I Hired a Coach - now you can get $25 off CoachUp.com

I need a coach to help me with my running form.  I can keep working on this myself, but it is going to take me forever.  Even walking I seem to have a blister or something next to my big toe.  The forums I read have no running coaches posted nearby, so I took to the internet to locate a coach.  I found a site call CoachUp.com 

How it works:  You submit a coaching request with what you are looking for.  They ask your location, availability and a few other basic questions and then they email your request to their list of coaches.  The coaches are required to respond within 24 hours.  Use referral code danal1-10-t gets you $25 off your first coaching session through them.  I recommend you book just one session to see how things go and then book a package deal, if things work out. 

I got 4 responses within 12 hours.  They all were qualified to assist me, and I ended up choosing Drew based upon his thoughtful response telling me less about himself (they all have bios I can read) and more about what he would do to help me.  First steps he would video tape me running and analysis my form.   His location is close to me, and his price was reasonable at $69 per hour.  One of the guys wanted $159 for an hour 1-on-1 session.  The lowest was $53. 

Walking into the gym they ask you to remove your shoes before stepping on the floor.  It looked like everyone else has dedicated gym shoes, but I did the session in my socks.  Though I did mention in my request for services that I was a barefoot runner or at least working towards running barefoot.

First Drew had me do some squats and took videos, then I jogged on the treadmill for a bit while he took more video.  Drew then pointed out my problems and talked about form and function.  Of course I have no clue if he knows what he is talking about, but it sounded good and lined up with what I had been reading online.  (Like you can believe everything you read online.)  We spent the remainder of the session doing foam rolling, stretches and some exercises.  He gave me just one area to concentrate on when running, for me I need to push the knees out slightly.  He's now working on my homework and a package pricing.  I feel it was definitely worth it. 

Unfortunately there is no quick fix and it will take a while.   But the areas he has me working on should carry over into the problems I'm having with some of my mobility in gymnasticbodies exercise routine.

Barefoot Gardening

Gardening
A friend mentioned his wife had planted peas in their garden, which reminded me to do the same.  I seem to always wait till to late and my peas don't do well.  So on Saturday I headed to the hardware store to pick up the seeds, barefoot of course.  It was a quick trip with no chatting with the employees, so still no reaction from them on my bare feet.

I have often heard that gardening barefoot, more specifically digging in the garden barefoot is something to be avoided if possible.  Despite this apprehension I decided I should at least give it a try.  So I got out my spade and started turning over the soil and discovered it was easy and not at all uncomfortable.  I think the reason being is that we have raised beds and the soil doesn't get compressed by our bodies when we work the garden.  We planted just two rows of peas and I got my shod daughter to assist with one of the rows. 

Past Week
The past week has been a bit cool so I haven't been pushing being barefoot to much. The warm spell we had the previous month really had me spoiled.  I've also been a bit down or depressed as of late and haven't had much energy the last few weeks.  I'm still managing to plug away at the body weight exercises, but have let my running drop for the time being.  Besides being tired, another contributing factor is a little pain or discomfort on the bottom of my right foot.  I tired to dig something out of my foot this past week and left a little hole in my sole.  I didn't find anything, but it seems like the discomfort has been reduced, only to be replaced by the discomfort caused by the small hole I dug into my sole.  My thought is the problem is probably caused be a small blister under the pad of my foot which developed by using improper technique when I first started running barefoot.  This is just all part of the learning curve.

Another Barefoot Day

Saturday dawned and I planned to have another full barefoot day.  The weather wasn't freezing so I had a good chance of success.  Also, I wasn't planning on going anywhere special, just the local grocery store where I haven't had any issues yet.

First thing I had to do was reattach my dryer vent.  it had fallen away from the wall and I wanted to put some screws in a connection that kept falling apart.  You would think this would be a simple job but it ended up taking several hours to reconnect the pipes and -get a couple of screws through both pipes.  Glad I had self tapping screws.  But while I was doing this project I would hop up onto the nearby washer to access the dryer pipe, it was nice to do it in bare feet.

