another milestone - first 7 mile run

Saturday was a day of many milestones, some real, some artificial, thanks to the metric system. It was the first time I had run 7 miles continuously, and I really mean continuously. Did not pause for even one step to take a break or to sip water, thanks to my fuel belt. It was the first time I had run for more than one hour, and the first time I had run more than 10 kms(11.2 to be exact). And the cool thing is I(along with my running buddies) kept a perfect pace of 11 mins a mile - finishing 7 miles in 76 minutes (we made up 1 minute due to our over-eagerness over the last half-mile by upping the pace).

And the weather had a lot to do with it. It was a muggy, cold day about 55 F/12 C, one of those days I used to hate when I was a kid. You know, an irritating, dull day where it is neither sunny nor rainy, just gloomy - basically like England but with zero chances of showers. But the perfect day for running, and if Oct 26th is anything like last Saturday, I think my chances of completing just doubled. If only I could get my hands on those weather-changing stuff China has apparently(see The Daily show from last week).

the performance pressure of running barefoot

Running barefoot seems to be pretty uncommon, at least in the runners I encounter around San Jose. The sole(no pun intended) reason for me doing this is to reduce/prevent injury. As I have explained earlier, running barefoot means you do not have the luxury of making mistakes in running form, inefficiency etc. Thus, you immediately correct your mistakes, which in effect reduces the chances of injury.

But many people, mostly other runners, seem to think that running barefoot is an exhibition than a better approach to running. People seem to think I am doing this to prove that this is possible, or to rough it or something unnatural.

For example, during the last long run, these are some of the conversations(sort-of) that I had with other people that I shared the trail with.

Lady with dog: (with a huge smile)OH MY GOD! You are insane!!!!

Me(running in opposite direction): Not really

Lady with dog: YES YOU ARE

Random girl: (stops running and starts clapping) That(me running barefoot) is so great...

Me: (uhhh.. what do I say... say something smart, or funny, or non-chalant.... ok, they are 20 yards away now and I just acted rude by not saying anything)

Other random comments

"Nice shoes"

"Your laces are undone"

What this looks like from other people's PoV is that am doing something that is hard or difficult, and like I am trying to make a point. They seem to think that I have a disadvantage, that this is a super-human effort. Running a marathon is, running barefoot is not. I am not dumb enough to attempt something with a disadvantage. I believe running barefoot gives me an advantage over me running with shoes, which is precisely why I do it. Am doing something which is easier and more natural, something which works for me. And it is not as hard as it looks.

But to the title/point of this post. If I get injured, people are going to attribute it to the barefoot running. If I get tired or if it is not my day, it is going to be attributed to the same thing. Which makes me think twice before giving up, before stopping to take a breather. So, in all it works out pretty well, sorta.

hill training

Our mentor at the group that I run with told us that we would be starting 'hill training' from next time onwards. And half-way through our run he took us along another trail that was definitely uphill. Man, it feels a lot harder running up a hill! But it does work relatively under-worked muscles which you do not use much while running on flat ground. And there's always the way back down to look forward to :)

So, how should you tweak your training? Incorporate some hill running, it helps a lot and it is more intensive than you might think. If you are running 4 times a week, once a week or once in two should be enough, depending on the trail you run obviously. It is definitely something you should check out though. It feels horrible, worse than running does, when you are doing it, but great once you are done. * sigh * I still dont enjoy running the way others do, but hopefully I will get there.

where you train matters

The long runs that I do on Saturday typically takes place on environments similar to actual marathon trails (like Campbell Park, which the SV marathon route runs through for about 15 miles). On weekdays, the 4 miles that I run with my smaller group is at Rancho San Antonio, in Cupertino. This trail is not flat and is a real trail, not paved road. It is hard ground, with stones and pebbles and with a constantly undulating path. It is a lot harder to run 4 miles on this, than to run 4 miles on, say, the SV route. And this shows on the weekend runs when I have to typically run longer distances than I have ever done before.

If you are in NorCal and east of Redwood City, west of San Jose, I would recommend Rancho over any other place. 

running schedule and mileage after 7 weeks

There is not much difference between one run and the other most of the times. Rather than document each run, I will try to approach different angles in these posts. But what will be useful would be mileage and the incremental increase in it. So, after 7 weeks of training, I am running

3.5 miles on Monday

8x400m on Tuesday at 1 min 50 sec per lap

3.5 miles on Thursday

5 miles on Saturday @ 11 min a mile

Going by the incremental increase, think the number of laps I do on tracks will increase by 2 each week, and 1-2 miles each Saturday. Just a guess.

4 miles - saturday run

Time for the long run. Some days you feel good, comfortable and running seems a lot easier. Unfortunately, this was not one of mine. I felt sluggish, was breathing heavily and struggling for rhythm. Wonder how really long runs, like 14 miles will be on days like this...
Ran barefoot again, but was not as comfortable as the previous times. The thing is, I need to concentrate a lot when I run. Most people relax while running, zone out and do it sub-consciously. Again, unfortunately, I am not one of those. I need to concentrate on quite a few things. I need to focus on breathing through my nose, will write a post on why this is better. I need to concentrate on my path, make sure there are no pebbles, stones, glass etc as I am running barefoot. I also focus on my running form, trying to find out which works best, as I have never really ran properly before. It was just general haphazard, point A to point B type of a thing previously. With all these things, I am pretty occupied while running.
Like I said, I was lazy and sluggish on this run and didnt focus too much, banged my heel somewhere and could complete only 3.5 miles, and walked the last 0.5. One good thing so far about running barefoot has been the lack of blisters, which is pretty cool. Hopefully, it will stay that way.

Running barefoot

Another thing, I run barefoot. Yes, I did the gait analysis and got fitted for shoes. And I did run with those shoes and they felt better than other shoes I have run with. But I have always wondered about how I used to play barefoot all the time when I was a kid and it felt easy and good. And I was wondering if that applied here too, and I found that there was a whole school of thought that supports barefoot running. I AM NOT RECOMMENDING THIS, I am merely stating what works for me. About 200 people run on the group runs, maybe more, and there is ONE guy besides me who runs barefoot. So, shoes work for almost everyone and will 99% work for you too.

Of course, I do not run on the actual trails barefoot as they are full of stones. I run on paved trails barefoot, and I will be running the marathon barefoot. But at Rancho, I use Nike Free. They are very thin and light shoes, pretty cool. Worth checking out.