Countdown to Ironman, Week 28: Running Doesn't Suck Anymore

I like to run. Sometimes I even love it.

I didn't use to like to run. I used to hate running. I used to say that running sucked, and that I sucked at running. But now I like it. Sometimes I think I'm maybe even not so sucky at it after all.

What changed? How does a person go from hating to disliking to barely tolerating to just doing to kind of liking to loving to run?


For me, there were several things that made a difference:


The first was Chi Running, which I've posted about before. That was my first introduction to a different style of running than the heel-striking, shin-splint inducing plod I had done for so many years. It was also the beginning of the end of my years of plantar fasciitis, ITB issues, knee braces, and shin splints. The twenty years before I found Chi Running were littered with running injuries and problems. The six years I've spent since then have been injury free. 'Nuff said.

After Chi Running came barefoot running and my first pair of Vibram Five Fingers in 2007. Now I run all of my weekly mileage, four times a week, in my Five Fingers. Pavement, trails, grass, concrete, dirt, bark. No matter, I run in them.

Two years ago I started trail running and that's when I went from "Like" to "Love" in my feelings about running. That's when I really started looking forward to runs. Being in the woods, away from traffic, noise, stress, and people really is the cherry on top of the running sundae for me.

Now comes Endurance Nation and their "Out Season" training plans. It turns out that I really like having some focus and work to my running. Now I wouldn't want to do this year-round because when the weather's nice, there's nothing like just getting out on a trail and going. But for right now in the dark part of the year, it's keeping me motivated and making me faster.

Granted, I started this year's off-season at a slower pace than normal. Breaking my arm meant very few running miles this summer, and the ones I did put in were S-L-O-W. No speed work, no track work. So when I did a 5k test at the beginning of my training plan seven weeks ago, it took me 27:11. Ouch. My PR is 25:00. Not anything like an actual REAL runner, but in the ballpark of decent.

I've been doing focused 1/2 mile and mile repeats in the seven weeks since that disappointing 5k test. They started out at an average 8:48 pace. Again, ouch. But look at the progress in the weeks since then!


Week1: 8:48
Week 2: 8:40
Week 3: 8:34
Week 4: 8:16
Week 5: 8:13
Week 6: 8:08
Week 7: 8:04

Now I don't think I'm ready to break my 5k PR just yet, but if this trend continues, it might be in the cards sometime this spring. As they say at Endurance Nation: "Work works!"

The Amazing Waldo Lake Solo Trail Marathon

A solo run through the wilderness. No cheering crowds, no aid stations, no banners, medals, t-shirts, no finish line other than the one in my head. A challenge I set for myself and accomplished solely because I wanted to. I've been looking forward to this all year.

I have wanted to run around Waldo Lake for a long time, but it's a daunting task. The trail ranges in elevation from about 5,500 - 6,000 feet, is almost never flat, and once you leave the campground you are on your own. In the middle of the Willamette National forest, adjoining the 36,000 acre Waldo Lake Wilderness, with one access road coming in, it is a remote and lovely place, one of the most utterly quiet places I've ever had the privilege to visit. The lake itself is one of the clearest in the world, with visibility at over 100 feet. From any angle above the lake, you can look down into its beautiful depths to see the rocks on the bottom.

Lucky for me, my hubby is an avid mountain biker and agreed to be my marathon support team and accompany me on this journey. He packed 110 oz. of water in his hydration pack, and enough Honey Stingers and Lara Bars to keep me in glycogen supply for the five hours we estimated we'd be out there (including stops to take photos, of course!) My brother-in-law Nick decided to come along for the adventure as well, and so on Sunday morning we set out from the North Waldo campground to circumnavigate the lake in a counter-clockwise direction.

Let's just say I learned a lot on this run. There were many lessons it taught me, about trail running long distances, about planning, about elevation, hydration, and how hard I could push myself without any kind of event to provide moral support. Leading up to the day's attempt, my longest training run this year was about 10.5 miles (partially due to breaking my arm in June, which curtailed my running for the early months of the summer). This trail was slightly over 22, though I would run 24 or so by the time the day was done.

Firstly, although we meant to leave by 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning, that just didn't happen. We had been camping for days, and between getting up and cooking breakfast for the kids, making sure they had everything they needed for the day's activities, it was 10:00 by the time I left the campground. It was still cool enough in the shade to wear my long-sleeved shirt starting out, but I knew it would be getting hotter by the minute as the sun cleared the trees. I decided to wear my Vibram FiveFingers shoes, even though I've never run more than 10 or 11 miles in them. Why? Because the trail is largely fine dirt and forest duff, because I can no longer stand to wear regular running shoes, because I thought they'd help with agility on a trail known for roots and rocks. I also wore some new pink compression socks, just to keep the old leg muscles together for longer. So here I am looking like a total dork, getting ready to set out.

