Double Whammy

I did my usual VHBOS run today and it worked out to be a touch over 27km and included Ingrams and Reynolds roads. Ingrams didn't feel so bad, and I was really relishing the hills, probably because I took the short way to get there so my legs were pretty fresh. By the time I got to Reynolds I was ready to get down on my hands and knees and crawl. My quads were burning. It was awful. If any crossfitters are reading this, imagine the worst WOD you've ever done and put all that pain into your legs, times it by 2, and that is how it felt. I kept going though, as I refuse to be a soft arse, and my achilles hated me for it.

After I said good morning to the little Asian lady who sings opera along the Diamond Creek trail, I headed home along Allendale Road. That sucked.

My legs just felt like they were on fire. They burned so much I couldn't even tell which muscles were hurting, if I was cramping, or if it was just tiredness. During the last few kms I narrowed it down to my calves and soles of my feet. At first I thought maybe it was because I wasn't drinking much but it wasn't a cramp, and I worked out the real reason.

I wore my Adizero PRs on this run. For the past couple of years, I have worn my Nike Free 3.0s on pretty much all my long runs, and most of my ultras. My feet never feel tired in them. I tell people time and time again that they are not a "barefoot alternative" shoe and that they are really just a light weight trainer/racer. This is so apparent now as I have been using them as a way to make the long runs more comfortable. You don't have to run correctly in them and it is so easy to become lazy in your form as you fatigue. I think today my calves were so sore because I had not trained them well for so long. It was the soreness you get when you start barefooting/minimalist/Pose running. My laziness had finally come to get me.


Tomorrow there's a Sri Chinmoy race on that I plan on doing to make this a 2-long-runs-in-2-days-weekend as part of my You Yangs training. I think I'll do the half marathon. Or if my calves are still complaining I'll go the 14km option. My feet will be fine as I plan to wear my Five Fingers.

With the demise of my Frees, my last lightweight trainers, I'm deciding what to do next with my choice of footwear. I saw the new Nike Free Hyper TR online, but it's too new for it to be in the factory outlet and I don't want to pay full price in the store.

I've been reading some more blogs this week and I am really out of touch with what is going in the international world of barefoot and Five Fingers runners! This trend is growing much faster than I realised! Not only is there a Barefoot Running University and Barefoot Runners Society, but it seems thousands of people are getting into it in the states and it no longer seems to be considered abnormal! It's been great seeing what these people are up to so I've updated my blog roll on the right for you to check out some more runners.

So this has all got me thinking. Currently I have 2 pairs of Adidas flats and 2 pairs of Five Fingers, which are also beginning to fall apart after a few years. The soles of my feet do tend to tire while wearing flats for long runs, but I have done an ultra in the FFs before, so maybe I should just toughen up again and do my long runs in the flats and short runs in the FFs. I'm really not bothered to toughen up enough to run trails in the FFs, especially since mine are the Sprints with poor grip. So it will be flats for the trails and FFs for the roads. My right achilles will hate it, but I'm running less than ever this year, relying on leg strength from weight lifting to get me through long distances. So just maybe I can do this.

I've got 2 trail ultras and 2 road ultras planned for this year. The road ultras will be tough in flats, but the trails should be fine. Next one is the You Yangs 50km on July 25.

First Rogaine - We Came 2nd!

Yesterday was my first rogaine! It was a 6 hour event a couple hours drive north of Melbourne. I didn't really know what to expect, but was told we'd be walking and jogging. I can manage that for 6 hours.

My all girl team consisted of 2 other girls who are hardcore adventure racers and know how to navigate. It turns out I also know how to navigate but lack the lingo. "If we go due east to the summit then we should be able to see the saddle near the water junction and from there nav to the checkpoint up on the spur" - not something I'd normally hear in everyday conversation.

We did very little running as we were rarely on tracks. I'm pretty slow at bush bashing, unlike the adventure racers who walk through scrub, over logs, and drop 2m down into creek beds as casually as if they were just walking down the street. I tend to look where I'm going, check the tree I'm about to grab onto for spiders and take the long way down to the creek bed if it's easier. When we did get to a track and could run, this was much easier for me!

