Putting shoes back on

Putting shoes back on... just temporary though :P

Last week greengirlrunning brought up a good point that I totally agree with. It hurts to run barefoot on the pavement even in my little slippers :(

 

Most of the training I've done before hand was on the treadmill or in the park where I ran on a dirt road half of the time. Not the case when I went running with my friend. The pavement hurt and there was absolutely nothing cushiony in my slippers to make it easier on my feet. I really don't want to run a half marathon like that because it hurts and I'd rather not get injured.

So.... I decided to put my Asics-2160 back on. Just when I run on asphalt and until I finish my race. The thing is that I need to buy a proper pair of minimalistic shoes but I'm scared to try a completely new pair of shoes so close to the race. Hence, I'll just use whatever I've always used.

No, I didn't immediately start heel striking. Not at all. I continued landing midfoot but I did feel that it was a bit harder. What was amazing was the cushion like feeling everytime I landed. I definitely miss that feeling :(

I know that if I wear these shoes for too long, my gait will reverse back to heel striking and that would defeat the purpose. Yet, I'm sure that it'll take longer then 2 weeks for things to reverse especially if I keep up with my form drills.

After the race, definitely buying a proper pair of minimalistic shoes.

Anyone else have a similar issue with barefoot running? Or am I the only crazy one to pretty much run without shoes :P

Barefoot Running Update #2

Happy Monday everyone :) Ooh it's Easter soon ^^

As you probably know, I have been transitioning into barefoot running over the past 5 months. When I just got into running a year ago, I was a mid-foot striker as I initially learned running in minimalistic shoes back in Ukraine. Even when I did XC running in grade 12, my shoes didn't have a heel drop. However, being in conventional shoes for 6 months has changed my form completely in that I became a forefoot striker (GASP!). As a result, I developed pain in my ankles to the point that I could barely run. No matter how much I rested, or iced, or stretched, nothing would help. Until I took off my shoes...

Running Schedule

Aah! There're 7 more weeks till my Half-Marathon!!! Don't worry I've been training :D

I know I mentioned before that I had some Achilles Tendon troubles before but thank goodness that I caught it early and rested. Everything went back to normal after about 1-1.5 weeks! After that I've just been doing easy jogs of about 25-30 minutes. Now it's time to do some formal training.

Hot Yoga is not that Innocent!

I guess I have good news and bad news… Let's start with the positive.

As Kristen has noticed, my plank workouts have now been increased up to 6 minutes. Yup 6 minutes :) The addition is as much Up and Down planks as I can do. Usually I end up doing 8 of them within that 1 minute period. They are HARD to do but it is getting easier. By the end I'm done, I just flop on the floor and lie there for a minute or two.

The other cool thing I've noticed was this developing bump a bit above my hip bone. Oh hello oblique muscles! I guess those side planks are working their magic.

Also, remember how I talked about developing a system of eating 4 times per day. Well I've played around with it a bit and I think that it's something that works for me much better then 3 meals per day and always snacking in between. What I'm thinking is something along the lines of 3 meals per day + 1-2 substantial snacks as required by my tummy. So instead of having a handful of something here and there (not always healthy things) have larger healthy snacks. For example one of my favorite snacks- cut up apple with a tbsp of peanut butter and quark. Some other cool "substantial" snacks could be chia seed pudding or a green monster smoothie with fruits.

Now the bad news… my Achilles Tendon (AT) :( I really need to cut down on how much I use it while I allow to heal up. That means no taking the stairs!!! No ifs or buts I need to take the elevator for the next little bit. Another thing is cutting down on jumping. This one is a tough but I'll need to control myself!

The Achilles Tendon

Hey everyone :) Hope you all had a great weekend. Haven't heard from many of you as it's been pretty quiet on the blogosphere. 

My weekend was fine. I pretty much spent the whole weekend at home, studying. Also, had a friend come over on Sunday for a good 4 hour interview prep session for what at the moment feels like the most important interview of my life!

I feel like such a health blogger. It snowed in on Friday so my university was closed. Guess what I did? Make banana oatmeal and went for a treadmill run! Ain't that a great way to celebrate?

However, I have an issue. My Achilles Tendon has been acting up. I didn't even run this week before Friday??? It's not a sharp pain and I can walk fine but I did have a nagging pain the second I start running. It went away as I kept running. A part of me is blaming the piles of snow and slippery icy roads. I fell last week while running after the bus (still caught it!) and the area in my university doesn't get proper snow clearance. Hence, walking on "rough terrains" could have aggravated it? Could also just be barefoot running :S It probably is a combination of things and maybe even calf stretches in hot yoga? Also, I of course have to be a "jumpy squirrel like creature" when I'm at home and jump all the time. Sorry Achilles Tendon, I know jumping up and down doesn't do you any good. I'll just have to divert my energy into something else... like planking.

Tracking your workouts

Hey y'all :) Hope you enjoyed the little post about fecal transplants. It still cracks me up, haha!

