Tonight I returned to running club for the second consecutive week. After last week's succesful outing, 6 miles on tracks and hills, I was feeling confident. I'd resolved to stick with the 7:30 pace group. So, of course, when the group above (around 7:00-7:10) set off they drew me out of the group like a magnet and my conservative plans were abandoned. I'm not good at sticking to my resolve on such matters - I hate to think of another, faster, group having more fun than me by running more quickly. And I hate to think I'm missing out on a good workout. Fortunately I wasn't tempted to head off with the 6:45 pace group (my usual group). That probably would have been a disaster.
So off we ran. This time I observed a few things about my barefoot running.
1) I am very definitely a mid-foot striker. There is a discernable 'slap' when my feet hit the ground on tarmac, as if the whole foot makes contact at the same time. I was particularly aware because another chap (new guy, asked his name, shook his hand, forgot his name) was quite clearly a bouncy forefooter. Actually his heels never touched the ground, which is not so good as I understand it. My heels do, (I think) at much the same time as my forefoot. The pressure is certainly forward, but I don't just bounce off the front of my foot. Occasionally when I set off on runs I'm deliberately forefooting but, even in these most minimal of shoes, it just doesn't seem to be the most comfortable way to run. So I trust that wafer thin soles and an upbeat cadence are helping to find the most natural style for me.
2) I don't look up much. This became clear as we ran down acountry track and nearly piled into two mountain bikers coming the opposite direction. It shows that I am very focused on the ground in front of me, looking for stones, deviations, etc. Had I been alone I suppose I would have spotted the bikes, but being in a group makes it difficult to scan even a few feet ahead, so my eyes are down and my brain is working doubly fast to suss out the terrain. This is actually quite tricky - I need to hang back a few metres really or, better still, run at the front of the group so that I can easily see what's coming.
3) Downhill hurts. We came down a fairly steep downhill section on a gravelly road (that kind of road covering that's not tarmac but more like gravel glued together) and, being 6 miles into the run and getting little weary by this stage, I was struggling to maintain form. It's very hard not to land on your heels going downill, unless you let gravity take you and just leg it. But I felt a bit too weary to leg it, so I was semi-braking with each stride adding more friction to the sides and soles of my feet and generating blisters. I was very aware, more so than at any other stage running with the club over the last two weeks, that my shoes are quite insubstantial.
4) 8.86 miles, at 7:20 pace, on hill terrain and country tracks, in barefoot shoes, after not a lot of running for a few months... just hurts all over. My calves ached, my hamstrings ached, my feet were sore. (Not to mention being drenched in sweat as we continue this heat wave). I came home and did the cold bath routine to try to ease the aching muscles and joints, which I think did the trick to some extent, and then hobbled around a bit until bed time. I've got a few small blisters on my feet as a trophy from the run.
So it's hard work at the moment. What do I do? Buy some new shoes with thicker soles and more support? Avoid hilly gravelly roads? Run shorter distances?
Nope. I press on, determined to conquer this barefoot thing.
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