Week 25

Well, that was good fun!  Ran the Bristol 10k this morning with a time of 51 mins 11 secs in my Luna sandals.  That’s actually my best time since I set my PB about 5 years ago of 48mins something.  What makes me feel even better about it was that this came off a 6 week training plan, which I started 2 weeks after almost 3 months off training after my achilles injury.

I decided on my Lunas in an effort to keep my feet cool and dry to stave off the blisters, and it’s worked perfectly.  I got a few funny looks on the way to the start line, but I was in the starting pen with a few people in fancy dress and a guy in a running kilt, so I got a bit less attention then!  I took it very easy over the first 3k, I was aiming for any time under 1 hour, but I felt good after 3k so I picked up the pace a bit under the bridge heading up to Portway.  At the turnaround it was mostly downhill back into town, so I kept my cadence up and let gravity pull me down the hill.  That’s a really useful trick, by the way, it helps you rest while keeping the speed up.

Around Spike Island, I kept a decent pace, I knew I was on for at least a 55min run at that point, and at about 7km I decided to pick up the pace some more.  Someone actually ran alongside me for a bit there and asked about my sandals, I only had the breath and the time to say how comfortable they were before he said something along the lines of keep it up, you’re looking good, and disappeared off into the distance!  The final 1k or so felt really comfortable, I was able to stretch out and even had enough for a sprint finish at the end.  I felt like I could have pushed harder, but like I said a couple of weeks ago, it wasn’t my intention to race it today, just use it as a chance to see how I felt.

My Lunas performed admirably.  I was worried at first, because I’d been having problems with getting the heel strap to stay on, but I managed to get the tension just right so it stayed on for the whole 10k, plus the walk down there and the walk home.  They were very comfortable, I have no more blisters, no bruising on the soles, nothing.  All in all, I’m very happy with how it went today!

• Total weekly miles

11.5 miles including the race.

• Number of running sessions

3.

• Total weekly barefoot mile

0 miles.

• Number of barefoot running sessions

0.

• Running terrain

Mostly flat, on a mixture of pavement and road.

• Ground surface of barefoot runs

N/A.

• Runs in minimalist shoes, e.g. Five Fingers.

Lunas for the race, RunAmocs and Moc3s on the shorter runs, as I was trying to find a shoe that wouldn’t aggravate my existing blisters, or give me any more!

• Weather for barefoot runs (rain on road?)

N/A.

• Condition of skin on feet — hotspots, blisters

No problems this week.  I took a couple of days completely off training as a small taper running up to the 10k, this let my blisters heal up.  I’ve no extra problems from wearing my Lunas, no blisters between my toes or anything, which was something I was worried about.  Flip flops always gave me blisters initially when I wore them before, but no such problems with the soft leather laces on my Lunas.

• Interesting/amusing comments received during the week: e.g. ‘You’ve got no shoes on!’

Some funny looks at the start of the race, as mentioned above.  I bumped into some friends after the race as well, they couldn’t believe I ran in sandals.

• Treading on nasty things: e.g. glass, thorns, poo — how you dealt with any

No problems this week.

• Changes in your running style that you’ve noticed.

No chnages really.  But I was happy to see that I can run fast and still keep (I think!) fairly good form at the end of the race.

• Injuries incurred, or reduction of existing symptoms.

None.  I think my calves will hurt tomorrow though!

• Useful tips and nuggets of info you’ve picked up along the way.

None this week.