Ended up going to the grocery store twice.  Once for my grocery run and then my daughter got her Raddish package in.    Raddish provides recipes, cooking items (this time we got a purple rubber coated whisk), shopping lists and a few fun things to do.  She decided to make the salad and the chocolate moose.  So we went shopping for her items.  She had to find and pick everything out and I had the honor of paying for everything.  My daughter isn't a salad eater, but she loved the salad she spent a lot of time and effort making, she even commented on how much work it was.  The foster boy helped cut up some of the stuff, so it was a joint effort.  The chocolate moose tasted great, though it was a little runny.  I told her she will just have to try again.  Later this month we will be making some rock candy and a pasta dish.  If you want to try Radish for your kids, use code h3rwph to save $20.  Visit http://www.raddishkids.com and check them out.

Ran barefoot and managed 1.5 miles and still working on picking up the feet and not pushing off.  I pushed a little too hard if you look at my heart rate (146 average) but my average cadence was 159, with the end of the run dragging down the average.   At one point, for a quarter mile, my cadence was over 164, right where it should be.  So I have to believe that this picking the feet up has improved my cadence and I'll eventually get to where I should be all the time.  The wind chill temperature was 34ºF and my hands got a bit chilled, but my feet were once again fine.

Improving Cadence with Form

Last week I started concentrating on my form and lifting my legs up instead of pushing off and I noticed a slight improvement in my cadence; which previously had stubbornly refused to improve no matter what I did.  I took a run on Saturday and once again my cadence was improved as I focused on lifting the leg up.  Not a lot, just the a few steps, but my maximum cadence was 169, definitely a good sign.  This run also had a lower average heart rate, since I'm purposely trying to go slower to focus on the form.  I'm also comparing this run to another run on the same route.  My cadence on this run was higher the at the beginning and then drops back down at the end.  Makes me wonder if I started to lose form or focus, maybe both.  Something to think about on my next run.

Next I compared my average pace to two previous runs with about the same average pace.  One run has my cadence way lower and the other run my cadence is all over the place, but shows an average of a few steps less.  My new cadence is much more consistent, even when it dropped towards the end it stayed much more constant.  You can check out my runs on mapmyrun or garmin connect.  Find me under hikerdana.

Lift Foot Up - Don't Push Off = Improved Cadence

FORM
Today I found out what lifting the foot up and not pushing off felt like.  I tried to run slower, keep the heart rate lower and focus on lifting the foot up.  Definitely uses different muscles and my toes seem to like it better as well.  I think I'll need to continue focusing on this technique, but I liked it while running.  Though it felt a bit like I was marching, but that might smooth out with more practice.

CADENCE
I'm often a geek and almost always run with my heart rate monitor and GPS.  I don't always pay attention to the numbers while running, unless I have something specific I'm working on.  But I still wear it to keep a record of my activities.  Today after my run I glanced at the numbers and was surprised to see a lot of little green cadence dots (cadence of 160 or greater) in the beginning of my run, before I slowed my pace down.  My cadence has always been low so to see so many green dots was very encouraging. Even after I slowed down my cadence was higher than normal with a few rare green dots showing.  Even going up hill I got no red dots (cadence below 152).  My cadence held to a pretty straight line. My stride length has also decreased from 80+ meters to 70 m.

I am now very anxious to see if this trend holds, while I continue to learn this new method of running.  It could be the breakthrough I have been seeking for a long time.  Now it is harder then ever to keep my miles down and take it easy.  I'm even more excited then ever to get out and run.

Proper Running Form

My HISTORY
One of the biggest reasons I started down the road of minimalist running was I felt that I was running wrong.  I would start running and then my legs just wouldn't feel right.  After the thousands of miles hiking and with all the aches, pains, and injuries that accompanied those miles I didn't feel like I was being a wimp, I know when something was not right, so I would stop running. A year or so goes by and I try again and I continued to repeat the same cycle.

Along comes minimalist running and they talk a lot about form.  So I try that style, and low and behold, no problems.  Well, to be honest, I did have one problem.  I couldn't run.  Not even a block.  So began my journey to become a runner.  I've now have run a few 5K races.  The only injury I got in the past two years was last fall when I was on vacation.  I had all this wonderful time on my hands to run, run, run, and run some more.  It was like heaven.  Until I realized I had injured myself from running too much.  Inconceivable. 

Now I move on to barefoot running.  They say you should started off running barefoot before turning to minimalist shoes, but I didn't.  I think it has worked out well for me, but ignore their advice at your own peril.  During the past two years my feet have built up some of the muscle that is needed for true barefoot running.  For the first year my foot felt sore, like the muscles and bones were constantly being improved.  And because I loved the feel of the ground so much I started walking barefoot (mostly on the sly) on the way home from work or around the neighborhood. 

