Now with VFF's!

It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted so here's a quick update:

I've kept up running during the week for about a total of 20 miles and another 7.5 miles on top of that for my long run on Sunday.  I was going to do the long run with my NB Minimus Trails, but I've had this nagging bruise under one of my toes.  So I tried using my Merrell Trail Gloves.  For some reason the MTG's didn't push on that part of my foot, therefore no nagging pain on that spot.  My guess is the rock plate that is just under that spot that keeps the front of my foot from touching down helps.

If you've read reviews on the MTG's you'll have heard that they have a sort of negative drop.  In other words they are not true zero-drop shoes.  The fore-foot is raised higher than the heel.  Not by much (1mm) but if you're not mid/fore-foot striking, you will definitely feel it.  I've been building up since January, and on that long run with the MTG's definitely gave my calf and achilles a work-out!  I've been feeling it for the last week.  But it was a fun run.

But this last week I finally bit the bullet and popped for the Vibram Fivefingers Speed.  If you recall from a while back, they were the toe shoes that actually looked cool.  I ordered them through REI online.  Unfortunately the sizing that is listed on the Vibram site is wrong.  According to the site I should have been wearing size 41 Speeds.  They were wayyyyy to small! I took them back to the local REI in Marina and got a refund.  I had received a call the week before the same day I ordered the Speeds.  I ended up driving up to San Jose during my lunch to pick them up.  They had 42's.  Again they were too small.  I asked if they could get them in 43's.  They said their store in Palo Alto had them in several sizes.  I left expecting their call in a couple of days.  Along the way to the highway I decided to call up the store and let the sales-clerk know I was heading the Palo Alto store.  It was only 20 more miles away.  Screw it.

I get there and tried on the 42's which were still too small.  I asked if I could try the 43's and 44's.  The 43's were snug, but wearable. The 44's were too big I thought.  So I walked out with the 43's.  Now I'm thinking that they are too small.  I did go for a run in them though and they were FANTASTIC!

But it was my first time running that long with toe-shoes so the inevitable happened.  I worked different muscles which were hardly used which lead to soreness.  I'm still feeling it today a several days later.  I don't care though, it just soreness.  Massage and ice are miracle workers to that problem.

Since I did buy the shoes at Footwear Ect, and they have a wonderful return policy (refund unworn within 30 days or exchange if worn) I asked them to order size 44's for me.  They'll be giving me a call soon.  But in the meantime, I decided to buy the VFF's I had originally intended buying before I found out about the Speeds.

The Vibram Fivefingers Bikila LS (LS = Lacing System)


As you can see they have a speed lacing system.  They feel alright but I won't know how they do in a run until I go for a run tonight.  I can already say that they do feel different.  They're not as light as the Speeds, but then again the Speeds are more for fashion (though they are used for running by several barefooters).  The Bikilas were made specifically for running.  They have reflective areas around the shoe so you can get spotted a bit more easily if you run in the dark.  I'm looking forward to that run.  I'll post my impressions ASAP once I've got a couple of runs in.  I'd like to try them for my long run on Sunday morning (~9 miles).

Andy by-the-by, I'm down 18 pounds from when I started my lifestyle change.  I was at 251 pounds when I started and this morning I weighed in at 233 pounds.  I've been floating around the lower 230's for a while now, but I think that is because of more muscle being built up.  I've definitely felt my clothes be much looser than before.  So much so that I had to buy new pants.  I was wearing size 44 pant size.  I went out and bought size 42 Levi's.  I'm happy about that.

God willing, things will keep going this well.  I'm still excited about running.  Compared to last year, I'm doing much better motivation-wise.  No shin splints, more energy because of the change in diet and running.  This barefooting/4-Hour Body thing is the perfect match!

GD

p.s.
this is what this part of the alphabet would look like if Q and R were missing - Mitch Hedberg
and I'm too lazy to check grammar.

Latest run was better than last week!