Let's say this right off the bat: this trail is never flat. I actually did it in the opposite direction from this elevation profile above, which seems like a pretty stupid decision when you look at the fact that all those hills on the left side of the profile came at the END of the run instead of at the beginning when I felt a little fresher. However, I knew I'd be running through the Taylor Burn, a vast area of starkly beautiful charred trees, and doing that in the morning when it was cooler sounded better than finishing up in the hot afternoon sun with no shade.

So off I set, heading into the burn almost immediately from the North Waldo campground. The guys set off on their mountain bikes only 10 minutes behind me, but as I was running and didn't see them and didn't see them, I started doing the math in my head. If I was running at my usual trail speed of 5 - 6 miles per hour, and they were biking along this rocky rutted trail probably only making 7 or 8 miles per hour, it was going to take a long time for them to catch me! Maybe it wasn't such a good idea not to have my own water and food along. My watch had died during a lake swim the day before (curse you Ironman watches and your supposed "water resistance"), and so I only had my best guestimate to go on, but after about 30 or 40 minutes, I just ran down to the shore and drank the clear lake water. Giardia be damned, at least I wasn't thirsty anymore.

Finally I entered the shady forest and a lovely singletrack trail winding along the lakeshore. The guys caught up to me and I grabbed a bottle of Hammer Perpetuem off the bike and slugged some down. For the next couple of miles they hopscotched me along the trail until we ended up at this fabulous overlook and stopped to ask another mountain biker to take a photo. I'd allowed myself to get a little behind the hydration curve and was feeling parched so I glugged down some more fluid. But from there on out, I figured I'd never be far from my support crew and my water and food, so I wasn't worried.

Off we went again, this time through more densely forested areas with bridges over dry seasonal streams. The trail wound toward and away from the lake, providing lovely views from time to time and at other times the solitude of the trees. After awhile, I noticed that I could no longer hear my mountain biking escort behind me. No worries though, I figured they'd catch up sooner or later. The trail began to climb, turning south and away from the lakeshore views. Although I wasn't really keeping track of time, it occurred to me that it had been quite a long time since I'd seen Wayne and Nick, and I was getting quite thirsty by now.

I stopped, listened. Nothing but the silence of the forest. I pulled out my whistle and blew. No answering tweet from my guys. Then I noticed how far from the lake I was. Maybe I'd somehow made a mistake and took a side trail, one that climbed up and away from the lake? There were several, but all were well signed. I stopped again. What if I was heading away from the lake and the guys were still going along the lakeshore? I wasn't even halfway around and although I knew I could always get back to the lake for hydration, it would be a very long slog without some nutrition. I turned around and reluctantly started running back the way I'd come. Back downhill.

About a mile or so later, I finally ran into them. Turns out that I was on the right trail after all, but Wayne had a flat tire just shortly after I'd left them so they were a long ways back. No worries, I again took the opportunity to try to catch up my hydration and headed back up the hill (ugh!) again. But mountain bike support was not destined to work out all that well for this trail. Although we stayed closer through the rest of the run, we were again separated by Nick's brake failing, and then his derailleur, leaving him as a single speed bike with only one brake.

This is about where the bigger hills took hold, with bigger rocks to boot. Some of them were gnarly enough that I had to walk the downhills as well as the uphills just in order to not trip and kill myself. But these were interspersed with lovely green meadows and water-lily filled ponds that thankfully didn't yield up the bloodthirsty hordes of mosquitoes that sometimes plague this place. I felt really strong and although I was now past my longest training run, the legs felt fresh and I was really enjoying the beauty of the place and the peace of running by myself.

Somewhere around 18 miles, that dreaded Wall came to meet me though. I knew he might be out there somewhere. Beauty and trees and peacefulness are all fine and dandy, but this is still a long ways to run. I think if I'd stayed on top of the nutrition and hydration from the get-go, I might've missed the Wall altogether, but alas that was not the case. I got hot. I got thirsty. I tried to put more fluid and calories down but by now my stomach was feeling a bit rebellious. The altitude I'm sure added to the toll.

