Getting closer to the Jerusalem Half-Marathon

It looks like they started registration for this year's Jerusalem Half-Marathon. I find it a little strange that the date they picked for the event is a Thursday, but I find lots of things strange in this part of the world. In any case, the date is March 27, 2008 and there's also a 10K race (marked in purple) for those who don't want to go 21.0975 kilometers. Here's a map of the course, I wish they would publish an elevation chart!

4K Week

This week I increased the distance for my daily runs to 4 kilometers.

I didn't do a long run last weekend because I blistered my toes on an experimental barefoot run I did on Friday. In fact I took Saturday, Sunday and Monday off. It might seem sort of strange, but the weekend here in Israel is Friday and Saturday not Saturday and Sunday like in the Western world.

I did 4K on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It took me 28 to 30 minutes to complete each run so I'm backing off the average pace to 7:15 minutes per kilometer or 11:40 minutes per mile. That's about my racewalking training pace from last year but I've got a hilly course and I just got started about a month ago. In addition, by backing off my pace I'm able to keep my heart rate at a more sustainable 160 bpm average instead of getting too close to my maximum, though near the top of the course I'm peaking out at around 175 bpm. Average cadence is around 85 (170 steps per minute) so I'm still a little short of the "ideal" 180 steps per minute.

I was thinking of increasing the daily run to 5K next week but I haven't decided on it yet. I'd rather start adding some long distance work into my routine and make 6-daily runs per week rather than increase the daily run distance and have to skip a few days. Apparently the rainy season is over so weather shouldn't be a factor for the next few months.

But what about another barefoot run? I'm actually thinking about doing it again. My toe blisters hurt more when I walk than when I run and maybe it was more a matter of doing 30 minutes on asphalt with unprepared feet that caused the blisters in the first place. Hopefully I won't be having to endure 100 blisters like this Wall Street Journal Article: Baring Their Soles: Pain Doesn't Defeat Unshod Marathoners

Here's an excerpt of the article:

Baring Their Soles:
Pain Doesn't Defeat
Unshod Marathoners

To Harden and Condition Feet,
Runners Chuck Sneakers;
Mr. Yoshino Gets a Blister

By JOSEPH PEREIRA
December 27, 2006; Page A1

Last month, after returning from an eight-mile run, Tsuyoshi Yoshino heated up a three-inch sewing needle until it turned bright red. Then, he says, he plunged the glowing instrument into the ball of his foot, puncturing a three-inch-long blister.

Despite the risk of infection, he walked around his San Diego house for 20 minutes on the open wound to get used to the pain. "It's not something I like doing," he says. "But I have to."

While other marathoners train by carbo-loading, Mr. Yoshino has a more painful regimen. The 32-year-old graduate student at San Diego State University is one of a growing cadre of formerly shod distance runners making a torturous transition to running barefoot in the hope of improving their times and strengthening their soles. Blisters are an inevitable part of the journey. Mr. Yoshino estimates he's popped about 40 of them in the past 18 months. (See "Running Shoeless May Be Better," June 6)

Over the years, a handful of world-class runners have been able to compete barefoot because they had run that way all their lives, hardening their feet naturally from early childhood. Among them: Ethiopia's Abebe Bikila, in the 1960s, and South Africa's Zola Budd Pieterse two decades later. But for runners long-accustomed to cushiony footwear, making the switchover often involves bizarre, agonizing feats.

"I wish there was an 'Idiot's Guide to Barefoot Running,'" says Mr. Yoshino, a former collegiate cross-country athlete. In 2002, he completed the Boston Marathon -- in sneakers -- in two hours and 43 minutes, placing him among the top 260 finishers.

Nowadays he limps to a halt after eight miles because his bare feet heat up and blister. Since commencing barefoot training through the streets and hills of San Diego 18 months ago, he's consulted an acupuncturist for pain relief. A sports-injury specialist taught him to remove deeply embedded thorns from his feet with a box cutter.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

Health Journal: Running Shoeless May Be Better
06/06/06

Mr. Yoshino says he'll need to lance another 100 blisters before achieving his dream -- an outer crust on his feet as hard as that of some Australian aborigines. "It's no picnic," he says.

Education Break

I was hoping to put in a long run today but my blistered toes hurt. I put on my running gear and started surfing the Internet. Every hour or so I would get up to check how my toes were feeling. Each time was a little better, but not good enough for a long run. I didn't do my long run, or short run for that matter, but I did find some very interesting reading.

Right now I'm reading a free e-book named, "Running Fast and Injury-Free" by Gordon Pirie. He was an incredible middle distance runner that had some very progressive ideas for this time, he won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1955--the year I was born. The book was edited by Dr. John S. Gilbody who maintains a website in Gordon Pirie's memory.

After my barefoot run yesterday I thought that my form must be terrible because I shouldn't get blisters on my toes. However, this excerpt from his book made my day:

"...if you are running correctly your shoes will wear out initially at a point directly under your toes. You can prove this by taking off your shoes and going for a short run (on a safe surface, of course) in bare feet. Very quickly you will find you develop blisters on your toes. If you run correctly, the same thing will happen to your shoes; they will wear out under the toes."

I downloaded a couple of version of his book. The latest one with lots of archival photos and news clippings is available at the Gordon Pirie website but here is an earlier version that is quicker to download and has all the essential information.

“Running Fast and Injury-Free” by Gordon Pirie

Note that this is a self-published book partially because of his critical views of modern running shoes.

Almost Barefoot Running

Sometimes a little protection can go a long way. I was reading through Barefoot Ted's Adventures and found that this barefooted ultra marathoner often uses some sort of foot protection, albeit not much!