Clicking the title link will take you to my last run I had.  It's a change from what I'd normally would've done.  I ran around town!

I had planned to go run West Cliff in Santa Cruz again last week with my friend . . . but he forgot that he had a previous engagement with his girlfriend to go watch a show in The City.  So seeing that it was gonna be in SF, they had decided to make a day of it . . . which left me with a decision.

Do I make the effort to wake up REAL early to make it to West Cliff and run it by my lonesome?  Or do I go run in Marina and finally do the route I've been wanting to do for a while?

Well  . . . it turns out that I did neither.  I wanted to sleep in a bit.  I woke up at 7:30, threw on my running shoes and out the door I went  . . . and kept going.  I ran almost 7.5 miles in a but under 90 minutes.  Not bad considering last week I did 8 miles in OVER 2 FRICKEN HOURS!

Sorry . . . that still gets me.

Next week I shall attempt the ten miles I wanted to do this week.  I've got the route partially planned out already.  I just gotta tweak it.  This week is all intervals.  I gotta get the legs and lungs hurtin so that when the real run in a few weeks time comes, they don't.

The feet are still buggin me a bit, but not as much as before.  I still have that funky knot under the second toe of my left foot which can become a bother on these longer runs.  But this time I recovered fairly quickly!  I definitely think what helped this time was the cold water dip.  Once I got home from the run, I turned on the cold water and filled the tub.  I tossed back a Kirkland chocolate milk carton, too.  Once the tube was full, I eased in.  Boy!  Was that difficult, especially when I got to the boys!  Whew, talk about shrinkage!

Sorry, it's not that I want you to imagine a relatively short fat guy completely naked with the twig and berries all tucked in.  ;)

Shortly after the dip though, I got real comfortable.  It felt real good.  The aches were going away quicker than usual and I just sat there and let it all happen.  I think I was in there a good 10 to 15 minutes.  After that, I drained the tub and took a cool shower.  It felt weird, though.  My upper body was almost cold because of the coolish shower (quite refreshing), but from the waist down the water felt almost uncomfortably hot!

Aside from that strange after run experience, I felt better after the run that what I had felt like last week.  I'm running Salinas again next Sunday.  Hopefully for the full 10 miles!

GD

p.s.
too lazy

Day after, after

Today I'm a bit sorer (is that a word).  I went with my cuz on her half-hour intervals and I felt ok.  I felt a bit of a twinge, but nothing major.  My foot was still buggin me on that funky bruise, but again workable.  I did enjoy the run tremendously.  I wanted to go for another mile or two after we finished but I figured I shouldn't push it.

Today, I'm gonna rest.  Gonna take my godson to go watch the new Transformers tonight when I get out of work.  I may even fall asleep in the theater . . . maybe.

As far as the 4 hour body thing . . . it had been going ok except for last night and right now.  I was too lazy to cook anything last night so I ate what was left over from Zacharys.  And right now, I found some graham crackers in my desk and they are nice and crispy!  Reminds me of kindergarten.  All I need is my carton of milk.  I'm just extending the cheat day for a bit.  I don't even want to look at a scale yet to see if I've plateaued(sp).

GD

It was nice when I started . . .

A quick update . . .

When last I posted, my cousin began running.  She's been keeping up with it and logged in 3 runs for a total of almost 8 miles.  We'll be going again tonight . . .

Last week I also ran pretty much every day.  On the days I've run solo, I've gone for 3 or 4 miles.

Last week I had also agreed to go on an 8 mile run in Santa Cruz with a friend.  A couple of years ago he ran his first marathon.  After that, he didn't do much.  Just ran to not lose it.  A mile here, another there.  When he heard I enrolled in the SVHM, he and his girlfriend signed up also.  His girlfriend was a cross-country runner in high school.  She's a twig and an over-strider.  She's having knee issues.  I promised her a book (Born to Run).