Anyways, I came across a program called Training Peaks from Heather and decided to give it a try. It's completely free and is basically a workout tracking program. I'm still trying to figure out all of the features but it seems pretty cool at the moment. The interface looks just like a calendar where you can input your workout, run, swim, bike ride or whatever. In terms of running you can put in the distance with duration and it spits out the your pace and the amount of calories you burn. There's a little space where you can add description and comments of the workout which is amazing from tracking how you felt during or after. Then you can include the equipment you used, whether you did any interval training, what route you took, your HR zones and a bunch of other features I don't even understand!

Building a base

I checked the calendar and my half-marathon is pretty much in 14 weeks! Woah? The time just flew by. Which brings me to say that I pretty much need to start building my base mileage. For the last 2-3 months I've been very much focusing on transitioning to barefoot running and have been running about 40-60 minutes a week. Ick!

I know my barefoot running schedule is supposed to start including long runs (40 min)/ hills/ tempo runs (25 min). Instead I'm thinking of pushing that back and working more on building up my base mileage. Once I feel comfortable I'll start including long runs/ hills/ tempo/ fartlek runs. Basically, I want to get my mileage up a bit more before I start adding harder workouts.

Barefoot in January? Am I crazy?

Hey y'all :) Hope you  had a good weekend I know I did!

Some of my workouts last week have been a bit of a fail and due to some circumstances I only went to yoga once this week :(

I was going to go on Saturday but there was an accident on the road so me and my friend couldn't get to the class on time. You know what! I'm kind of glad we didn't go because it was beautiful outside and we went for a jog instead :D

Source: http://skreened.com/render-product/m/y/n/myncmmanunmijqeuamyy/if-you-can-t-see-the-bright-side-of-life-polish-the-dull-side.american-apparel-unisex-fitted-tee.lemon.w760h760.jpg

It was strange because it was around 8 degrees out on Saturday? So much for Canadian winter! Of course I didn't have my shoes with me so I went running in... socks...

Balancing Running and Yoga

Ever since I've started Bikram Yoga, my time devoted to barefoot running has gone down. The 90 minute yoga class in a "sauna" and all the commuting have really taken a toll on my running schedule. In addition, since I just started yoga my legs have been in pain. My quads and hamstrings hurt like **** that I gave up on a Strength Drill workout once.

Source: http://gymflow100.com/post-run-yoga-routine-that-targets-sorest-and-tightest-spots-video/

Running Strength Drills

Cheers Everyone!

Remember the post I wrote regarding the Form Drills I did for Barefoot Running? Well this is the second part with all of the Strength Drills that I do.

Source: http://www.ransacker.co.uk/running-shoes/goings-on/barefoot-running-what-is-the-truth/

These will be challenging at first so I suggest not doing more then 2 sets to start with and doing it every other day. After about a month, increase it to 3 sets.

Barefoot Running Update

Merry Christmas/ Happy Holidays everyone! <3

Hope all of you enjoyed the time with your family and your loved ones, along with food :P Here're some of the things I've eaten on Christmas- Eggplants Korean style, typical Russian Olivier Salad, zucchini with cheese, roti rolls with eggs, mayo, cheese, and parsley.  

The picture itself is the left overs I had for breakfast. Note the green smoothie hiding in the top right corner :P

Also, I've changed the design of the blog. The main reason for that is because the old one had some glitches that I couldn't figure out how to fix. I'm not 100% sure how I feel about the current design so any comments will be appreciated. 

Now back to fitness. I've actually been doing a good job keeping up with my barefoot running transition exercises. The program is 8 weeks along and involves alternating days of form drills + running and strength drills.

In this post I discuss the form drills. Even if you're not interested in barefoot running, these drills can be of benefit. In most sports there is a lot of emphasis on doing drills. Shouldn't it be the same with running?

Going Barefoot

There has been something bothering me for the past few days. My running form has worsened- when I started running in February I used to be a midfoot striker. Now I catch myself constantly lending on my heels. What has happened? Isn’t it an unnatural way to run, if so why have I made it a habit? If only it was a bad habit! It’s making me overprotonate and now I’m having these horrible side ankle pains.

One night I reminisced my childhood and remembered what I used to run in as a kid. It wasn’t sneakers! In fact it looked more like tennis shoes with tiny thin soles. I remember running on a track with small rocks and feeling those rocks through my shoe. Strange, ha? The other thing I realized is that when I run around the house (I do that and jumping a lot), I lend on my forefoot. So I wanted to give barefoot running a try. I started off by running back and forth in my room for about 10 minutes. It felt fine and nothing hurt the next day. I’ve heard that a lot of people have trouble with barefoot running because their foot muscles and calves are weak. I felt fine, but then again I have very muscular calves.

On Saturday I went for a nice 6-7k run outside. The first 4k were a pain, I could barely run. My ankles hurt like **** that by the time I reached the park I just took my shoes off. The last 2-3k were surprisingly pain free while landing on my forefoot. It felt completely different, my feet were more springy and light while my foot turnover dramatically increased. It felt good, natural. Until I noticed broken glass but I didn’t step on that :P