The last six miles were definitely challenging. The trail crosses the road and stays away from the lake, it's full of PUDs (Pointless Ups and Downs) that seem tailor-made to demoralize a poor trail runner. Luckily my hubby raced ahead to refill his Camelbak with water, and my brother-in-law stayed with me and kept up my spirits. We talked about that place I call The Dark Night of the Soul that reaches out for you in long distance events, and he reminded me of how we can overcome our body's obstacles with the power of our mind. By the time Wayne got back with the water, I could hear children's voices from the campground and knew I would make it.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience, something that I've really looked forward to accomplishing and was so thrilled to get the opportunity to do. I'm grateful for my support crew, without whom I would've had to carry all my own gear. Being able to run unencumbered was such a freeing thing, and it was great to share the experience with them. I learned (or re-learned) those valuable lessons about not getting behind in my hydration and nutrition, something I really really need to keep in mind for the Ironman. Drink and eat early and often! As always, I find myself so appreciative of all that my body can do. I ask it and I ask it, and still it keeps giving me these amazing experiences. More than anything, I'm so happy to live in this beautiful place on earth. Literally 80 miles from my front door I can run through the wilderness, through silent forests and along majestic lake shores. What a lucky lady I am!

Whose Toes Are Those??

There are two great passions in my life, things so overwhelmingly "me" that I can't separate where I begin and they end. One is swimming, and the other is photography. Even without a camera in my hand, my mind is always seeing with a photographer's eye. I can't help it. So it's always exciting to me to see one of my photos get published (especially when I get paid for it, and can squirrel money away in my photography equipment fund).

In this case, it's doubly cool, because:

A) It's an article about barefoot running, which I'm always excited to see get good press. This one is in Outdoor Sports Guide and

B) Those are my feet! And my original Vibram Five Fingers Sprints.

And to tie both of my interests together this year, I just got a little camera for my birthday that can go underwater, at least for a few feet. So hopefully I'll be able to shoot some underwater video for swim coaching, and for articles here.

Aging Up: A Birthday Run Through The Primeval Coastal Forest

 What do you want for your birthday? A dreaded question from someone who doesn't really need anymore stuff in her life. Fortunately, my hubby doesn't take offense if I have no interest in some bauble or another (I'm convinced that he married me because I hate the mall). He knows how to treat a birthday girl right, which in my case means packing the kids and the dogs over to the coast for the day. And apparently God knew that after so many unending days of rain, I needed a clear sky over my head. So though it was not exactly warm or sunny, it was not raining, and that's all that mattered.

After some pleasant hours spent racing sticks down a creek, exploring tidepools, flying kites, and chasing the dogs around, I got to pull on my favorite Five Finger toe shoes and go for a run up this fabulous trail. It starts at the beach, winds up and over this big promontory, climbing high above the lighthouse, and down the other side to a wide stretch of largely inaccessible and empty beach. The forests are lusciously green and primeval, with gigantic wind-twisted trees and beautiful ferny mossy floors. I really can't say much more about it with mere words, other than that it was perfect in every way. And I would've run faster if I could've stopped myself from taking all of these photos with my cell phone. 

So here's a visual tour of my beautiful birthday run.

You go up and over this big ridge. The lighthouse makes sure the ships don't hit it in the fog.

 The trail is so steep that it's full of switchbacks. At some point, the trail builders just gave up on switchbacks and installed some rough stairs. Great for training those glutes, hamstrings, and quads! My dog Sophie takes it all in stride.

Trees grow out of "nurse logs", old fallen trees that have since disintegrated, providing food for the new young trees to grow up on.

Spectacular views of the rugged Oregon coastline are a trail runner's best reward. In this photo, you can see how much elevation the trail gains, since I started running down on the beach!

 The forest is unbelievably green and lovely. Here, the valley falls away beneath me in a sea of ferns, moss, salal,  and evergreens.

Eventually, the trail pops you out onto a windswept beach, where you feel like the only human alive on the planet, dwarfed by the massive Pacific Ocean, and soothed by its roar.

 If you pay attention, you find beautiful little Zen moments all around you. I could meditate on this tableau of a stick and a rock for hours.

Sandstone cliffs to the right of the beach are carved by wind and waves into intricate patterns

In some places, the soft sandstone has been carved out from under the very roots of the trees, leaving them suspended in space.

 

Seaweed tangles adorn the beach with the woven netting of a former kelp forest

Everywhere along the beach, you must leap across small streams. Each is patterned with beautiful swirls of different colored sand. Every one of these creek bottoms could be considered a work of art.

 I arrive at the end of my run tired but ecstatic. In a state of bliss unparalleled in modern existence. How often do you get to feel like the only person on earth? To run alone and silent through an ancient forest. To look across the expanse of miles of beach and see no one, hear nothing but wind and surf. My spirit is renewed.

We drive to Mo's, a staple of our coast trips. The best chowder house on the Oregon coast. Our friendly waitress snaps a pic of the family for us. I am so blessed to have this wonderful family around me on my birthday.

I have this marvelous Paleo feast of blackened salmon and steamed and seasoned green beans. Double yum! Plus some of Mo's awesome clam chowder.