The odd looking rubber slippers are Vibram Five Fingers. You need special "toe socks" if you're going to use them in distance events. The minimalist sandals are Mexican huaraches.

Ted seems to be favoring the Vibram Five Fingers these days, but he is doing very long trail runs and those shoes/sandals/slippers/whatever they are, cost as much as much as a good pair of running shoes and tend to draw a bit too much attention.

I've searched for a pair of comfortable sandals, but they all chafe my foot so I usually put on a pair of socks. Yes, I look very "un-cool" so I tend not to wear sandals. I also tried Crocs, which are very popular here in Israel, but I've also gotten blisters with them.

The good thing about the huaraches is that they are easy to make, and cheap. In addition, you can make them from various materials including hemp, used tires, leather and well--just use your imagination. Here are a couple of PDF files showing how to make huaraches.

Making Huaraches

Tying Huaraches

Of course you can buy them, Barefoot Ted will custom make a pair if you send him a tracing of your foot. http://barefootted.com/shop/

First Barefoot Run

Well why not? I read about it, now how about experiencing it?

The parking lot at the Ein Gedi public beach seemed like a good place to try it, but when I got there the wind was blowing quite hard. Remembering the finish line from last week's race I went looking for that little paved path leading to the finish line by Ein Gedi Spa. Ah yes, much better. My plan was to start slow and build up very gently. I also put a time limit of no more than 30 minutes in order not to overdo it.

At first it felt a little weird--probably overly sensitive from a lifetime of wearing shoes and believing that going barefoot was uncouth. However, after a while I was liking the "freedom" and my feet were striking the asphalt with very lightly. A few minutes into it I started feeling a little sting on my fourth toe but I came all this way to do a workout and didn't want to stop. That was a mistake. When I started cooling down I noticed that I was bleeding. Rule #1 when trying out something new/different--stop at the first sign of pain.

This is what my feet looked like after my first 30 minute barefoot run--actually it was a very slow run but since I didn't strap on the foot pod I'm not really sure how far I went.


Just for the record, here's the Polar chart for the run. Note the bumps in the altitude graph showing the number of laps I did.



The rest of this week was good. I ran 3k three times. Tuesday it snowed and Wednesday it was cold and raining so I stayed indoors and did weights and stretching.

              HR     Pace    Cadence
Sunday        162     7:35      83
Monday        160     7:19      84
Thursday      163     6:58      87

This is good feedback. My heart rate is at a respectable "aerobic" zone while my pace and cadence are improving. Once I get to a cadence of 90 (180 steps per minute) I can start working on speed.

So--will I run barefoot again? Yes, once my feet heal. Hopefully my soles will be a little tougher and my steps a little lighter.

Barefoot Running

Barefoot guru Ken Bob Saxton, webmaster of RunningBarefoot.org

Yesterday it snowed and this morning it was raining and cold so this tender foot stayed indoors and didn't get in his daily 3 kilometer run. So I did some weights, stretching and Googling. Something that I've been thinking about for a while now is barefoot running.

I've seen Ken Bob at last year's Los Angeles and Palos Verdes Marathons and thought it was cool that this old guy was doing this. Today while reading though his website I found out that we are both the same age! I also found out that he ran his first marathon in shoes and injured himself. He has been pretty much injury free running barefoot.

Barefoot running isn't anything new, in fact it is as old as humanity. Running barefoot apparently doesn't slow you down, Abebe Bikila from Ethiopia won the 1960 Olympic Marathon in Rome and Zola Bud, the "white" South African woman who set a world record for the 5K when she was just 16 years old, both ran barefoot. More recently Tegla Loroupe of Kenya, who held the woman's Marathon world record from 1998-2001, has run many races barefoot. Some studies have concluded that shoes actually cause most of the running related injuries. Here's one from SportSci.org - A Peer-Reviewed Journal and Site for Sport Research: SportSci.org Barefoot Running

So am I going to try it? Why not, I've been going lighter and lighter on the running shoes. The next step would be to take them off. But I think I'll wait until this weekend. In the meantime I'll try to post some Barefoot Running videos.

New Shoes, New Way of Thinking

I wanted to buy another pair of Asics DS Racers when I went home last month but they were discontinued and the replacement model wasn't in stock. OK, I thought, this doesn't need to be so complicated, shoes aren't that important. What? The athletic shoe business is a multi-billion dollar business and there's so much published on the need for the right amount of cushioning, support, motion control and so on. But many of the best runners in the world grew up barefooted. What's important is the technique, not what you put on your feet.

In fact it is becoming apparent that what caused my knee problems in the first place was bad technique. The shoes just masked the problem, for a while. I was rather disappointed that the orthopedic surgeon that checked out my sore knees scared me out of running by telling me that I would be looking at surgery if I continued. I was also disappointed at the podiatrist that looked at my feet and prescribed orthotics to keep my pronation problem under control. Neither of these doctors asked to see how I was walking or running, I don't think it mattered to them--just treat the symptom instead of finding the cause.

So this week I'm running around in these flashy New Balance racing flats. There's no support, cushioning or motion control, just a thin layer between my foot and the pavement. I'd take the next step and go unshodded if I wasn't such a tenderfoot.

Oh, and I'm not using the orthotics. With good running technique there's hardly any weight on the heels or the arches, that's what the orthotics are supporting--so what's the point?

My new way of thinking is not to take everything doctors say as the way it has to be. Every day I've been thinking about my super high cholesterol level and those pills the doctor prescribed. Treat the symptom once again. Drugs, another multi-billion dollar business. I don't care for the quick fix, I'm finding the cause and doing something about it. Funny thing is I'm enjoying cooking and feel much better. I'm looking forward to removing the stress of my current job, returning home and getting my priorities straight--my wife and our health should be way at the top of the list.