Road to Nowhere

Yup.

ounce wrote:Yup.

Oh well. At least we got it to a fresh page!

I've got a buddy back in southern California who was doing some barefoot running. Actually, all his running was barefoot, and he cross-trained on the bike. He was doing a lot of walking over the roughest patch of asphalt he could find, and then running a mile or two 2-3x per week, to start. He eventually built up to running a 10k barefoot with no issues. Pretty fast guy, too. I'll ask him for more info and relay it to ya.

I'll help you get your blog back to running. Now that I've stopped giggling.

Remember Neil? He's still 'round here somewhere. He transitioned into barefoot running.

So, you're doing full-on barefoot, no vibrams? Don't your tootsies get cold?

Mike MacLellan wrote:I've got a buddy back in southern California who was doing some barefoot running. Actually, all his running was barefoot, and he cross-trained on the bike. He was doing a lot of walking over the roughest patch of asphalt he could find, and then running a mile or two 2-3x per week, to start. He eventually built up to running a 10k barefoot with no issues. Pretty fast guy, too. I'll ask him for more info and relay it to ya.

Thanks for that, Mike. Two or three times a week sounds pretty reasonable - especially if you don't go too far. That might be something to shoot for.

KathyK wrote:I'll help you get your blog back to running. Now that I've stopped giggling.

Remember Neil? He's still 'round here somewhere. He transitioned into barefoot running.

So, you're doing full-on barefoot, no vibrams? Don't your tootsies get cold?

I'm glad my blog could put a smile on your face, Kathy. The giggling? Bonus.

I do remember Neil. Maybe he'll swing through, or I'll track him down.

As to foot coverings: None. I've read (from barefoot purists, of course) that putting ANYTHING between your skin and the ground removes that critical nerve stimulus that actually teaches our body to move the way they were originally engineered. On top of that, if you go totally bare, your skin gets sore. It's a natural way of keeping you from doing too much, too soon. Not that distance runners would EVER be susceptible to that weakness.

Now, I can imagine some things you just wouldn't want to go totally barefoot on. Or in. (They won't let you in stores and restaurants with nekkid feet.) But I've tried a pair of the Vibram Five Fingers and didn't really like them very much. I'd be much more likely to for a pair of huraches/sandals like the Luna Sandals brand Barefoot Ted makes. They even custom make them to your own foot shape at no extra charge! Pretty neat. Alita says to just get them (my old Nike ATS sandals are pretty much thrashed, anyway), and I'm really close to pulling the trigger.



These are probably fancier ones than I'd get. (They're called the LeadCat)

Oh, and no, my tootsies haven't gotten cold. Or, to be precise, they don't FEEL cold when I run. At other times, my loving wife reports that my feet are "chilly, to say the least."

The sandals look comfy to wear...but they 'look' like they'd THWACK when running. (does that make sense?) Or cause raw places where the straps are? I'd be interested in hearing how they feel on a run.

KathyK wrote:The sandals look comfy to wear...but they 'look' like they'd THWACK when running. (does that make sense?) Or cause raw places where the straps are? I'd be interested in hearing how they feel on a run.

Those are all great questions, Kathy. I know they have a strap that goes around the heel that ought to keep them from thwacking flip-flop style, and the soles are pretty pliable (the total thickness of the sandals above are 10mm, so I think they move with the foot. As to the straps rubbing... I haven't heard any complaints about that, but it'd be interesting to find out.

The only thing holding me back at this point is deciding what type to get.

---

I was going to run this morning but had to scuttle it so I could zip to the grocery store before work. Very annoying when you run out of food...

Oh well. I was a little sore from pushing my car yesterday when it ran out of gas...

I think the sandals are cool looking but be prepared to have to get used to the strap between your toes. Every summer it seems, I have to use body glide between my toes when sandal season arrives until my feet get used to that strap once again.

Mark B wrote:

Oh well. I was a little sore from pushing my car yesterday when it ran out of gas...

Seems like you may need to reconsider your fueling strategy!

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:I think the sandals are cool looking but be prepared to have to get used to the strap between your toes. Every summer it seems, I have to use body glide between my toes when sandal season arrives until my feet get used to that strap once again.

That's never been a problem for me (though I never ran in flip-flops before), but I suppose that's a sacrifice I'll have to be willing to make!

Michael Enright wrote:

Mark B wrote:

Oh well. I was a little sore from pushing my car yesterday when it ran out of gas...