Okay, so it's not Paleo, but I top it off with Mo's homemade marionberry cobbler with some local vanilla ice cream. Heaven on earth. A perfect way to age up and turn 45. My day could not be any better. I am so thankful to have a family who gave me what I really wanted for my birthday, a beautiful home state with gorgeous parks and trails, and a body that can do amazing things like running up and over mountains. 

I am truly blessed.

Jumping For Toe Shoe Joy: Five Fingers Bikila Shoe Review

When my daughter was about a year old, we got her her first little pair of toddler shoes. They were white leather, and she loved them. No, she ADORED them. She refused to take them off. Ever. Not only during the day when her little self was toddling around, but if she woke up in the middle of the night and found that her beloved shoes were not on her feet, she screamed and cried. Now I know how she feels. I've never loved a pair of shoes like I love my new Five Fingers Bikilas.

When I got my first pair of Vibram Five Fingers toe shoes in 2007, I thought I'd found heaven. They were the "Sprint" version and I wore them everywhere. Then I started running in them. They were great, the next best thing to barefoot running. Except for one tiny little problem: the splinters from the bark trail, plus sand, dirt, and gravel got in them all the time. Stopping to pick stuff out of your shoes can put a damper on a good run.

Then Vibram came out with the "KSO" version of the shoes (stands for Keeps Stuff Out) and my hubby got me a pair for Valentine's Day (what a romantic!) . I really thought I was in heaven. I could run on our wonderful bark trails splinter-free, and I upped my mileage in them until I almost never ran in regular shoes anymore. Again, I thought I'd found shoe nirvana. But then I started trail running in earnest, like steep rocky muddy trails. The slick soles on the KSOs weren't so great at that. The occasional rock strike to the instep made for some painful bruising, and the slippery bottoms weren't great in the clay-slip mud that our trails are famous for in the wintertime.

Now Vibram has these wonderful things called the Five Fingers Bikila LS. I have no idea how they took something so completely perfect and improved on it this much but now I'm REALLY in heaven. Really. Mere words cannot describe how much I love these shoes. I never want to take them off, even when I sleep. I actually want another pair, so I can keep one set nice and clean to wear absolutely everywhere, and have one pair to get muddy on the trails. As you can see, they're already doing that.

REVIEW:

The Top:  The quick-lace system on the Bikila LS is a very nice feature. It makes them much easier to take on and off, and almost makes me think maybe I could use them in triathlons. They also have a liner which makes them a true running shoe. The old Sprints and KSOs were not lined, leaving a lot of barefoot runners with blisters. I didn't really have that problem, but I have to admit that the liner makes for a far more comfortable shoe. Have I said how comfortable they are? How much I never want to take them off? One more nice feature is some good bits of reflective striping, a nice added touch for visibility (which you can never have too much of).

The Bottom: Better yet, the sole provides a lot more traction and protection against bruises from sharp rocks on the trail. When I ran on gravelly trails in my KSOs, I had to be constantly scanning the trail ahead of me for any sharp stones. With the Bikilas, I'm able to run more naturally and enjoy the view of the woods around me. In a one-hour trail run over roots, rocks, gravel, and mud, I didn't get one bruising encounter with anything on the ground. That's good news in my book.

Since we've had non-stop rain for the last, oh, forty days and forty nights, I feel comfortable in saying that these soles provide great traction on extremely slippery muddy trails. You think I'm joking about the "extremely muddy" bit? Try running up this trail. It's like a filthy version of a Slip-n-Slide. Yet between the improved grippiness of the soles, and the natural advantage of having your toes available for traction, I can run up this with zero slippage.

The Barefoot Feel: Honestly, this is what most worried me about buying the Bikilas. I thought that new sole would reduce the barefoot feeling of the shoe and leave me with less of a natural stride and less feeling for the ground. But it doesn't feel that way at all. This was a very pleasant surprise. They've managed to keep the flexibility of the shoe completely intact by segmenting the grippy bits of the sole. It honestly feels little different than the KSO or Sprint soles when I'm running. 

All in all, I can't think of one bad thing to say about this shoe. Except maybe that it should come in purple. Congratulations Vibram, you've done it again.

Chi Running Refresher For Injury-Free Running

Running used to be pain. Knee pain. Hip pain. Shin splint pain. Plantar Fasciitis pain. Maybe some of you are experiencing the same kinds of running injuries that I used to. Running injuries are so common among runners we just kind of get used to them. We talk about them in coffee shops.

"So how's the marathon training Charlie?"
"Oh okay. The knee's getting better. I got a bit of an IT band thing going right now."
"Oh yeah, me too. I got one of these foam rollers and some orthotics and I think that's helping."

Only it doesn't help. Or maybe it does and you just get some other injury for overcompensating for the first one.

