New Running Partner

She's barefoot too.

Her name is Zoe and she's a purebred German Shepherd. Her first family couldn't take care of her anymore so we swooped in and scooped her up. She's smart cookie and a total sweetheart. Not to mention a knockout. We get comments on her beauty all of the time.

She weighs about 50 lbs and is 5 months old. Yikes! She hasn't had any training...so I'm seeing to that. I've started her off on some basic obedience stuff and heeling and all that. Next Sunday we'll be going to an official training class that is just for German Shepherds! She's so willing to please and learn, it will be great.

She's a great running partner so far, she's even heeling at a run. She hates any kind of heat tho - so we have to get out there early, which is great motivation for me. She is mouthy when she gets excited or bored - I'm working diligently with her to not use us as chew toys - that needs to stop. She sleeps very well through the night in her crate.

There is no way on God's green earth that I'll be able to run the Pacifica 50k next weekend. Oh well. Life is just getting in the way. I have too much going on for me to be able to put in the mileage to do ultras right now. I'm going to take a break and re-evaluate my goals and what I can do happily, without stressing myself out needlessly.

I am thinking of taking my running to a different level, to do it for a purpose. I've always been interested in search and rescue and part of my thinking in getting Zoe was to go out for volunteer search and rescue with her. Our obedience trainer has ties to the local groups - so we'll see where this goes.

A New Barefoot Running Partner

This morning may have been my last run alone on my neighborhood trail. This afternoon I'm going to visit a possible new doggie running partner and buddy. I don't want to jinx it, so I'm not going to go into details about him...but it does look promising.

It has been far too long since I've had a doggie running partner/buddy. If we end up getting this boy I'll sign up for the local Mutt Strutt in August. He's reported to be an excellent running parner! I promise to post pictures of him ASAP if this ends up being an adoption.

My run this morning was up in the local canyon on the trails in my Vibrams. It went well and I feel great right now. It was about 5-6 miler. I still go through a little bit of an ajustment period on the first 10 minutes out before I really hit my stride. My left forefoot was a little sore from where I stepped on a big rock over the weekend (in shoes btw). I was a little bit worried about that. But the soreness went away 1/2 way through the run and now post-run it's all gone. Guess I just needed to work it out.

Have a lovely sunny day!

Vibrams at the Track

I can now report that VFF's work just fine at the track too. I ran my intervals faster than usual in them, a full ten seconds faster for my last 400 than any other I've run this season. And my hammie is behaving fully, even acting normal!

I think my new running style is workin' some scar tissue where my leg was operated on. It just feels "funny" there, almost itchy. No pain in the knee joint or anything, just wierd pulling under the skin, very shallow. I only feel when I'm not running. I'll keep my eye on it but I'm not too worried.

I've starting making my hurrache sandals from a kit that I got from Barefoot Ted. I have one done, now I have to lace up the other one. I'll take 'em for a spin in a day or two. Pictures to come!

Longest Vibram Run Yet

I did about 11 hilly miles.

And it felt really great. One thing that continues to astonish and amaze me is that I have NO muscle soreness. If I run in shoes, and run hard and long...I'll get the usual stiffness afterwards. Especially after I get up out of the car after I've driven home from the trail. But yesterday and today...nothing! I haven't read anything about this barefoot phenomenon anywhere else...but in this experiment of one there is no muscle soreness. Infact, they feel better than just not sore...but almost massaged by the run.

The only "problem" I've encountered is a little bit of fluid accumulation above my right knee. No pain whatsoever though. And the puffyness went away overnight. I'm thinking it's a protective reaction to the change in stride and hopefully not a problem at all. My right leg is definitely my weaker leg, I broke my tibia a few years ago so I think that its relative weakness may be causing this. I'll keep an eye on it and if anyone has any suggestions please leave a comment!

The Point of No Return

Running in shoes has become completely uncomfortable. It seems that all of the restrictive, controlling fixtures in running shoes just throws off my stride too much, and that big heel in the back gets in the way!

