BFR #5, #6, and an injury 04, 05, & 06APR10.

Time to catch up on some of the bare foot running action, and a bit of inaction.

I took two days off after the last outing. When I got up on both Friday and Saturday I hobbled from bed, both soles of my feet were tender, and my calves were stiff and sore. Tough a 2.5 our run over difficult terrain and a 970 step climb and the rest of my body fealt great. No niggles in the knees, or aching quads. Despite the pain in other areas I was upbeat about how barefoot running is turning out. So two days of walking barefoot witht he dog, with activity the calves free up and feel a lot better.

BFR #5 04APR10

Calves felt OK today, a bit stiff when I first got up. It's a long weekend, I could not avid it so I went out for and easy trot along the route of my first run. It's a 30-40 minute loop, no idea of how long it is. My wife Jo-Anne drops me off a bit before the start of the loop, which gives me a bt of extra distance along the cliff top, which has some excelent views accross to Mount Solitary.

Mount Solitary

When I get to the loop I run it in the opposite direction, meet up with her, a quick kiss and I turn around and run in the same directioon as her and then wait at the finish.

I took the new Osprey Manta 20 Pack out for a trial run. Filling the bladder is easy with the integral handle, which with the hydraulics compression system seems to add a bit of weight, but dose make the bladder easy to handle and contribute to the stability of the pack. The pack itself comes in different lengths to account for different torso sizes. This means the shorter pack which I have has a slightly smaller bladder than the taller pack. This is a minor issue, as the bladder holds a little over 2.5 liters, and pack fit is far more important.

The pack sits comfortably with the majority of the load taken on the hips. The hip belt sytem is very comfortable despite its light weight. Pockets on the hip belt are reasonably sized, and will easily carry the food intake (as long as you use gels or bars, a banana would challenge it's capacity) you would need on a leg of 20 or so kilometers. The pack has a suspension system that holds the pack off your back via a stiff aluminium frame and tightly streached mess. This was a big attraction for me as I sweat often and early on any run. When the bladder is jammed to capacity the inner pad does contact my back, but this is not uncomfortable and as soon as a bit of water has been consumed and the bladder shrinks that contact disapears, throughout cooling of the back is good. This pack is extreamly comfortable due to its great design, there are ample adjustments without the several meters of trailing and flapping bits of tape associated with some packs.

The bite valve looks like it could be in a modern museum of art. It has a nifty securing system which consists of rare earth magnets so the tube does not flap around and is easily retrieve and replaced without fidgiting. To open the valve it is bent slightly and the bitet valve, well, bitten down on. When the bladdr is full, cool sweet water is deliverd by the compression system, no sucking needed. When the bladder nears empty a slight suck is needed, but a lot easier than a standard bladder.

Bite valve and postive pressure

I didn't carry mach in the pack today, but at a first look it appears as if the capacity and functionalit of the packes will be good, and should be stable with the compression straps. I will see how it goes on a later run.

The run itself? I felt good, no real discomfort in the calves, feet were fine, and I took it easy. Oh and another comment. I passed two very attractive blonde back packers going in the opposite direction, "Awww, you're awesome!"

OK, thats it, I'm hooked on barefoot running. Pretty girls never used to tell me I'm awesome when I wore running shoes.

BFR #6 05APR10

An easy flat run today. The trail runs don't allow me to get into a rythym, I have to contiuously ahve to adjust my stride length and foot placement. Today I wanted to get out and work on some of the things mentioned on website, blogs, and Chi running videos about running. I never though running would be so technical, but I guess I am un-learning a few years of bad running habits.

I planned to see what my cadence was. I set a one minute timer on my watch and counted the steps. First attempt was 142, Hmmm, a bit low. I then shortened my strid a little and concentrated on lifting my foot quickly. When I wasn;t thinking about moving forward it was 160, still short of the recommended 180. To increase cadence it is recommend to use a metronome. $10 on Ebay has one winging its wat to me now.

It seems the trail running had masked how bad my calves were. When I was on the flat with a steady cadence and constant foot strike they started to hurt and tighten up. I turned around early after about ten minutes and headed home.