So anyway, if you click the title of this post it'll show you the route we took for the run.  I made a mistake though.  When we started our run, he started reeeeeal slowwwww.  A good power-walk.    And I kept with him for the whole run.  While we were running and talking, I'd be looking at other runners and checking out their form (or if they were hotties, really check out their form ;p), and checking out their shoes.  There were a lot of Fivefingers out and about.

At about mile three I saw one couple with Fivefingers.  The guy had the pair I've been looking for locally for a while now (Fivefingers Speed).  About a minute after they passed, I decided to go back and chase them down to find out where he had bought them.  I ran pretty hard to catch them.  I asked them where they had got them and was told REI.  I was thinkin to myself where in Santa Cruz is the REI.  Then his girlfriend says they picked them up at REI in COLORADO . . . crap.

So I said thanks and ran to catch up to Ern.  I finally caught up to him at the end of the Boardwalk and I was beat.  crap.  I struggled from that point on to keep going.  I finally had to stop at about mile six and ran/walked the rest of the way.  I've had this bruise buggin my left foot for a while now.  It's at the first joint of the second toe.  It gets me limping.  For some reason, it only bugs me this bad on longer runs or when I have my shoes on too tight by the toes.  This time it was combination of both.  On the last mile to the car, I took off my shoes.  That felt a bit better, thought it still had me limping.

Ern finished the run about 8 minutes before I did and he had time to take a dip in the ocean.  He left me a banana on my windshield.  I needed it.  I changed my shoes to my Merrell Trail Gloves to help stretch out he calf and achilles.  That felt real good.  I was runing in the NB Minimus Trail.  I walked a bit towards the beach on Natural Bridges and met Ern putting on his shoes at the visitors center.

After getting back to the cars, we headed over to Zachary's in Downtown SC on Pacific Avenue.  Must go to this if you've never been!  I've tried everything there and it's all incredible food, but the one thing I order all the time there now is Mikes Mess: bacon, mushrooms, eggs, potatoes, topped with cheddar cheese, sour cream, tomatoes, green onions and I always opt for some avocado.  From what I understand the potatoes are a bit special.  They're made with onions, tumeric and some other spices that are kept secret.  Trust me when I say they are worth it.  AND . . . it's a LOT!  I can go through most of it but end up with enough for lunch the next day.  And the coffee they have is fantastic!  It's from the Santa Cruz Roasting Company.  And being that it was a Sunday, I lucked out.  It's my cheat day for the 4-Hour Body.

I dropped 11 pounds the first two weeks and I've been floating a bit since then.  My clothes definitely feel much looser and I've had to punch a few holes in my belt every week.  The weight isn't dropping because I've been building more muscle with the extra running and the kettlebell workouts, but I'm sure seeing it with the way the clothes sit.

I've got a run with my cousin again tonight.  She's supposed to do 2 minute run, 1 minute walk.  She doesn't feel ready for it yet so we're going to try 1 and 1.  I'll let you know how it goes.

GD

p.s.
still didn't check

Let's see how long this lasts . . .

So . . . my cousin calls me up Wednesday and tells me she wants to start running.  She says, "If you can do it, I can do it"!

I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or not . . .

Anyway, as I'd previously posted, I gave her the training guide.  I needed to start slow anyway to see if my foot would cause me problems so I went with her.  We did about a 30 minute run (1 minute run, 2 minute walk, 10X).  I think it may have been a bit more.  We did a little over two miles.

I never got to the point where I was sloggin' through the run.  It was barely a warm-up.  And you know, that was actually perfect.  I'm going to do that again tonight before I start my real run.  I'll probably cut it down some or maybe do 3/1 instead of 1/2 for 30 minutes.  I'll see how I feel when I start.

I know when the time comes for the SVHM, at least I know I'll be able to finish it with no pain.  I won't be exhausted and I'll be able to finish it fine.  I still have a hope that I'll be able to finish in 2:30.  If not, no biggie.  I'll definitely be enjoying the run more than last year!

GD

p.s.
too lazy