PROPER FORM
I now believe that landing on my heel and over striding was the cause of my problems in the past. Taking shorter steps and landing almost anyplace but the heel is what I worked on and thought I had my form down.  But barefoot running is not as forgiving as running with shoes, even minimalist shoes.  So now I read from more then one source, you need to lift up your foot and not push off.  I'm not sure how that will look, but it might explain why I'm getting tough skin on the ends of my toes, and could be getting a blister on the bottom of my foot.  I must be pushing off and not lifting. 

BAREFOOTING
My runs have consisted of just two days.  After talking with a runner I was told it is best to run at least 3 times a week.  So I went out for a short run of ½ mile today.  Then after the short run I took a walk, all barefoot.  For a total of 1.77 miles, my furthest distance yet.  I also walked ¼  miles to work this morning and will walk back for a total of 2.25 miles barefoot today.  A new records which will easily be broken soon.

Feet Warm - Hands Cold

RUNNING
Today I went for my Sunday run and it was soooo nice.  The pavement felt warm beneath my soles. The only thing I notice was a slight discomfort on my middle toe on the right foot.  I haven't figured out what it was, probably just still getting use to running barefoot.  On the other hand, my hands were noticeably cold, guess I should have worn some light gloves or maybe a hat.    My time is still pretty steady at around 12 minute mile, but heart rate is at running at least at 80% of maximum capacity.  So I probably should start going at a slower pace more often.  Especially since I want to increase my running to 3 times a week.

ALMOST FREEZING TEMPERATURE
I had thought the temperatures for the day were going to be in the 40's, but since my hands felt so cold I look at my Garmin running report and the temperature was 39ºF with 6 mph winds which converts to 35ºF temperature, just a few degrees above freezing and my bare feet was very comfortable. I love that my feet were fine and find it interesting that my hands were the ones having a problem.

STORE & CHURCH
Visited the neighborhood grocery store again with no problems and I'm starting to feeling more relaxed.  Church in the morning I put my shoes on in the van upon arriving and took them off upon returning to the van.  I haven't figure out how to handle this one since I attend church with my mom. My mom was instrumental in starting this church and I want to be respectful, so I'll play this one by ear.  In the evening I go back to the church and work with the boys group.  I wear my shoes into the church but then after the meeting starts I take them off, but have them sitting by my chair.  I think come summer when others start wearing their flip flops I'll leave the shoes at home.

Running in Freezing Weather

RUNNING
Today temperatures at around 1:00 pm was 27ºF, winds at 8 mph, giving us a wind chill of 18ºF, definitely below freezing and it was time for my run.  After some additional thinking I had decided to create a new route that would be more of an out and back run, instead of straight out and then walk back.  This would allow me to get back to my base quicker.  I also planned only to be barefoot for the run.

Since I'm still not ready to expose my barefoot preference to my co-workers, I once again headed away from work before finding a nice, new, black section of asphalt where I could slip off my shoes.  The pavement was surprisingly warm (or maybe not too surprising), but alas, it would be the only nice and warm piece of pavement I would feel on my run. 

As I ran I definitely could tell it was cold, but I didn't feel like I was pushing any boundaries.  A little discomfort and I've read that after 12 minutes or so that would go away.  It is like those times when you think, maybe I should have worn a hat or jacket.  Nothing you can't handle and I would be running for only 1 mile.  Now on the other hand while my feet were doing okay, my lungs had a much harder time adapting to running in the cold (the cold induced asthma was appearing).   I finished the run in the normal amount of time.  I am very happy with the results and doubt I would have run any better with shoes.

I felt like I could have done more, but I was told you need to take it slow and easy to start, so I am heeding that advice.  I had a plan to put my socks and shoes on when the mile run was up and that is what I did.  I'm not only taking it easy to give my feet a chance to adapt, I want to gradually increase my running miles for my legs, using the 10% increase per week rule for runners.  In some ways I'm fortunate I don't have a high running mileage base with the legs itching to go.  Legs and feet are both have equal experience and will adapt together. 

STORE
This evening I did go to Wal-Mart but it was too cold for me to be walking barefoot, so I wore my shoes.  While I was in Wal-Mart I just had to touch the floor with my barefoot and it felt as cold if not colder then the pavement outside during my run.  I'm so glad I didn't go barefoot into the store.