BFR #7 06APR10

Back at work today, evey lunch time I try to exercise. I have to make sure I make the break from the office, I could spend every waking hour dealing with what need to be done, and it would all never get done, work life balance is important.

Despite the strick OHS policies of the military I decided I was going to risk the barefooting on base again. As described in te Chi running video and Jason Robillard's barefoot running book I did some relaxation exercises to get everything loose. Stepped out of the change room to set off. The first step a sharp pain speared though my right calf on the inside of my leg, What the!

I tried a tentative second step, no something had let go, I limped back to the change rooms.

Shit.

Time for a new hydration pack.

So I'm back in the hunt to run an ultra. I'm fortunate that we have one that starts only a five minute drive from my front door. This will have a lot of obvious advantages, a good nights sleep the night before the race in my own bed, a ready made support team consisting of my wife Jo and friends, an intimate knowledge of, and the opportunity to train over the actual course, and of course a familiar setting to suffer within afterwards. I'm not fooling myself, I have read enough about ultras, done some half decent mileage in the past, and self aware enough to know it WILL hurt.

The North Face 100 has been described by ultra running luminaries, such as Dean Karnazes, as the hardest 100Km race there is. It is run during May in the Blue Mountains, so the weather can be variable at best. The first year it was run I had a friend who was participating, I met him at the last check point at about 11pm, just as it started snowing. By this stage he was also losing his ability to see, so the world was already a white out to him. The course is at times remote from services, not that far, just difficult to get to.

Because of this the organisers require you to carry some fairly sensible equipment, such as;

• Long sleeve thermal top and pants
  
• Waterproof jacket with hood
  
• Beenie
  
• Thermal gloves
  
• Hi visability vest
  
• Head lamp
  
• Back up light
  
• mobile phone
  
• compass
  
• Whistle
  
• Space blanket
  
• Water & windproof matches
  
• Fire starting block
  
• Compression bandage
  
• Dry sack to keep compulsory clothing dry
  
• 2 liters of water
  
• Ziplock for personal rubbish
  
• Waterproof map case and maps
  

And be prepared to carry

• long water proof pants
  
• 100 weight longsleeve fleece top

I had to keep this requirement in mind when researching what hydration pack to buy. I studied reviews, and a few stood out. Any of the Salomon packs seemed to be rated highly, and the CamelBak Octane series also seemed good.

So off to the shops I went, due to its location Katoomba has a number of outdoor retailers, despite its reletively small size. As i did the rounds I was disapointed to find a derth of hydration packs, until I stepped into Mountain Equipment. The other stores focussed on there own name brands, and limited other options. ME on the other hand seemed to focus on quality, and had a decent range.

One brand immediately stood out, Osprey. I had a look at some of the packs hanging there. The build quality was exceptionable, attention to detail good, and seemed to have some inovative ideas. As I hadn't seen these mentioned on any of the forums I headed home and Internet-ed up. I could not find any customer reviews, but I read a bunch of store reviews, and visited the companies web site. I liked what I read and saw. Back in the car, to the store, and $180AU later it was mine.

In my absence the young bloke working at the store had taken a bit of closer look at the pack after my initial scrutiny and was very impressed, and informed me the reason I could not find that much about it was because they were recently released.

Mine's blue

Going to give it a go tomorrow, just a small outing.

BFR #4 "A day off work and over exuberance on the trails." Thursday 01APR2010

Well it is April Fools Day after all.

Wednesday was a rest day from training, I had to attend a function that night anyway, a dining in with 3RAR, paratroopers, so you can imagine what that was like. I managed to turn the week end into an extra long one by taking thursday off. My lovely wife had to work, bless her cotton socks, so I was going to hit the trails again.

I dug around in the shed, and rummaged through cupboards looking for a hydration pack. I found quite a few, from discount specials from sports warehouses, to name brand (CamelBak), to cobbled together solutions. The cobbled together solution consisted of a decent daypack (Modan I think) with an articulated suspension system and good hip belt. I liked how it placed the load on the hips, not the shoulders when you ran. It had an internal pocket for a bladder, but wasn't ideal. As I was only planning a short run I opted for a small Camelbak. Now to find a bladder. Had I realy failed to clean that many damn bladders?