Seems like you may need to reconsider your fueling strategy!

Ouch! He shoots, he scores!

Nice one, Michael.

Snow HR Run: 90 minutes

Weather: Mostly cloudy, snow on the ground (though not so much on the road), chilly, humid, with a slight breeze. 34 degrees, 98% humidity. Fuel/fluid: None.

It snowed last night! About 1.5 inches at our house. Enough to make it pretty, but not enough to even delay school. So once I got Alec off to school I hustled to get outside as fast as I could - snow like this doesn't last very long.

I headed out on my country route and got a surprise message from my legs early on: "You know, we can keep going as far as you want to go." Really? As in, to see the llamas? "Yup! Just take it nice and easy."

Well, okay then. I have never had a chance to see the area where I do most of my road runs in snow, so I honestly couldn't resist. I took it nice and easy, stopping several times on the way out to take photos of the snowy countryside. It was easy making it out to Larry and Moe - the alpacas were nowhere to be seen - through the return trip was slightly more difficult. I didn't really care, though. I just slowed down and walked when slowing down didn't get the HR back down to 138. (I didn't stop to take photos on the way back, which changed the dynamic, I suspect.)

My foot complained a little, but finding a part of the road with a better camber helped. We'll see how it does later today.

Average HR for entire run: 133

Here's a chart for the run.



I'll post the photos next.

We don't often get snow in these parts, and to get it on March 1 is pretty incredible.

So, I was a little surprised when I looked out the front door and saw this:



The snow was gorgeous... but not so much a hinderance for drivers. They didn't even delay school!

Which, perhaps, wasn't exactly what the kids at the bus stop would have preferred...



But just because THEY can't have fun, it doesn't mean the grow ups can't.

Time to head out for a run. All the photos were taken with my cell phone.


Here's a view about a mile out on my route. The Ravine is on the right.



And a better view of the trees.


Another mile out, and the sun broke through the clouds and patchy fog. The light caught a shed in the middle of a field.



Continuing on, I got this view of a big old tree. I thought it was cool how the water from melting snow on its branches cleared off the snow underneath.



My route takes me past some farms, including some farm buildings that haven't been used in a long time. Here's one of them.



Not far away, you see that farm buildings aren't the only old things around...



Just over 3 miles in, I get to this cool homestead. I'm not sure if the building on the right had any specific use, or if was just the whimsy of the farmer who built it.



And here's some proof that there is still working farmland in my area... not just horse acreage and mini-mansions!



And finally.... Moe and Larry (Moe's the dark one, Larry's the lighter one).

I had to crop this shot a bit - they were feeling antisocial. But I'm glad they were out!

I hope you enjoyed the photo tour!

Love that first photo, Mark. I look at your weather reports for every run and think to myself "low 30s? Eek," but I think that might make it worth all those cold-with-no-snow days. Glad you enjoyed your run.

I would like to have a least a little winter here. It was 69F, 93% humidity this morning. At least now it is 78F and 40% humidity - where oh where did our 50F winter days go with 30F mornings!

Mike MacLellan wrote:Love that first photo, Mark. I look at your weather reports for every run and think to myself "low 30s? Eek," but I think that might make it worth all those cold-with-no-snow days. Glad you enjoyed your run.

Running in the 30s is pretty normal around here in the winter, though snow is a rarity. Once you get the clothing right, it's not so bad (though I've ended up hypothermic a couple of times in cold, wind and rain).

The biggest problem? If you're training for a spring marathon. If you're conditioned to running in 30-40 degree gloom, a beautiful 60-degree sunny day makes for a race day disaster.

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:I would like to have a least a little winter here. It was 69F, 93% humidity this morning. At least now it is 78F and 40% humidity - where oh where did our 50F winter days go with 30F mornings!

Wow. What a difference, huh? At the same time, I know somebody who lives near Fargo, N.D., and they're digging out from a blizzard earlier this week. What a weird time of year.

This snow was just about perfect: Pretty but not enough to cause problems.

Great pix. Nice to have a sense of place.
I'd like to buy that car, so my kids will have something to drive...

LOVE the pics! Thanks so much for sharing. I especially like the old barn w/car. And I love that you got to go visit Larry and Moe!

Michael Enright wrote:Great pix. Nice to have a sense of place.
I'd like to buy that car, so my kids will have something to drive...

That IS a very cool car, Michael. Why whoever owns it leaves it outside all the time like that, I'll never know. It looks like it could be restored.

