My 3-Point Plan to Physical Perfection

So then, I’ve not really got any running to talk about today as I've been injured. However, following on from my injury I decided that I needed to go back to square zero and safeguard my body a little more from my new-found hobby. Therefore I am proud to introduce my ‘Conscientious, meticulous, splendiferous three point plan to protecting your knees (and feet and hips and groin and shins).’ And, yes, I am trademarking that name:

Point 1:

Get the Dr to check you out. Did that, and the doc said my knee was fine. Good.

Point 2:

Learn to stretch properly. Went for a lovely Friday morning run with Sandra from Let’s Go Run and learned how to stretch and warm up properly, as opposed to standing on one leg while holding the other in some Karma Sutra-esque yoga pose, while simultaneously trying to read random internet instructions on correct stretching from my precariously-perched laptop. Much better.

Point 3: (the most revelatory point of the three)

Get the right trainers. I went along to Running Bath and had my gait checked – turns out I seriously over-pronate (my foot turns in). After a few sessions of running up and down the Corridor in front of bemused early morning shoppers, I was given a pair of high-support trainers, instead of the zero support ones that led me to injuring myself (see the photos for the difference). My new shoes felt so much better as soon as I donned them and the friendly chap watching me run advised that he also thought these were the best of the five pairs he gave me to try. Job done.  Ok, so the added support they offer makes them look slightly orthopaedic, but do I care? Well, yes, a little; but who cares? My feet will be moving so fast that they are nothing more than a blur come March 3rd.

After going for my small run in my shiny new shoes, my knee felt fine, perhaps a touch aggravated, but so much better than previously. Unfortunately, though, I then went and walked a mile to school with my 3-year on my shoulders, followed by an hour’s ice skating session, so I’m now in a little bit of pain. Silly. I do comfort myself, however, that it was not my run that did this, more just me aggravating a not-completely-healed injury.

Look at the difference in the support...

...and here notice the difference in the middle of the foot.

As you can see, there is a huge improvement in my new shoes, although the colour is a little more difficult to match to my other clothes!

So that’s it. I’m back in the game and looking forward to our first run as group in a few week’s time.

Looking at my feet

This is where a photo of my feet would go, if I hadn't realised that my old card reader doesn't read the cards from my current camera... So next time, you will get your Simon's Feet photo.  And it will be glorified through Picasa, to make the feet look almost hallucinatory.

Gorilla foot...this is how I envision my feet evolving

But for now, I will begin with what I just read on the QI feature on feet that is on the Telegraph website:

A South African study in the podiatry journal The Foot, in 2007, studied 180 modern humans from three different population groups (Sotho, Zulu, and European) and compared them to 2,000-year-old skeletons. The researchers concluded that people had healthier feet and posture before the invention of shoes. The Zulu, who often go barefoot, had the healthiest feet of the modern humans. 

(from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/qi/8404696/QI-Quite-interesting-facts-about-feet.html)

This quote ties in pretty well with what I was going to talk about in this entry:

Everyone's been asking me about why I would decide to go barefoot.  

Isn't it dodgy on my ankles, as I don't get the ankle support that I would normally get in shoes?  

BE CAREFUL OF BROKEN GLASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Won't I get frostbite?  

Sure, it's kind of understandable to run cross-country without shoes on, but tarmac isn't made for me to go barefoot on!  

I'll get HARD FEET!!  

Won't I be called crazy if I venture outdoors with no shoes on?

My experience with this barefoot project has been very different as of late compared to how I represented it in my first couple of entries.  