Then six years ago I found Chi Running, and it was like my running found religion, hallelujah! No more pain! Throw away that knee brace, and run free. It wasn't a quick fix solution though. When I started using the Chi Running techniques, I went to a small track near my daughter's dance studio and did the following, over and over and over again:

• Adjusted my posture, my core, and my Chi
• Leaned forward at a slight angle
• Started running with good form
• Made it about 200 yards before my good form fell apart
• Stopped and started over again.

After awhile, I could run longer and longer before my form fell to pieces. That year I ran a marathon with no knee brace, no IT band pain, no injuries whatsoever. And here's the kicker....

I have run pain- and injury-free for six years since that first Chi Running workshop.

You heard me. Pain and injury free. Well, except the time I tripped over my dog and broke my arm, but I'm not counting that one.

So today I went for a refresher at Keith McConnell's Chi Running Workshop here in Track Town USA. It was really helpful to correct some of the areas that have gotten a bit sloppy in my form. All of that rocky, rooty, hilly trail running has also helped erode my technique as well. I went for a flat run the other day and noticed I was not near as smooth as I used to be. 


For several hours today, Keith explained the techniques and had us do all kinds of fun little exercises with feedback to make sure we were getting it down. Then we went out to run (unfortunately in the pouring rain) for more technique work.  


Also, athlete Julie who I am coaching to train for a half-marathon has been having some knee pain while running, and I suggested she do the Chi Running thing. She was instantly impressed by how effortless the running felt during the workshop, without that usual five minutes of warmup hell where running just feels sluggish and wrong. I think the techniques we learned today will help her get to her half-marathon goal with an easier stride and no running injuries or problems.

I'm looking forward to many more years of smooth, chi-filled, painless and injury-free running. For those of you starting to think about barefoot running or running in the Five Fingers toe shoes or other minimalist shoes, I highly recommend Chi Running as a great way to transition from the traditional heel-strike stride to a barefoot-friendly midfoot stride.

Do Toe Shoes Make Your Feet Stronger?

"It's better than Disneyland!". That's what my then-eight-year-old son said at his first sighting of the Roman aqueduct in Segovia, Spain. It has to be noted that my kid, like me, is just a wee bit of a history geek. We had come to Segovia largely to see the aqueduct, still standing and carrying water for 2,000 years.

And what does this have to do with my feet, and running, and those strange toe shoes I keep going on about, you might ask? Like your feet, the miracle of the aqueduct is the arch. In the case of the aqueduct, many arches. Constructed without any mortar (my son went up close to the stones just to make sure), bearing the weight of all that rock and water, standing through centuries of storms, earthquakes, and human civilization, the arch is the miracle of weight distribution. If I remember my notes from the dusty old Architecture lecture hall in college, the arch distributes weight into both downward and horizontal thrust, supported by the columns below. If you put a wooden form underneath an arch, all of that weight would have to be borne straight down without being distributed sideways. Such an arch just might collapse.

Our feet are no less of a miracle, our arches are perfectly constructed to bear the weight of our bodies through all ranges of motion. Our arches are, as the title of Christopher McDougall's popular book says "Born to Run". So why do we insist on putting "supports" under them, when the very notion of supporting an arch can cause the collapse of such a perfect structure? Ask the modern running shoe industry that question. Oh wait, the barefoot runners already have, and running shoe companies are all quickly backpedaling into "barefoot-like" shoes which will be hitting the market this year.

Luckily, we can take steps to strengthen our feet without spending much money on shoes designed to mimic the barefoot experience. First of all, we can start going barefoot as often as possible. In the town where I live, most homes are shoeless by choice, frequently with a sign by the front door asking visitors to remove their shoes. This not only saves hardwood floors and carpets from dirt and wear and tear, but it saves our feet from spending more time than necessary in shoes. We can choose to walk barefoot whenever we can, giving our feet time to strengthen all of the necessary supporting structures that may have been weakened by a lifetime of imprisonment in shoes. Before attempting any barefoot running, it's important that your ligaments and muscles are accustomed to long periods of standing and walking without the support of shoes.

Barefoot strides are a great way to start gradually introducing barefoot running into your repertoire. When I started barefooting, I would run down to a local well-groomed soccer field in my running shoes. Then I would remove them and run a series of 100 - 200 meter strides up and down the field. I would start slow and build to faster and faster speeds, trying to hold good form. I could immediately tell that my feet ran completely differently without the shoes.

Eventually, I transitioned to the Vibram Five Fingers, or "toe shoes". This let me extend my barefoot runs into areas where my feet might be in danger from rocks, glass, and splinters. Gradually I was able to run longer and longer until a barefoot run of five to eight miles did not bother my feet in the least. I also started wearing them for weight lifting, other indoor exercise, and kickboxing. The perfect structure of the feet I was born with was finally able to support my weight in all of the activities that humans are meant to do.