And I wonder... what type of car is it? I think it might be a Hudson Terraplane sedan, from about 1936 or so.



I don't know if it's exactly the same, but it's close.

KathyK wrote:LOVE the pics! Thanks so much for sharing. I especially like the old barn w/car. And I love that you got to go visit Larry and Moe!

Thanks, Kathy. I have to admit, I was thinking of you when I decided to see if I could make it out to the llamas yesterday.

Especially since it was (ahem) about four weeks sooner than I'd predicted last week. :whistles innocently:

At least I haven't suffered any ill effects from the longer run. Could my body be adapting back to the higher impact of road running? Maybe, or I just took it easy enough yesterday as to not strain anything. Either way, I'll take it!

Y'alls 1-1/2" of snow would be 1-1/4" more than what we would need to shut the city down.

ounce wrote:Y'alls 1-1/2" of snow would be 1-1/4" more than what we would need to shut the city down.

I'd reckon.

We came up with our own Pacific Northwest Lowlands weather catastrophe rating in the newsroom a while back.

Snowpalooza: 2 inches or less. Pretty, fun, but not troublesome.
Snowmageddon: 2-8 inches. Drivers become idiots. Weathercasters hyperventilate.
Snowpacolypse: 8+ inches. Anarchy. Cannibalism. It's not a pretty sight.

Once you get out of the lowlands into the hills and mountains, all those numbers need to be adjusted. Twenty-foot snowpacks in the mountains are relatively common.

Low HR Run: 30 minutes (About 2 miles) on the treadmill

Weather: Indoors, 68. Gear: FR2s.

I was a little sore after yesterday's longer run, so I decided to take today's run inside - if only to guarantee that I wouldn't get carried away and run longer than 30 minutes.

My HR didn't elevate much in my 5-minute walking warm up, which was nice, but it spiked to 161 (!) as soon as I turned the treadmill speed to a 12/mi pace. Not enough goop on the HR strap! Oops. I got that under control and tried to keep the run as light and easy as possible. My hope was that I could make it to 25 minutes (when I would start my walking cool down) without having to slow the treadmill to get my HR back down.

The result? Success! My HR slipped to 139 briefly a few times, but I was able to find ways to bring it back down (altering my stride, breathing, or distracting myself). So when the clock rolled past 25:00, my HR was just a hair below 136! Nice.

Average HR for the entire run: 121

Cracking up at the thought that news-people actually discuss these, ahem, idiotic, names before they use them.

It looks like you're coming back, Mark. We both know how tentative of a state that is, but we also know how exciting it is. Keep it up!

Snow around here has a tendency to make people go a bit crazy, too...at the mere forecast, everyone dashes to the store to get milk, bread and eggs. And beer.

Nice job on the treadmill run!

Mark B wrote:

ounce wrote:Y'alls 1-1/2" of snow would be 1-1/4" more than what we would need to shut the city down.

I'd reckon.

We came up with our own Pacific Northwest Lowlands weather catastrophe rating in the newsroom a while back.

Snowpalooza: 2 inches or less. Pretty, fun, but not troublesome.
Snowmageddon: 2-8 inches. Drivers become idiots. Weathercasters hyperventilate.
Snowpacolypse: 8+ inches. Anarchy. Cannibalism. It's not a pretty sight.

Once you get out of the lowlands into the hills and mountains, all those numbers need to be adjusted. Twenty-foot snowpacks in the mountains are relatively common.

Durn tootin'.

Mark B wrote:Low HR Run: 30 minutes (About 2 miles) on the treadmill

Weather: Indoors, 68. Gear: FR2s.

I was a little sore after yesterday's longer run, so I decided to take today's run inside - if only to guarantee that I wouldn't get carried away and run longer than 30 minutes.

My HR didn't elevate much in my 5-minute walking warm up, which was nice, but it spiked to 161 (!) as soon as I turned the treadmill speed to a 12/mi pace. Not enough goop on the HR strap! Oops. I got that under control and tried to keep the run as light and easy as possible. My hope was that I could make it to 25 minutes (when I would start my walking cool down) without having to slow the treadmill to get my HR back down.

The result? Success! My HR slipped to 139 briefly a few times, but I was able to find ways to bring it back down (altering my stride, breathing, or distracting myself). So when the clock rolled past 25:00, my HR was just a hair below 136! Nice.

Average HR for the entire run: 121

Whew! When I saw that 161 number and you were still able to survive, well, it gave me the vapors!

Nifty running.