News and articles from Running Training Plan
It’s funny how we accept conventional wisdom as just that: wisdom. Ask any runner what is the best way to pace a marathon and they will almost certainly say run it at an even pace or with a negative split (negative split is 2nd half faster than 1st).
But, why is this? Simple, it’s because this is the advice that has been handed down over the years from respected coaches, published in
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.
It’s been six months since my last post now but I’m still an aspiring barefoot runner, if not blogger. Perhaps that should be a committed minimalist runner, which, for me, seems more practical in the UK. To get up to speed and with the benefit of hindsight I’m going to reflect on the year between the Bristol Half Marathons of autumn 2010 and 2011 in four short posts.
In 2010 I ran
I managed to keep the calf intact for Paris Marathon; there was a strict ‘no barefoot’ policy in the couple of weeks leading up to the race.
The race passed in a fairly predictable manner; unusual for a marathon. My build up had been shorter than planned due to illness at the beginning of the year and I wasn’t expecting to break any records.
It is strange, the expectations we have
I’m back in Saudi Arabia again, and haven’t even had time to hit the treadmills so I’m missing my running.
The first time I was here this year I was desperately trying to keep up my fitness as I neared the end of my training for a 30-mile cross-country hill run. It was a major challenge and the goal at the end of 6 months’ training. Inadvertently it also turned into the beginning
I’m training (supposed to be training) for the Bristol Half Marathon, and as I’ve just had two weeks with no running I need to work on my speed, so it’s time for some of the dreaded intervals on The Downs.
The good news is that I don’t have any blisters or soreness from the barefoot run yesterday at all and no Achilles tendon tension in the morning. This seems like progress.
It was
