Aerobic Engine Maintenance

I read a really detailed description of aerobic and anaerobic fitness recently here and I'm thinking I could build up my aerobic "engine" more. At the low aerobic threshold you turn fat into energy but you also build up the "mitochondrial machinery" to do even more. The downside is that this is very efficient so you have to exercise a lot longer to burn the same amount of fat. But, by building up the mitochondria, you should be able to raise your threshold so you can run faster and farther. If I understand all this correctly.

So, with that in mind, when I upped my run to two miles yesterday morning I tried to keep my heart rate below 150 (I got a heart rate monitor last fall), which meant alternating about 1.5 to 2 minutes running with .75 to 1 minute walking. At 25 minutes it was a good workout. There were a few times on the hills where it jumped to 160, which are hard to avoid in here in Temple. There's about a 10 second delay in the monitor so I'll just have switch to walking earlier on the uphills. That 150 bpm is probably still a little high but it felt like an easy run so I'll see how it goes.

The slower run was also good for my feet. I had less callous pain the rest of the day. No doubt it will help keep me from overstressing my tendons and bones, too. All the info out there on the web says to take it slow and easy when starting out BF, and it felt to me like I was, but I guess it takes the really nerdy info for that to sink in on me.

Fan update: Went out Friday morning and that same guy passed again, only this time he made the sign through the rear window. It was a sign I'd seen before but didn't know the name of; pinky and thumb extended with the other fingers closed. The shaka sign has several different possible meanings but in this case would be a sign of approval, I guess.

The ground is my shoe

Still doing the Mon-Wed-Fri morning runs. Last Monday I had a case of food poisoning from the night before so I figured I'd just make a full deposit first and do a shorter run (1.5 mi). Everything went fine but my callouses were super sensitive the rest of the day and I was so tired I left work a little early, came home and slept for three hours. I must have been distracted enough to not pay much attention to form. Wednesday's run was a little better; my usual run (1.7 mi), callouses still sensitive. Friday I thought out the callous problem and tried not landing so much on the outside of my right foot and lifting my left big toe up a little more before landing. That was much better; callouses still there of course but just some minor soreness. That still leaves my Morton's toe callouses, which were still kind of painful. I should say that even on the really bad days of callous pain, the pain was gone the next day.

This week has been good so far. Monday's run was good. I tried a slightly different mindset. I was thinking something like, "The ground is my shoe and I ease my feet into and out of it with every step." This was an attempt to mitigate the callouses under my middle toes. It felt decent at the time but they were still moderately painful the rest of the day.

This morning I got my first thumbs up! from a passing motorist. Presumably for being bare foot. I haven't gotten any other comments or gestures that I'm aware of and that with greeting all of the people I meet who are also out and about. The run was okay, just trying to relax my feet. Started to get a twingeing tendon just above my inside right ankle about halfway through the run, which seemed to get worse the more I relaxed. Haven't felt that before. Feels fine after the run.

Late spring runs

This past week has been good. Ran Mon-Wed-Friday about 1 3/4 miles each day, all totally barefoot. Each time the rest of the day was okay but got better each time also. Just some hot spots where there are callouses. That's about where I was before my injury last fall, but this time has been more gradual so I should be okay. My route for this is about 3/4 mile dirt road and the rest pavement. The pavement has what they call chipseal; the roads were regular pavement but rather than put a whole new layer on, a coating of liquid tar is followed by a liberal coating gravelly sand. That was last done about two years ago, so it's not as rough as it could be. There was a very short but glorious section rounding the last corner of the run of very smooth tar. Last fall it was like running on porcelain. This spring most of the chipseal sand has worn off but so has that smooth tar spot the sand skipped. Wednesday's and Friday's run had a few puddles left from an overnight rain. Very nice to run through.

Some of the callouses are due, I think, to the condition called Morton's Toe. My second metatarsal is slightly longer than my big toe's metatarsal. This means, if you land on the forefoot too much, that bone gets all the weight first. Good form and extra gradual increases in distance and speed are key to dealing with it. Good form means lifting and placing the feet rather than pushing off and pounding, and landing more midfoot than forefoot, and keeping knees bent, and good posture, and, and, etc. The callouses are right along the arc of the second two metatarsal heads.

As for the other callouses, one is on the mesial posterior of my left big toe pad and the other is on the outside edge of my right little toe metatarsal head. I assume these are from slight differences in the way my feet move on the ground, which they shouldn't be doing with correct form. That's something I have to work on I guess.

Home made sandals

Since I have Reynauds syndrome I won't be able to run BF in the colder months. Even with shoes, unless I warm my feet and shoes up first, it takes about 15 minutes of running for my toes to come up to temperature. Even prewarmed, if it's really cold outside--say in the low 20s F or colder, my toes will chill out for a bit before I start to feel flush from running. But last fall when I started the whole barefoot thing, running in running shoes as it got colder just wasn't feeling right. That was about the time I came across http://www.invisibleshoe.com.

I knew from the start that I'd want to try something more than just the standard "huaraches," so I found the soling material available elsewhere on the web and some nylon cord locally. I did make a pair like their standard, but maybe I'm just too used to shoes. They felt really floppy, so I came up with an alternate lacing. To make them, cut them out as described on the IS site. The IS web site also has tips on sizing the holes for the cord you have. Basically, you want it to be a fairly snug fit so they don't loosen up on you. Mark and punch three holes on each side. The first set has one beside the big toe, between the ball of your foot and the pad of the toe; and one in the notch between the tip of the little toe and the fourth toe. The next two are just behind the ball of the foot and the corresponding area behind the little toe. The last two are just in front of the ankle.

For lacing, push each end of a 6 foot length of cord down through the first holes at the toes, then bring them up and cross to the opposite side and down through the next holes. You can put them on at any time to adjust the fit. Push them through on the same side for the third holes, but leave enough to loop around your ankle. Then they just come forward and are tied on the top of your foot with the knot of your choice. If your feet are much bigger than mine (just under 11" long) you may need longer than 6 feet of cord if you want a fancier knot.

I had tried crossing over for the third holes first but found the lacing seemed to slip off my heel alot. It could be that I didn't have them adjusted well enough. Also, it seemed that no matter how I adjusted the fit, my left foot kept sliding off to the left of the sole. That may have been due to how I was running but once I settled on the lacing pictured, both feet were staying relatively centered on the rubber. Once tied, the sandals can be slipped on and off at the heel. To put on the ones pictured, fold the big loops around where your heel would be as in the third picture and insert foot there. (Be sure to have a cat inspect the lacing.)

After you try them out and fully adjust them and see where your feet tend be positioned, you can trim them a little leaving tabs where the laces are. The tabs should lift up and keep the laces from being worn out too much. I found that at first they seemed fairly tight but after a few runs I didn't notice. I'm still doing fairly short runs (< 2 miles) so I don't know if they'll chaff much in the long run.

These helped to keep my feet warm for temperatures over 40F, for the short distances I was starting out with. For longer runs and temps above freezing I had to wear socks. I'll find out next fall and winter if I'll need anything warmer for the really cold temps.