hot and sweaty

It's been very warm these last few days - for the end of March it's been positively balmy. So going for a run was only going to be a good idea in the early hours.
Like 9am...

I did nearly 35 mins this morning and it was hard work - hence the title of this post. And my right achilles is aching which is a bit of a worry, but I think it's a grumble rather than an injury, so I'm going to rest it until Sunday or possibly Tuesday

(this is horrible - I have drops of sweat running down my face and they're as irritating as te cat's whiskers when she gets too close...)

3 things I have learned from this morning's run:
1. my feet are bicycle wheels - they're only in contact with the ground at the very bottom, directly underneath - so the movement is to push back from that point and that brings my knees up like they're supposed to be.
2. my right leg is wrong: it's doing the old thing of trying to reach out in front of me with and that's what's causing the problem, I think. When I'm concentrating I can make it do it properly, and it makes it ache a bit which suggests I had been doing it wrong - perhaps I need to go back to the osteopath and get balanced out again. Or just do all those stretches I'm supposed to do...
3. Don't eat before a run. I had 2 veggie sausages and 2 poached eggs about an hour before I went out and it was too much too soon: about 15 mins in I could feel this food just sitting in my stomach waiting to be digested and being disappointed.

So I have an idea - this Tuesday I'm going to the dentist at 930 - so I'll go for a run first - I can get out of the house about 7am for 30 mins and be back in time for a shower and breakkie and then walk to work via the dentist. And I can do this twice a week - Tues and Thurs and walk to work those days cos I can leave later than when I'm cycling and stopping off at the gym. And I will run before I've had anything to eat.

And by the end of the week I will have lost 10lbs and will be a happy bunny.

Yay 
   

Run like the wind

Or a gentle breeze at any rate...

So I did another 1/2 an hour this morning - and I know it was that long cos I used the nike+ thing. It's far from being calibrated properly (8min 15 per mile - hello???) but at least it gives me a countdown for 30mins.

But I don't like running and waiting for the mins to be counted down - I am going to use the treadmill at the gym tomorrow and get it right. I do fairy steps now obviously.

But the run was ok. And I am going to keep it up and try to move up to an hour at a time and hopefully get the 10km feeling I used to have. If I can get there I think I should be able to lose weight and keep it off. And not knacker my knees along the way...

sometimes I surprise myself

Not often, it's true.

But I did run today - about 1/2 an hour - and it was OK. My right heel/calf is aching a bit but in an ok way, not feeling like it's about to pop.

And I am so unfit - there were a few hills in there and I was struggling. A lot.

Going between the toe-strike and heel-strike seems to be OK - I know the going downhill thing will be tough to get working once I'm converted. I had a thought that I might perhaps use the treadmill at the gym to get me going in the barefoot shoes - start with 5 mins perhaps and build up from there.

More time to spend trying to stop the march of time...

And I was trying to make sure I didn't run too long (or, more accurately, too short) a time and had to keep looking at the clock on my ipod. Of course once I got back I discovered there was a stopwatch and a time in the thing. Should have known that really.

28 minutes!!!

I possibly went about 3 miles - very slowly.

And I was in my old running shoes so I could change from one running style to the other - which was great on the downhill bits as I could land on my heels and not feel too slippery underfoot.

But it was bloody hard work.

I think I've lost fitness - running fitness at least - from not running. (Kind of obvious...) and 1/2 an hour was a killer.

But I think it was the right thing to do. I need to get running fit again and I know I'm barefoot running for about 1/2 the time - although the shorter extension for my calfs in those shoes is protecting my achilles, if not really improving my technique. I guess the thing to do is to put in the occasional 5-minutes on the merrell shoes every week or so and build up on that.

I called in at Moti in Bristol and they basically told me what I already knew but didn't want to face up to - that it's going to take a long time to get back to where I was before, running 10k on a Sunday morning.

But I will get there as the alternative is descending into fat-lassedness. Well, fatter-lassedness anyway...

Feeling braver

Well, the acute pain seems to have gone but I;m very nervous about going for a run. Even in the old, padded shoes.
But if I don't go, it will take longer and longer to get back into the running and any half-baked plans I might have for 10k runs this year will just wither and die...
So, the plan is... there is no plan actually, but one day very soon I will haul myself out there and see how I get on.
I really really hope I can turn into a barefoot runner, wearing my nice, minimalist shoes, loping gracefully round the roads of Bristol... (that last bit - probably a bit too much to hope for...)