We passed through interesting land including old cottages, mines, aqueducts, bushland and many creek beds (sorry, water courses), which were fortunately all dried up. It was very hilly out there and after a couple of hours my achilles decided to complain, but since it was at an easy pace it wasn't too bad. The weather was perfect, starting off cool and foggy, but soon enough the sun came out and it was just lovely. I wore my Nike Frees which aren't that good for rough ground. I like my shoes loose with room to wiggle my toes about but in this situation my feet were sliding around in my shoes and I did get a couple of minor blisters, which I would never normally get. I can really see the value of trail shoes in this situation.

We got back to the Hash House with 9 minutes to spare and feasted on their amazing food! They had on offer toasties on the bbq, vegie burgers, soup, potato, rice, curry, stew and for dessert there was apple crumble and custard! Unfortunately after a million servings of the best vegie soup ever, the apple crumble had all disappeared. Next time I will have a strategy for getting all the food I want.

Not having any expectations for my first event, and going at such a casual pace, I had no idea what was considered an average score or something reasonable to aim for. It turns out we placed second! Only beaten by a team of 70 year olds!

My team mates being much faster at bush bashing than me:

Living Barefoot Podcast

A while ago I had a chat with Al and Tina from Living Barefoot. They've got a podcast with some interviews of very interesting people who are high up in the barefoot and minimalist footwear world. Then they interviewed me. Check it out here.

First Long Run of the Year

Today I decided to go for a long run to see if my endurance has suffered, and to attempt to build up a solid base for my main races this year.

Although I had not been getting enough sleep during the week and have been walking around like a zombie, I felt surprisingly good when I woke up and had a rough idea of a 20-25km run. At 6am it was 26 degrees, I could see lightning on the horizon but no rain to cool me down. I was expecting my hamstrings to be a bit sore from heavier-than-planned deadlifts late in the week but they felt fine. My leg turnover was pretty good and it seems like doing lots of intervals this year (for distance, time and hills) has improved my general speed. Unfortunately with all the hills and heat my heart rate was so high I was forced to slow down. At the 14km mark I was overcome with extreme thirst and didn't bring water or any money to stop at a shop to get some. My HR was still so high but I forced myself to keep going so I could hurry up and get home and rehydrate. At 500m to go and 2 short but steep hills remaining, my HR got to 189 and I just walked the rest of the way, totaling 22.6km. After some water, a nectarine, some homemade boysenberry cordial and a shower I went to sleep for a couple more hours.

Despite totally crashing at the end, my legs feel absolutely fine considering it's been so long since any decent length run. All these deadlifts and squats must be making them nice and strong. Lots of intervals have improved my comfortable running speed. Now I either need to get fitter or the weather needs to start cooling down and I should be able to make the most of it.

I wore my new Adizero PRs. They are soooooooo comfy! But I think they will wear out quickly. Their light weight soles are showing more wear than I've seen on any other shoe before - and my fav shoes are still going strong after 1000-2100km.

New shoes! Adizero PR

I was so excited today I got to try out my new Adizero PRs. I have been wanting these for sooooo long and they are now discontinued but I managed to find them online. (They still crop up on eBay if you're interested). When they arrived, the box felt so light, it felt empty! They even felt lighter than my Five Fingers but I couldn't believe that was possible. So I weighed them on the bathroom scales but they were too light to register! So I got out the kitchen scales and weighed all my shoes. From lightest to heaviest, this is what I have:


Overall I find the fit of the PRs pretty good. I like the fit of the PROs better as they are slightly wider around the ball of the foot. But the PRs are not too narrow and I had no blisters.






I took the PRs out for 14km - a mix of road, trail, hills, rocks and a water crossing. They are really stable on rough ground and being such open mesh, they dry quickly after being soaked. After the run I checked the sole and saw signs of wear already after 1 use! So I'm a bit concerned how long they will last, especially as they are to be my main shoe of choice (FFs still for track and short races). We'll see over time.