Daily Quote: "A few months before, someone who called himself "Barefoot Ted" began blitzing Caballow with a torrent of messages. He seemed to be the Bruce Wayne of barefoot running, the wealthy heir of a California amusement-park fortune who devoted himself to battling the worst crime ever committed against the human foot: the invention of the running shoe. Barefoot Ted believed we could abolish foot injuries by throwing away our Nikes, and he was willing to prove it on himself: he ran the Los Angeles and Santa Clarita marathons in his bare feet and finished fast enough to qualify for the elite Boston Marathon. He was rumored to train by running barefoot in the San Gabriel Mountains, and by pulling his wife and daughter through the streets of Burbank in a rickshaw. Now, he was coming to Mexico to commune with the Tarahumara and explore whether the key to their amazing resilience was their nearly bare feet." --From the book " "Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.", by Christopher McDougall.
My friend, Wendy, had been posting on the barefoot forum and Barefoot Ted had actually commented on her posts, how cool is that?!? I highly recommend "Born to Run" that reads like an adventure novel, yet inspires anyone who seeks to live life to the fullest and to improve their running. Go get this book!!!
I will eventually be experimenting with barefoot running, but unfortunately I live in the Las Vegas desert, work late, and don't awake early enough to run during the cooler morning hours. In fact, after this Saturday's race all my runs will be on the treadmill at my local gym, 24 Hour Fitness, and highly unlikely they'll allow me to run barefoot on the treadmill due to liability concerns. Although I can't run barefoot on the treadmill, I can find the most minimalist shoes out there so I can run as close to barefoot as possible. Any ideas for a minimalist shoe? Currently my Nike Air Structures have 199 miles on them, and once I wear them out I'll find less cushioned and high healed running shoes.
Today is a cut-back long run as I continue my taper for the upcoming "9th Annual 4th of July 5K Blast"! Instead of a 15-miler, I'll run 12-miler at a very easy pace instead. My race this Saturday is just around the corner!
9:00 a.m. Long Run. 12 miles. Time 2:00. Overall pace, 10 minute miles. Life Fitness Treadmill set at a 1% grade and 6.0 mph. Average heart rate: 139 bpm. Cardiac Drift 144 bpm. (Note: my maximum heart rate is 190 bpm) Shoes: Nike Air Structures. Eventually I'll be gradually increasing my long run pace during base building phase this summer...my marathon training period will start at the end of August. No aches nor soreness and my right ankle feels great!
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3 comments:
Nike makes a near bare foot shoe. They just put it out.
Good luck on the upcoming race man!
Drop in on the Runner's World barefoot forum. They have a long thread going where everyone is showing and discusing there various minimal footwear. Very educational!
Be really careful switching to BF, you will be useing muscles and creating stresses that are quite different and it seems like the higher a person's regular milage is, the harder it is for them to step back and go slowly enough to make a safe transition. If you wait and do your BF running truly barefoot, you are less likely to injure yourself becaue the soles of your feet will set the pace.
Best of luck tomorrow!! I look forward to your race report!
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