1. Firstly, I've cut back on the running.  I've neither found the time to go running (getting up at 5am has been a huge challenge, and I have failed to do so on almost every day since we began trying to get up at 5am...), and nor have I felt that I feel comfortable to be running yet.  I had my hip x-ray'd at the RUH today, and I should know the results of this in about a week.  And my feet are still only hardening up - I think it would be a bit foolish of me to be running around on soft feet.  This has led to me walking lots, barefoot.
2. So I've been walking loads barefoot.  I go to peoples houses barefoot; I go into shops barefoot; I get the bus barefoot; I go to uni barefoot (although I've been putting shoes on before going to lectures/seminars).  My feet are my new play-thing.  And I've been exploring using them on different grounds.  For instance, last night I went to the skip of a charity shop that I know throws out lots of fascinating stuff.  But the skip is round the back of the shop, and I have to go down a fairly bumpy bit of road where there was plenty of shiny stuff (shiny stuff is always quite scary as a barefooter, because of the whole glass idea..).  I was treading more flat-footed at this point, to spread my weight more so that if I did hit some glass it would be less likely to pierce my skin.  Anyway, I must've crunched at least 10 bits of glass under my feet in this very short walk down this 10 metre stretch of road, and none of the glass pierced my feet.  Moreover, my feet felt very refreshed after these fairly sharp steps along this road.  There were plenty of those small stones that seem to just pick themselves into your toes or the arch of the foot, which can be quite painful.  But really, it's like receiving a painful massage: it helps the muscles unless it tears them apart.
   
   
   
   Coloured gems on the famous 'glass beach' of California
   
   Also last night, I started to walk with my head up towards the sky.  The sky was beautiful.  My feet hit no glass, just a few of those dodgy little stones.  But it felt really liberating to take my eyes off of my feet.  Have you ever tried walking with your eyes closed for more than a few seconds?  I did this on the beach back home when I was last there - I planned to walk all the way to the sea without opening my eyes.  This was on Old Hunstanton beach, which is massive, it takes about 10 minutes to walk out to the sea on a good day anyway.  I ended up opening my eyes because I was confused... But anyway, the feeling was the same when I walked on the beach with my eyes closed as when I walked last night with my eyes away from my feet.  It is definitely one of my goals for the next few weeks to be able to walk/run barefoot without feeling that I need to be constantly scouting out the ground in front of me.
   
   
   
   Old Hunstanton beach
3. I'm now more interested in the spiritual benefits of walking barefoot than of the physical benefits.  Sure, taking off my shoes allows me to feel the impact of hitting the ground in the wrong way (heel-first is definitely the way of destroying your hips and knees...).  But it is much more important than that.
   I have found myself on a number of occasions to be walking in the centre of town, and losing myself amongst the hustle and bustle.  Since taking up barefoot, I've begun to strip down my feet when this happens, and put my shoes and socks in a bag.  A few minutes of walking barefoot seems to radically clear my head.  It grounds me.  I feel connected to the earth, and I feel light and freer.
   
   So I don't want to rush my barefoot running training, as I still have absolutely plenty of time until the half marathon, and would rather find the spiritually best time for me to get into running more properly.  Perhaps when my feet have hardened some more.

On a strange kind of end note for this entry, there is apparently Biblical citation of Jesus encouraging his apostles to go about their business barefoot.  It says in Matthew 10:10: 

'Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purse, Nor scrip for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves.'

Jesus Christ, the barefoot shepherd

Definitely down… but definitely not out.

So then, after a month of running, I’ve only gone and bloody injured myself haven’t I? I am sitting here feeling a touch low because as I look out of the window at this wonderful sunny day, I know that I should have been on a refreshing morning run with Let’s Go Run down by the river.

Don’t worry, my injury isn’t serious (it’s just a very common case of runner’s knee, brought on by me pushing too hard over the last few weeks) but it has hurt to walk for the last week and of course I haven’t been able to go for a run.

Having consulted Dr Internet, I know that the reasons I have done this to myself are simple:

• Not getting my pronation properly checked and then buying the right shoes. I just went out and bought a pair of Nike Air running shoes and figured these will do the job fine. Wrong.
• Increasing my mileage by more than 10% – the other day I went from doing 3 miles to 6 miles. (I think that’s more than 10%)
• Not stretching properly, not stretching long enough, not stretching at the correct times and missing out some vital muscles.

So, I’m going to be fine as long as I get my pronation checked out, buy the right shoes, stretch properly and don’t think that just because the music is pushing me on, that I am superman. I’m not. I’m also not as young as I was.

