My Running Journal 030310

Faster, or farther? Or both?

That’s what I’m asking myself right now. Last week I went on a business trip, and ended up not running at all for a week (and eating crappy food). Today I got back out the door and back on the running schedule, with a little bit of anxiety wondering how my performance may have been impacted.

I ran a whopping total of 1.18 miles this morning, at an average pace of 11:43.

Which isn’t far, and it isn’t fast, but, in my defense, is because I did things differently. Specifically, I didn’t wear running shoes. Nope, I decided that, since I had missed a whole week and probably am starting close to the beginning endurance-wise, that I could start the process over again, and this time without running shoes.

I pulled on my old Vibram Five Finger Sprints, that I bought back in 2008, and went for a trot. The running style that makes the most sense while wearing the VFFs is a forefoot touchdown, with absolutely no heel strike. I was already sort of running in this fashion – but the difference between my Brooks Addictions (which are designed to correct for heavy pronation), and the VFFs, which provide no support whatsoever, is huge. The sensation of running is tremendously different – and it is hard to describe. With my foot freer to move around, my legs felt completely different. Not like I was floating or anything, but without the stability control of the running shoes, or padding, the running style that I have been trying to develop – a forward leaning, ball of the foot springiness – was much easier to do. I wasn’t fighting the shoe. I was with the Brooks, which seem to be designed to encourage a mid-foot or heel strike, as there is a large amount of padding in the heel, and the sole is sort of wedge shaped, with the thicker part at the heel end. By the end of the run my legs felt really different from my other runs – most of the ache and muscle fatigue was below the knees. That, and my feet are a little sore now.

Now the question is how quickly can I condition my legs to running without padding? We’ll see. I have my first race of the season in a week and a half – the Shamrock run on the 14th. I’m running the 5k section of it.