The next time you're tempted to buy over-engineered running shoes, think about the perfect arches of the Roman aqueduct standing the test of time. Your feet are no less perfect, it's time to let them do their job!

The Ironmom Extra Mile:  Some barefoot running inspiration: http://therunningbarefoot.com/ and Barefoot Ted's Adventures . Barefoot Ted makes some terrific looking minimalist running sandals that I'm dying to try out. Next time I go to Seattle I want to visit the factory up there and I'll let you know what it's all about.

Toe Shoes Deserve Some Toe Socks

I remember my first pair of toe socks like it was yesterday. They were rainbow striped to match the rainbow striped handle of my big-assed comb that fit neatly in the pocket of my painter's pants. Yeah, it was 1981 baby. That comb was sorely needed so I could feather my hair back and then flip my whole head down and then up so my hair looked just like Farrah Fawcett's for at least three seconds. Once I did that hair-flippie thingie in church and almost knocked myself unconscious on the pew in front of me.

But toe socks have come a long way since then. Then, it was all about the fashion. You needed cool socks to wear with your roller skates for Saturday night when they fired up the big disco ball at the Roll-A-Rena. But now, toe socks are for wintertime running if you happen to like running in shoes that resemble your bare feet. Plus (and this is a HUGE plus in my book). They STILL come in rainbow stripes. I got myself a pair of Injinji running toe socks to go with my Vibram Fivefingers, hoping to extend the range that I can wear them into the colder months. I was a bit worried about how they would fit, since the Fivefingers are fairly snug, but these socks are thin enough to be comfortable, and not even bunchy around the toes. As someone who spends at least 10 minutes getting the bunches and seams just right on my socks as it is (can you say "sensory issues" anyone?), I appreciate this fact.

Even better, I made my daughter extremely jealous and now she wants toe socks all her own. I did have to mention that then she would be wearing fashions straight out of 1981. "Oh, but mom... Retro is in!" she replies. Sigh. I'm so retro.

Toe Shoes: The Trend of the Year??

I admit it, I'm a numbers geek. There's no possible way I could have a blog without looking at the stats. Frequently. Who visits here, where they come from, how they got here, why the heck they're interested in what I have to say. It used to be that the biggest keyword searches from Google and Bing would be for swimming workouts, my triathlon checklist, or recipes. But those days are gone.

For now is the Time of the Toeshoes. Vibram has captured the fascination of the running community and increasingly of the occasional athletes and wannabe runners. It used to be that when I wore my Fivefingers in public, people gawked, stared, and asked me what the heck they were. Now they only ask me if I run in them, and how far, and what I think of them. Because of course they're thinking of getting some. Because apparently everyone in this universe is thinking of getting some. Maybe I exaggerate just a tad, since I live in the running capital of our galaxy. So maybe in, say, Burnt Corn Alabama or Hoople North Dakota people would still gawk and stare at my funny feet. But there's no denying, there's a trend in the making here.

Check out my list of most popular Search keywords and tell me what you think:


1. running toe shoes
2. running shoes with toes
3. toe shoes running
4. toe running shoes
5. ironmom
6. toe shoes for running
7. new toe shoes
8. sugar hangover
9. short models
10. gym shoes with toes

Yes, I too am curious about those people who found my blog via searching for "short models" or "sugar hangover". I'm not sure I have even written about short models, but maybe I should start dreaming up more posts about them. Maybe if I posted a photo of short models wearing nothing but running toe shoes, my blog would be the most popular in the universe. Or maybe I'll just keep writing about triathlon and training and stuff. Yeah, that sounds about right.

Pushing Daisies

I love almost everything about my Vibram Fivefingers. I like to wear them for walks (just like going barefoot, but without the trips to the ER when you step on broken glass!), on the pool deck (like aqua socks, but comfortable and with toes), when I'm teaching kickboxing (keeps my feet from getting roughed up every time I pivot on the floor, yet flexible and thin enough to feel like I'm kicking in bare feet), and of course running. I've worn them so long now that if I wear my old Asics running shoes, I can literally feel how they're trying to make my running form go all wonky.

The only thing I really don't like about the Five Fingers is how whenever I run on grass, I get flowers stuck between my toes. No really! I'm not kidding. Okay, so maybe it doesn't look quite like this, but I regularly have to stop and pick daisies and dandelions out from between the tootsies. As it turns out, when you run barefoot your toes actually kind of spread out just before you make contact with your midfoot/forefoot (as opposed to the heel-striking style of running that's more typical in cushioned running shoes). And when your toes spread out, they collect some flora along the way. I guess if that's my only complaint, it's not so bad. On fields that have been recently mowed or dirt or bark paths, I don't really have too many problems with the flowers. Only on the weedier patches is it an issue.