Widcombe Locks. I'd never been here until now. Lovely

Still, the good news is that I am loving my new-found fitness regime and, more importantly, this Local Running Adventure is doing exactly what it said on the tin: I have found parts of Bath that I never knew existed before I got out of my car and have thoroughly enjoyed getting lost along the back alleys and footpaths of this amazing city. I’ll be back pounding the trail soon – hopefully next week  – but until then it’s a diet of take it easy and plenty of rest (I just need someone to tell my kids that!)

Peace.

Sustaining Myself Sustainably

I completed my first triathlon and ran my 3rd Half Marathon in September.  Both were tough and yet enjoyable.  Unfortunately the only way I could sustain myself was to consume those horrible energy gels that send me crashing once the sugar has burnt off and often leave me with a stinking headache.  

Over the summer on many of my training runs I have been burning 2,000 calories which as you can imagine has left me feeling pretty empty.  I have been exploring how you can get your body to store more calories and also prepare better for a longer runs (which I hope to blog about later).  I have read some interesting digests about running with hummus wraps and alike and wondered what a local alternative would be to a light high carb - protein mix could be.  

So as winter settles in and the frost starts to harden the ground I am wondering what naturally and locally available food stuffs there are that could help me to keep my energy levels up whilst training and aid recovery post runs that will fit into what can be seen as a rather busy lifestyle. 

Any good advice would be gratefully received.  

A Sunday morning running adventure

Ok, so this is my first ever blog post, I don't know how to make it look all fancy and add photos but guess I am here to learn! I also really hope this has some sort of spell check function. Here goes! I'm Lucie and I am taking part in the local running adventure! excited! and slightly worried my running will be on a par with my blogging skills... So today I went on a running adventure- it was quite exciting really (though it was waaaay to early on a Sunday morning). It was an unexpected adventure as I was supposed to be kayaking but the river was too high so I donned my running outfit (always good to look the part) and strode out into the morning chill... I have been running in Bath before, but if I am honest I plan to downplay previous exercise to make myself look a bit better when I limp over the finish line after an embarrassingly slow run in March. So I headed to the park- easy, took about 10 minutes, turns out I live quite close to the park. Next challenge I thought I might aim higher- quite literally and decided to tackle a hill- being in Bath, there’s a few so I aimed for the one I thought was nearest and went for it. So after a short stint of running up and down what I fear may have been the same 3 roads for about 20 minutes I make it to linear park- success!!! Or not... it was closed and I was back to square 1, but it did give me the chance to entertain the lady walking her Jack Russell by running (If I am brutally honest at this stage it was walking) up the drive of someone’s house- in my defence I thought it was a footpath, realising, then trying to pretend I meant to do that, while beating a hasty retreat. I finally found my way and carried on up to Bear Flat and familiar territory. I was a lovely Sunday morning and linear park was the perfect place for a run- it’s actually closed because of the "Two Tunnels" project which will provide a walking and cycling route through 2 disused railway tunnels to the other side of Bath. It will be lit, which is handy as the tunnels are pretty long and a fantastic link to the existing routes, avoiding the dreaded hills! You can read more on their website www.twotunnels.org.uk Also heading down Lyncombe hill- you just get the most amazing views of Bath- especially in the morning.

A foot massage

In my last blog entry I mentioned that I hadn't actually done any barefoot running since being in Alicante over two and a half months ago, and that the last time I walked barefoot was over a month ago and had to stop because the ground was too harsh on my feet.

Well, I'm going to deviate a bit now.  I just wanted to set the scene, before I would go on.

I've started a very, very healthy routine with my flatmate of getting up at 5am every day.  Whoever is up first knocks on the door of the other, and then we both do our respective spiritual routines.  My plan has been to go for a barefoot run after I've finished my morning meditation every morning, but upto today this has not happened purely because I've felt too tired.  And then, so the plan goes, I have breakfast after the run, then either leave out to uni or get on with some work or go back to bed for a while.  The important bit is actually making the disciplined effort of rising at 5am, no matter how stubborn I'm feeling towards staying in my bed and my dreams.

