillard was kind enough to send me a copy of his new book, The Barefoot Running Book.  At less than 60 pages, the book is a quick read. However, since, as the subtitle says, this is "a practical guide to the art & science of barefoot & minimalist shoe running," no dust shall gather on my copy as I continue to experiment. I'll be re-reading and studying this for a while. It's a slim volume but one packed with good advice.

Let me get out of the way my chief complaint of the book.  My beef can be summarized by a sentence appearing on page 39: "Learning the art and science of barefoot running is an exercise in patience." Patience is loser-talk; I want to run barefoot now! Throughout the book, Robillard tells you to go slow, be patient, and do not do too much before you are ready. What I want is a plan for going out there and running barefoot today. In fact, I have already started doing that, and I have the blisters and heel pain to show for it.

I hope my subtle sarcasm came through in the previous paragraph. One of the strengths of The Barefoot Running Book is not that it tells you to take it slow but that it tells you what to do while you are taking it slow. This is a crucial piece of the puzzle, because, after all, I'm a runner.  If I am not running because I am "taking it slow," then I get twitchy.  Eventually impatience will get the best of me, and I will run anyway.  Then, I get injured.  Jason's a runner, too, and so he gives you plenty of homework to keep you busy.  Packed with drills to teach you the critical skills of barefoot running, the book is one of those things that will only let you down if you don't use it.

I just finished the book, and I'm just starting to incorporate Robillard's advice into my training. I'll let you know how it goes. For now, I would encourage you to go buy his book if you're curious about taking your shoes off and making the plunge.

My poor feet

I took a week off last week because the moon was in the Seventh House and Jupiter  Mars. Yeah, that's BS. I was nursing various aches and pains caused by TMTS, which is jargon in the Cult of Barefoot for "too much, too soon."  My Achilles tendon, back, hamstrings, and knees all had various complaints every time I ran in my Vibrams.  Plus, since I don't have a race planned, my focus and discipline are in the crapper. Therefore, I took the week off to reboot the system. 

This morning, I laced up my old Nike Frees and ran to a new track being built near my neighborhood. I don't know whether the school plans on keeping it open to the public, but for now, the thing is wide open.  Still working hard on construction and landscaping, the work crews laid the asphalt late last week, and I've been itching to try it out since then. I ran there [0.65 miles from my house], removed my Nikes, and ran barefoot. It was as smooth as asphalt gets, and I enjoyed getting to run there in the dark, still morning. Still, my feet felt all burny after one lap. I decided to tough it out for another lap while focusing on stepping as lightly as possible. Things got slightly better, but the damage was done. After two laps, I put my shoes back on and ran home. 

That's the way it's going to have to go, I'm afraid -- one lap at a time. Diving right in to running in Vibrams wasn't smart.  I'm going to run with my Nikes and slowly add barefoot quarter-miles as my body is able to take it.  You know, like EVERBODY says you should.

Later Coming this week, I'll review Jason Robillard's cryptically-titled book, The Barefoot Running Book.  [Spoiler: The book is about barefoot running.]  Plus, another captivating installment of What is Runners World Thinking?  Stay tuned.

What's Runners' World Thinking? [July 2010]

I'm still not running.  My excuse for yesterday was a case of the Ohio Valley crud -- seasonal allergies.  My excuses for today are a lack of sleep and a sore back.  Instead of going on at length about my complaints, I thought I would start a new feature called What's Runners' World Thinking?  In this feature, which will run approximately whenever I think about it, I will discuss something I read about in Runners' World.  Maybe I tried it and liked it; maybe I would never try it in a million years; maybe I just thought it was boring.  You, the reader, get the thrill of a lifetime reading whatever I come up with.

In this month's RW, Ted Spiker published Quick Fix, a 7-minute warm-up plan. I tried this workout a couple times, once, even, with my daughter.  On the whole, it's a fine warm-up routine, and I like that it [supposedly] takes only seven minutes.  For me, it took more like 20 because I kept falling over.  That's because this routine takes balance, and I am not well-coordinated.  In fact, I often go out in public wearing two or three different plaid patterns. Uncoordinated. Let's break it down, shall we?

• Exercise 1 is a reverse lunge.  We all know what lunges are, right?  Try doing it backwards.  This made me fall down.  I also tripped over things and almost fell down.  Lunges are hard enough for me, since they require a degree of balance; doing them in reverse is a recipe for head trauma.  Verdict: suck.
• Exercise 2 are single leg hops.  You hop on one foot making a square pattern on the floor.  This made me fall down.  Are you seeing a trend?  Balance issues aside, this exercise does wonders for the leg.  I can see the value right away, and I think I will continue to do these.  Verdict: meh.
• Exercise 3 is a single leg reach.  This is like reaching down to pick something up off the floor and letting one leg fly up all fancy-like, like I'm a flabby, clumsy ballet dancer.  I found this one to be easy.  I think I could do this all day long, though I don't know what the benefit would be except as a comedy routine. Verdict: goofy.
• Exercise 4 is a plank with alternate leg lifts.  Planks suck so much.  I don't like them.  My arms get all shaky, and I breathe hard. I work much too hard for what I'm doing -- supporting my body weight.  Add leg lifts, and the suckage increases.  However, I totally see the value.  I could tell I was working my core from my ribs right down to my butt.  Verdict: OK but you won't make me like it.
• Exercise 5 is a Y squat.  This is merely a squat with your hands making a Y, like you are doing the YMCA dance.  Why the Y?  I assume to make the RW editors laugh.  Maybe it engages your trunk more.  Balance was more of a factor that it might have been if my hands were on my hips.  My daughter loved these.  She does them all the time now, except she can squat down until her butt hits the floor.  If I did that, all my innards would fall out.  Verdict:  OK, especially if you are seven years old.

The stated purpose of this workout is to warm up the body before a run, but I never warm up.  I just start my watch and go.  But the article also said you could do this as a standalone workout for strength training, which is what I plan to do with it.  The common thread throughout these exercises seems to be strengthening the core and improving balance with a lesser emphasis on strengthening the legs.  I need these things like crazy, so I will try to work this into my weekly regimen.