Check out this interesting video on the science and history of barefoot running. In the last part of the video (about 4:30 in), you can see the slow-mo on a treadmill of a barefoot runner. You can easily see the daisy-plucking part of the stride when you watch how the toes operate. It's fascinating to think how differently even your toes react when you run barefoot.



And by the way, if you are going to buy some Vibram Fivefingers shoes, make sure you get them from a reputable dealer. There are all kinds of ads going around on the internet for counterfeit varieties. A friend of mine bought some on a "great bargain" and the seams were so poorly sown, he got really bad blisters. Clearly counterfeits. Also, if you're converting to barefoot running, be sure to take it reaaaaallllllly slow. I've heard of more than a couple people giving themselves bad running injuries from too much barefoot mileage too soon. If you're not used to barefooting it, your feet need time to build up the muscles and ligaments that would be stronger if you spent your life barefoot as our ancestors had.

Too Cool Not To Share

Vibram FiveFingers new website "You Are the Technology" is simply too cool not to share. Click on it and explore around, it's really pretty neat. Of course it doesn't hurt that I LOVE their shoes! These people just keep doing everything right.

Shoe Problem: Solved! Nike Free Shoe Review

Remember my shoe dilemma? Solved! I was worrying that I run much better in my Vibram FiveFingers shoes but that they're too hard to deal with in transitions. So I decided to go check out the Nike Frees that I've been hearing about. As soon as I put them on, I loved them. Okay, that's a lie. As soon as I SAW them I loved them because they are PURPLE BABY! PURPLE! Purple is my fave-o color and these are way way purple. But aesthetics aside, when I put them on they felt light as a feather and very very flexible, you can literally bend them in half. These are the Nike Free Run version, which is about a 2.9 on their scale (2.0 being the most flexible, most barefoot-like, 9.0 being the least). I bought them on the spot (luckily, a gift certificate to the running store went a long way to offsetting the cost, although they are not expensive in the way that the Newtons are, they're in line with most running shoes price-wise).

One run in these babies and I was SOLD. They're not quite like the barefoot-feeling FiveFingers, but they are as close as you can come in something you don't have to squeeze over each individual toe. Some transition practice confirmed that they are not only simple to get in and out of (no tongue, for one thing), but the way the interior is designed with no decorative stitching means that they are the most comfortable shoe I've encountered for going sockless in. Perfect for the sprint triathlon! I've done everything from track work to an 11-mile hilly trail run in them and these shoes are solid gold. Light, comfortable, bendable, breatheable, and as close to barefoot as you can get in a running shoe.

The only caveat would be that if you're used to standard cushioned running shoes, take it easy getting used to these babies. You may need to build up foot and calf strength to handle a big mileage load.

Now I'm off to stuff my gear in the van, hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. It's racing time!

Brick Baby, Brick!

I know my season is starting later than many of you all out there, mostly due to not signing up for any Spring Sprints due to the broken arm. But my first race is 4 weeks away and so the first brick workout of the season was today and man, it felt great!

Only big question on my mind: I run WAY smoother and WAY more comfortably and probably a bit faster in my Vibram Five Fingers shoes. They are, however, a major pain to get on and getting them on fast would be difficult. Should I attempt to use them in a sprint triathlon? Would the time savings in the run, plus overall just FEEL of my run (remember, running is my weakest sport and it rarely feels this fun) be worth the hassle of putting them on?

I'm going to try some timings (timed runs in toe shoes vs. regular shoes, timed transitions with toe shoes vs. regular shoes) and attempt to answer this question in the next two weeks. I have no doubt it would be worth it in an Oly distance, but I have my doubts for the sprint. Stay tuned...

Vibram Five Fingers Success Story

Here's a great little story about a runner who overcame an IT Band injury and completed the Boston Marathon in Vibram Five Finger shoes, which he has only been running in since February! I think this is really interesting because my hubby was unable to run due to knee problems until he recently got some Vibram KSOs. Now he can run without knee pain where he couldn't before.

Here's  a quote from this article, the guy had a terrific time of 3:25:15 and an almost even split (hard to accomplish).

I felt so great; my split between the 40K and the finish was 10 minutes, close to a 7:25 pace! I felt like I could have just kept running a few more miles after the finish and had never felt so strong at the end of a marathon (which I attribute to the efficiency of running in VFFs). I ran the last five miles with a huge smile on my face. I had forgotten how fun it was to run naturally and pain free! Two days later, my legs feel great, and my IT Band has not acted up at all. While this race was far from a personal best, it was the most fun I have EVER had running.