Today I managed to kickstart my barefoot training!  And my, did it feel good to get into it.

I thought I would just go for a walk down to Moorland Road from my flat on Hillside Road, and walk back again.  Ya know, just so that I can carefully place the tips of my toes in the water, so that I can get a feel of its temperature.

I noticed a few things in the first half of the walk, whilst I was walking down to Moorland Road.  Firstly, 7am is such a special time!  It is before anyone has really got up and started the day, but there are still a few people about.  It felt very atmospheric to me.  Oh, and the sky was really quite something.  It was pretty sunny, but there was a layer of dark clouds that looked like they were about to come over (and they have since been over, about an hour later).  The birds were at band practice.  The temperature was actually fairly mild, though my feet were feeling very cold on the slightly damp pavement.
I noticed, straight away after leaving out, how completely different of a sensation it is to be walking barefoot.  I can actually feel my weight moving on and off of the ground when I'm barefoot, as I can feel the after-shock/vibration of every footstep.  I guess shoes normally absorb this all.  So leading back to the last entry that I did, where I linked to this article here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100127134241.htm in saying about the different kind of stride that you're supposed to have when being barefoot because of how much more uncomfortable it is to walk with the heel hitting the ground, I can clarify that in my experience I very much agree with this finding.  I don't know if it's like it every day (it certainly wasn't quite like this in Alicante), but today the pavement seemed so spiky and hard!  It was actually quite painful to walk until I started walking on the balls of my feet, and then I felt a lot bouncier (as the article suggested I would), and I found that I was walking very very quietly, like as if almost all impact of my steps had disappeared after I stopped walking on my heels.

Now, what about this ball of the foot?  Why is it called the ball of the foot?  Won't I do damage to it by walking on it?  Well, as for its origins, it is named after the largest metatarsal bone which has a ball-like appearance.  Interesting huh?  It's been used in this way since the mid-1300s.  And as for the damage, we'll see.  I'll let you know if anything happens.  But it has not happened in my experience so far with being barefoot, and I don't honestly expect it to happen in the future.  Also, I would regard the possible injuries to my feet to be much less serious compared to the injuries I have already experienced with my hips from playing badminton, from cycling, and from running badly.

I got to Moorland Road, and then walked round Triangle North, so that I could do a loop and go up Junction Road.  But, quite unexpectedly, I started running just before I got onto Junction Road.  It wasn't even raining or anything, I just felt completely like running.  Sure, my feet were cold and I was deliberately twitching my toes quite a lot so that blood kept circulating in them (I'm paranoid about getting frostbite in above-zero temperature...how embarassing it would be!), and I didn't have any speed about me because I wasn't used to either running or going barefoot, but there was a really nice feeling that I got of moving my body in this way.  It was really really relaxing, just bouncing away up the hills.
And then, to make things even more interesting, I started needing to run.  My bladder had become a little upset by the fact that I'd decided I didn't need to go to the loo between waking up and going for the run.  So I started to run faster, and more urgently.  But it still felt peaceful and relaxing.
I became surprised by how warm I had become - even though I wasn't actually running with much speed at all despite my latter urgency, I had picked up a sweat very quickly.  Next time, I decided, I won't go out with all the layers on.

So I returned home, sorted myself out (including, very importantly, washing my feet.  This avoids any awkward confrontations with either my housemate or anyone else who see me barefooted and notice the cleanliness of my feet...), and had my well-earned breakfast.  A very good start to the day.

And the best part of it all: the feeling after sitting down.  My feet tingling, and feeling smooth.  They had just received an unorthodox massage, but a massage regardless.  Completely for free.

So if anyone would like a foot massage, I would suggest you join me on my early morning barefoot run.

And for an inspiring video of this guy winning the 1960 Rome Olympics marathon (he was completely unheard of previously) without wearing shoes, see: http://youtu.be/0Dppdcy1pyM?t=5m55s