Eventually I got it sorted, with my VFFs' in the small mesh pocket on the back, and a gel, I found languishing in the back of a cupboard from my days over a year ago when my long run was 30Km and filled with excrutiating knee pain.

Out the house, turn left down a trail, and a small goat like track takes me to the Prince Henry Clifftop Walk just before Lyre Bird Del, a nice little waterfall. I turned right and started off, it again felt great to be out barefoot, the track was damp and cool. After passing Gordon Falls I started to come accross a few hikers out for the day.

Ahead there was a young couple trying desperately to not get there shoes wet by stepping from rock to rock holding each other for balance. They looked up and saw me padding and splashing towards them along the water logged track.
"You're crazy," the guy said.

"At least you don't have to worry about getting them wet," I offered back.

A little later a nice Scandinavian tourist said with concern, "Have you lost your shoes?"

"No, I'm fine thanks," sarcasm on hold due to her genuine concern.

It again felt great to to be out running over these trails in bare feet, in fact too fine. I had planned to just repeat the 40 minute loop I had use for my first bare foot run but the exhilaration got the better of me.

At one point a fellow said to me, "Barefeet?"

"It's the way we were born," I replied cheerily.

"what about everything else you're wearing?"

"If I was naked I'm sure your wife would complain, I know mine does."

I didn't want to stop, I just kept going, past Leura cascades, turned left to go down via Federal Pass through Leura Forrest, and then on to the Grand Stairway, a climb of 970 steps that ascends from the valley up the Three Sisters.

This little jaunt took 2 hours. Once at the top I was famished, I put my paleo principles on hold and grabed two cinnamon donuts, a gatoraide, donned the VFF's and headed of on a trot home, a 5.5KM road run.

The stairs summit to the left of the three peaks

This was a little demoralising

Some of the hand cut steps

Oh what an April fool.

It was too far. My calves are no where near conditioned enought. All that stepping down on to stairs constructed by securing a rough hewn board with star pickets, filled with dirt that errodes away, so you lower continuously onto a 1.5 inch part of your forefoot pad with no support for your heel. That combined with the oxygen debt of the climb out was too much.

The next day I hobbled out of bed, the pads of my feet were tender, my calves stiff. Friday was definately a rest day, maybe a gentle walk with our dog Eddie up to a nice cafe. With activity the stiffness and pain eased, but not enough to consider running.

I'm sure this has slowed my progress, but what a great lesson. Things I could do easily with my old heel-toe shod foot strike were beyond me. It showed how much my body had deviated from the ideal running animal.

It will take time, it won't happen overnight, but it will happen.

I will return to that running ideal.

BFR #3 Now it's wet 30MAR2010

At work again, so its the black top and the verge for running again today, and it's wet.
I have subscribed to Tellman's e-mail posts on beginning barefoot running, the following advice was timely;

"Barefoot Tip#4: Don't go running in the rain.
Have you ever gotten "dishpan hands?" You
know, you soak your hands too much and
they become soft and wrinkly, the skin ready
to just peel off?

Well, as you can imagine running barefoot
in the rain (or just on wet roads) can do the
same thing to your feet - with disastrous
results. Avoid running when it's wet, or
wear minimalist running shoes instead."

Good advice, so I donned the VFF's and did an easy 4Km. Even though I took it real easy I was only a few minutes of my usual easy run time in shoes of about 20 Minutes.
Feet felt fine, I was aware of the hot spots from the previous day but that was all. Best of all knees were aglow, as if nourishing fluid had been pumped under pressure through the joint to ensure well being.

I'm psyched.

BFR #2 29MAR2010 Roads can be hot.

As there will be many entries, and bare foot running is all about efficiency through application of evolutionary design, the titles have evolved. BFR #2 = Bare foot run number 2, simple.

