Running has never felt more difficult……
…..but I appreciate it more than ever!! I was incredibly frustrated a week or so ago when we had a dumping of snow that made just leaving the house a dangerous ‘sport’! I did have a bad fall which resulted in an impressive lump on the back of my head and very painful ribs. Thankfully, I fell backwards!!! It unnerved me, however,
Increasingly, we seem to be living in a society where people want instant rewards or success from little or no effort. Fame, fortune, celebrity — many people seek it rather than work for it.
Running doesn’t really follow these trends. Like most sports, it’s an ‘honest’ activity. You get out what you put in. Yes, some athletes are blessed with natural talent that can put
Total distance: 8km (treadmill)
Distance Barefoot: 6km (treadmill)
After a week skiing (not a very barefoot friendly activity), I was back on it this week. The relative rest gave my calf strain time to recover and now feels absolutely fine, but the cold weather seemed to follow me home and it’s been a bit cold and snowy this week. So far I’ve managed a couple of barefoot runs on the treadmill.
My last post and back to the Bristol Half Marathon. Come 2011 I ran it in my Evo II minimalist shoes. I ran a minute slower than 2010 but came 100 places higher up the field – so a great result.
However, my calves were incredibly stiff for the three days following the race. This is the one area where I find barefoot or minimalist running has a detrimental affect on my body – road running.
By May the Inov-8 off-road shoes I had run the 2010 Half Marathon in had well and truly worn out. My birthday was coming up in June and I was very excited as Inov-8 had made the move into truly minimal shoes. So a month later I received a pair of Bare-Grip 200s – an off-road shoe with no midsole, no cushioning and no height differential between heel and toe.
Again, a great pair of
In February I went to Sri Lanka and while I was there I did a couple of runs – one on a beach and one round a town, in and out of the Evo IIs. But after each I was hobbling. And the hobbling continued for a good couple of days afterwards. I had burning on the insides of my Achilles Tendons but didn’t know why.
When I came back I bought a small ultrasound device, after I saw a friend