Yes folks, it's time again for a new coat of paint on this website. Actually, this is the first new coat of paint on barefootrunner.co.uk since I launched it way back in September 2008 and I've decided to go for a super lean and mean look and layout.
For those reading this via a feed, you'll have to pop by to see the new design.
Let me know if you spot any problems.
Somehow I missed this when I added my last training run, but check it out, I've tipped over the 1000km mark for my running this year:
Assuming I put in about 200km a month for the rest of the year (not likely), I could crack the 1000 mile mark this year. I'm not going to aim for it, but we'll see how we get on.
My new 30 day challenge has already helped my running... it's given me the motivation to actually starting doing long runs on the weekends again. Today I headed out for my first weekend long run in a very very long time and I really enjoyed it.
I didn't push things too hard and just aimed for 15km or 75mins, whichever came first, over as much offroad terrain as I could (I wore the Merrell Trail Gloves). In the end it was the 15km mark that came first, but only by about 2 mins. I kept things at a pretty consistent pace (around 4:47/km) and it was only the last 4 up hill kilometers that I really slowed down.
It was really enjoyable and great to be back out on the roads early on a Sunday morning when no one is around, though that said I was quite surprised at the number of families already taking a stroll around the local lakes and ponds.
I'll definitely be looking forward to next weekend's long run.
Oh yes, and this long run completes what has ended up being a bumper week in the mileage front: 58km in total this week which is pretty high considering I also had a 10k race on Wednesday. Today's run also ticks off one of my goals - a 15km long run. Lets see if this can become a habit.
Well, we find ourselves in the middle of 2011, not quite slap bang in the middle, but near enough for me to provide a mid-year update.
So far my training programme has suited me well, though I will be making a slight change. Since the beginning of December last year, I've been working on the following schedule:
Autumn, whilst not quite here, is certainly starting to make its appearance. There's a slight nip in the air, the leaves are starting to fall and the squirrels are out in full force gathering nuts and seeds for the winter ahead. This is quite a stark contrast to what I've just been enjoying for the last two weeks: hot sunny Spanish weather with no running, lots of swimming, food and beer, and not much else.
I've just got back from my first run in just over two weeks following my belated summer holiday and what a wonderful run it was. I felt full of bounce and seemed to just glide my way along. The cool nip in the air punctuated by dappled sunshine was very refreshing, and the feeling of the cool tar under my feet broken up by intermittent patches of freshly dropped leaves quite exhilarating. Of course, I don't think the squirrels were too happy with me suddenly appearing behind or right next to them completely unannounced: there was a lot of squirrel screeching and scurrying and not too many happy squirrels, but hey-ho, that's what happens when a nutter like me works near a nice wooded area.
I'm looking forward to running barefoot this autumn. Autumn is one of my favourite times to run and this year will be my first year completely barefoot. I'm also eager to see how far into winter I can go before I feel the need to wear shoes because of the cold. If we don't get the snow we had last year, I may be able to make it all the way through. Time will tell.
No, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth or been booked off running due to my back. I've just been incredibly busy at work and when not at work, I've been frantically coding a new PHP based API wrapper - phpZenfolio - for the guys at Zenfolio
For several years now I've had a recurring discomfort and sometimes searing pain in my lower back and right sacroiliac joint. I can't pin-point any one action that causes the discomfort or anything that aggravates it, but it seems to crop up every 3 to 4 months and then hangs about for a month or two. Then all is well until it's next occurrence several months later.
I have managed to work out that if I am feeling the discomfort, it's easier for me to take things one step further into the world of excruciating pain if I sit a bit wonky on the sofa and get up without correcting my posture first. Thankfully I can catch this just as it starts to pinch and avoid the pain, though I have caught myself 3 times "pinching" something without any warning. This has left me almost immobile for a week at a time.
As this seems to be a recurrent thing that isn't going away, I'm off to the physio today to get a full assessment. Hopefully that will shed some light on the cause and provide a means to resolve it. I suspect it may be due to my slightly wonky spine.
On the running side of things, the last two weeks have been good. No problems with my running at all and I'm feeling great. I'm deliberately taking things quite slowly so I don't introduce any problems and have decided to follow a more structured training programme. Hopefully the gradual increase in volume and pace will keep things on course for a cracking race in about 16 weeks time. Until then I'll be keeping the racing to a bare minimum.
Well folks, I'm back online and trying to get back into the groove again. I technically wasn't completely offline, just lacking the motivation to write or get involved due to recent events on the home front. Sadly, February has been a very tough month for my wife and I: our baby daughter, Lara, unfortunately didn't make it through the open heart surgery she had to undergo in order to rectify two congenital heart defects. I'm not going to go into the details here but if you're interested, I will be posting a series of posts, building up to my daughter's funeral on 12 March, on my main site. Suffice to say we were devastated and completely knocked for six by this, even though we'd known about the heart condition before she was born. The loss of a child is something you really can't prepare yourself for no matter how much forewarning you received.
Just a short update to say I had a glorious 15 minute drills/run session in my Vibrams on Monday and it felt FANTASTIC. Sadly my feet were quite tired the next morning, so I've not been out in them again since. I think I'll stick with once a week in the Vibrams until such time as I'm getting in some good mileage with shoes on, and then I'll start weaning myself off the shoes and back into the Vibrams.
Ooops. I've just updated the backend Habari code that runs barefootrunner.co.uk and in the process seem to have broken the date as displayed for each post. This appears to be purely cosmetic, so it's probably something in the theme code, as the database shows the correct date.
I'll try and resolve this as soon as possible.
Update: Well that was simpler than expected. All fixed now.