Bouyed by the success and joy of the first BF outing, with no negative side effects, I was off again. This time I was at work, and being a military base, largely devoid of natural surfaces. So it was a run along part of the perimeter road. As there is a strong OHS focus inthe military, I decided to take my VFF's in case of being challenged about the wisdom of running with no footwear. It would be easier to don said footwear and beat a hasty retreat.
At lunch time, as usual, I headed of to the change rooms to get into my running gear and head off. The day had a high overcast and seemed a comfortable 28 degrees celcius. I started easy the road felt comfortable underfoot. Then only about 500m into the run I felt a few hot spots. I checked my style to ensure I wasn't pushing off, and shortened my stride to almost a crawl. I soldiered on for another kilometer before discretion got the better of valour and I pulled over to the side and put on the VFF's. The rest of the run was uneventful but uncomfortable, the damage had been done. Back in the locker I inspected one watery blister on the end of my middle toe of my right foot and probed two tender spots on the forefoot pad of each foot between the big toe and the second toe.

Lesson: think about the surface and the running conditions, and until you understand what your feet are capable of err on the safe side to continue forward progress, both on the day and with the movement to barefootedness.

I will continue to carry the VFF's in case of changing or unknown conditions, or surprises along the trail.

Hey, I've just noticed I can add photo's and video simply.
Till next time.

First Barefoot Run (since I stopped being barefoot)

Went out Sunday morning for my first barefoot run. My wife recommneded a section of a Blue Mountains trail that is part of the first leg of the North Face 100. This is a 100KM foot race that led me to barefoot running. It was when trainng for this event that I realised that something had gone horribly wrong witht the way I was running. I could get out to about 25KM, then I would get an ache develop in my knees that would rapidly grow to unbearable, and I would be facing a 5-6Km walk home from where ever I was. I have run this section quite a few times, so the familiatity was good.
The trail ran along the top of the cliffline and then drops down into the valley. The longest flat bit of this section of the trail maybe fifteen meters long if your lucky. It is all made up of exposed and eroded sandstone bed rock, so you end up placing your foot at a series of changing angles with each step. This meant you had to stay focussed watch the track and place your foot carefully. No just plonking one foot mindlessly in front of another as you would on the road.
What a rush, I felt as if I was flowing over the rocks, more aware of what was going on around me. As my foot fall was almost silent I could hear the sounds of the forrest, and siddle up to and past hikers up for a day in the woods like the wind.
The "this guy must be crazy" looks were very satisfying.
After about forty minutes at the end of the run I felt aglow. There were all the good feelings of a run and none of the bad, my knees felt energised with no sign pain, I wanted to just keep going. Prudence won out and I knew there would be more to come. On monday, back at work I would be taking it to the road.

Why Bare Foot Running

Like many, I imagine, I have been drawn to bare foot running after reading "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall. Here was a middle age guy who it seems was less suited to being a runner (in the traditional sense of how we imagined runners to be) than I was, on the verge of giving it up, and now he's running better, further, and stronger than ever.

Like a lot of guys I was a talented age group runner, it was the late Seventies, early Eighties. I set a bunch of High School records at bunch of distances from 800m to 10K, won a few medals at State competitions, and competed at some Australian age group championships. So it seemed I had the build and talent to carry me through a life of recreational running.

Additionally it was the leading edge of the running shoe boom, and like everyone else I bought into it. As my running was important to me I bought top of the line running shoes from all the big names, Nike, Asics, Brooks. As I continued to run I was plagued with aches and dull pains, always in the knees. Fortunately I never had serious traumatic injuries, I just felt I was wearing down, at the joints, one step at a time. After a big run I had to take a few days off to recover. Chris McDougall's experience suggested there was hope yet, and the premise was just so damn strong.

Two years ago I made the decision to adopt the Paleo eating principal which has a similar premise, we evolved doing this so how can it be wrong.

So decision made, time to start training. But wait, there was just the small matter of an existing running injury to get over first. BBtR (Before Born to Run)I had worked out I must be doing something wrong biomechanically. Trawling the Internet I stumbled across POSE, it seemed to make sense, and worked for some top athletes, including an Aussie 800m Olympic medalist. In an attempt to achieve a fore/mid foot strike in over-constructed pronation controlling shoes I believed I hyper extended and injured my right calf.

In hindsight this may have been a good thing. I was stuck walking for the first two weeks. Everyday I would try to walk for an hour over varied terrain in bare feet. For the first week my feet would tingle for the rest of the day as my feet adjusted to the stimulation. It felt great.

This morning I went for my first barefoot run... ...Thats the next post.