Now that's impressive! If I ever run another stand-alone marathon, I think it will have to be in my VFFs!

Barefoot Running: Easy Does It

This post was suggested by my friend Carrie, who is new to barefoot running and just got a pair of Vibram FiveFingers. Her running form is already pretty darned good and she's been running in the Nike Frees, but even so a 3-miler in the Fiverfingers left her with some sore calves and a bit of soreness in the feet. The thing is, when you run barefoot or in barefoot-style shoes, your feet act differently than they do in even the most "free" of full-coverage shoes. One thing I've noticed about running barefoot is that my toes splay out and actually grip and push off of the ground individually. Really, this is kind of cool, and the sort of thing that tells me that what my foot does in a shoe is radically different than what it does without them.

When I first started doing some barefoot running and then using the Fivefingers, I took it extremely easy. I would take my regular shoes along and run barefoot in the grass for short times and then switch back to wearing shoes. Eventually I could run longer and longer barefoot and spent less time in the shoes. When I got the Fivefingers and transitioned to running on harder surfaces, I again took it very easy and kept the distances short at first, working up to longer and longer runs. Now I can do 9 - 10 miles in the Fivefingers and am hopeful that eventually I can even do marathon or ultra distance runs in them. I've actually gotten to the point where I hate running in my regular running shoes anymore, I can feel how they make my running style less efficient.

Here's a good article with some guidelines to easing into barefoot running, from the Living Barefoot site.

Shoe Review: Vibram Five Fingers KSO

It's been a few weeks since my sweetie gave me a pair of these babies for Valentine's Day, so I thought I'd let you know how they've checked out. I've been running in the regular Vibram Five Fingers since 2007, so you know I'm already a fan. About a year before I got my original pair, I found the book Chi Running and started following the techniques in that book for a more natural running style with no heel strike, so the Five Fingers fit right in to how I wanted to be running. Since then, I've really enjoyed using these shoes, but my one complaint with them was that since I do a lot of running on our beautiful bark running trails, I was always getting little bark chips and splinters in the shoes, which would necessitate taking them off, shaking them out, and putting them back on again. The Five Fingers aren't the easiest shoes to get on or off, especially while standing on one foot on a running trail, so this was a more or less constant hassle on my trail runs.

The Five Fingers KSO (which stands for "Keeps Stuff Out") neatly solve this very problem, and I am so happy with my new shoes! Today I ran about 10 miles, including 4 miles on concrete sidewalks, 3.5 miles on bark trail, and the remainder on graveled hiking trails occasionally punctuated by big mud bogs. The shoes performed admirably, and my legs and feet are now so accustomed to running with no cushy padding underfoot and my foot strike is relatively flat, so that I can run 4 - 6 miles on concrete with no foot or leg discomfort.

One of the things I like the most about the Five Fingers is that even when they're wet or muddy, they're not uncomfortable like you would be if you ran through a mud bog in regular running shoes and socks. Even after several miles in my mud-encrusted shoes, I had no hot spots or blisters at all. This makes them terrific for trail running. The only down side to these shoes for me is that on the graveled trails, you have to be constantly vigilant to avoid big chunks of gravel, because the shoes do not have enough thickness or stiffness of sole to prevent a big bruising to the foot from stepping on a rock. This makes trail runs a little less fun for me since I find my attention has to be glued to the ground. The bark trails and dirt trails are a breeze though, so it entirely depends on the surface that you're on.

Bottom line: Da Bomb for natural barefoot-style running, even better than the originals!

The Splinter Faction

Note to Self: If you're going to go barefoot running, don't go on the bark trails. Especially when every set of tweezers in this whole stinking house always goes missing. My feet look like they've been attacked by tiny little porcupines.

Of course, I had left my trusty set of Vibram Five Fingers at home, and it was just too beautiful not to run.

Years of Love

Hubby and I were talking last night and realizing that we are getting ever nearer to that point in time where we've spent half of our lives together. Weird! This is our 18th year together, and I've definitely spent more than 2/3 of my adult life with him. I guess that's why he knows me so well.

So that's why, my valentine from him... No, not this...











These!!!! Totally unexpected and out of the blue, accompanied by a sweet little poem. And if you knew my hubby you'd know that for him writing a poem is truly a labor of love. I know so many athletes struggle with their spouses understanding and supporting what they do, I guess I was lucky enough to find someone just as crazy as I am.

And you know what? I can't wait to try them out. I ran 4.5 miles on Friday in my Five Fingers and my legs felt great. I ran 6 miles yesterday in my regular running shoes and the difference is noticeable. These new Five Fingers will be much better for the bark trails, because the bark gets into the old ones and gives me splinters everywhere. Now I'll just use those for Crossfitting, etc. and the new ones for hitting the trails!