Saturday, August 1, 2009

Seventeen Miles Barefoot - Check.

This past Saturday I ran a nice 17-mile circuit from Hubbard Park to downtown Southington, back to the park, down to red bridge and back to the park once again. It came out to just under 17 miles.

I did it all almost barefoot in five fingers, of course, and I'm continuously astounded at my body's ability to adapt to this new type of running.

But the thing is that it feels so right. No strain. No effort. Just gliding along.

Some muscles in my feet, shins and ankles were pretty tired afterwards, but there's not a single injury to speak of. After running such a distance in my running shoes last year I was hobbling around.

As my muscles adapt, longer distances keep becoming possible, and I begin to see that the horizon of possibility for this type of thing is far greater than I imaged.

I've really been emphasizing proper form (to prevent another injury) and enjoyment over pace, but I looked at the clock today and the 17-miles was done in about 3 hours and 10 minutes. Not blazing fast, but not shabby either.

As my muscles adapt I'll likely be able to do better.

The route is maped out below:


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

foccishI have though of getting a pair. I'm not sure if it would be great for my Achilles. It still is so interesting, Nike has been trying for over 10 years with various innovations, but nothing this far.

Andrew said...

Nothing could be better for your achilles tendons. No time to explain now, but I'm working on a lengthy article for my website that will go into detail. I'll post a link here when I'm done later this month.