Whenever I run in shoes now my hip tightens, my hamstring tightens and I feel little twinges in my ITB. When I run unshod I feel springy and loose afterwards. Imagine that! Feeling looser and better AFTER a run! I'm also faster barefoot. I can't explain why and I don't want to imply that you would be faster barefoot, but it's happening for me. I think it may be the more efficient form and faster leg turnover.

I finally broke the news to my hubby that I've been running barefoot. I thought he might flip out, thinking I was nuts or something...but he's totally intrigued and supportive. That makes things easier.

So it's cold turkey. I've run 10 miles in the past two days unshod (except for my vibrams!). I'll be doing a trail run tomorrow - I'll see how that goes. As the mantra goes with the barefooters - listen to your body and follow its lead. I won't run into pain I'll just run as it feels good.

Our team, The Venetian Skunks, ROCKED the relay!

We won 1st place in our division by 4 hours and we were 7th overall out of 105 teams.

I did not wear my Vibrams. I ended up wearing my Nike Frees. I didn't want anything crappy that I might do like totally bonk, fall off the shoulder of the road, trip on a rock, etc to be blamed on my VFFs. I want to ease my friends into my more barefooted self, ya know?

But I'm headed out for a run right now in my VFFs. Can't wait. I did a little run on Sunday in shoes and it sucked. I was still sore of course but it sucked nonetheless. We'll see how this one goes.

I'll be heading up to do the Reno-Tahoe Oddessey Relay in a few hours. It'll be a weekend sans kids...first time ever for me!

I'm taking the Vibrams with me and will run at least one leg in them. Maybe all of them since it seems that everytime I wear shoes now I get aches and pains.

I did my track workout in my asics landreths. I felt horrible in them. I wanted to take off my shoes and run barefoot but I couldn't because there were a bunch of bees on the track. I didn't think that risking a bee sting before the Oddessey would be so very cool. So I left on the shoes and felt like I was running on vibrating marshmallows. It sucked.

On Wednesday I did a 4.5 mile recovery run in Vibrams. Felt great. It sorted out the pereoneal tendon irritation and lower back soreness that I got from the Landreths.

I'll post pictures of the race and my runs in the Vibrams for y'all.

Today I did 6 miles in my VFF's, half on a rugged trail near my house. I ran this route 3 minutes faster than I did last time in my shoes.

I feel great right now! No real soreness in my calves. My legs definitely feel like they've had a workout, but in that nice kind of way. Running barefoot actually feels like it's releasing the tension I've felt lately in my lower back and hamstring. I actually feel "loose" there.

So what do I do with my shoes now???

Yep, there they are. My Vibram Five-Fingers KSOs.

I ran 4.5 miles in them on their maiden voyage. I had my running shoes and socks stowed in the baby jogger just incase things got painful. But they never did. This was a short recovery run.

I didn't even get the famous sore calves of the new barefoot runner. Maybe because I have been easing into this.

This run gave me a new spring in my step. I could really tell that my right foot hasn't been carrying the same load as my left. (I broke my right leg a few years ago and I know that I favor it unconsiously.) BF running "wakes-up" my right foot and balances out my body. I actually felt less achy after my BF run than after my shod run this morning. I guess I'll have to switch over to the VFFs more!

This morning was cool and sunny, perfect running weather at 6am. I went out for a little 5 miler. In the middle of my run I slipped off my running shoes and socks and did about 1 mile barefoot. It didn't feel all that odd to me because I walk around barefoot most of the day anyway. I've also been running as if I were barefoot for a while now, thinking about skimming the ground and running lightly.

I loved the sensation of the ground on my feet, and I did notice that I did have to adjust a bit more to reduce impact. I noticed that I use more of my leg and feel the springy cushioning in my muscles that I have to employ while running barefoot all the way up my body. But not in a bad way. I don't feel any jarring, I just feel that my entire body is controlling the landing and absorbing of impact in the proper manner. I could've run further but I felt that the bottoms of my feet were getting roughed up a bit; they aren't tough enough yet. I don't want to get big 'ole blisters on the bottoms of my feet right before the Reno-Tahoe Odessey. I didn't get sore calves either, maybe because I've been running softly already.

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I'm almost done with Born to Run. I'll be sad when it's finished! It's an excellent read for all you runners out there, I highly recommend it. I love that the book starts out with the question - "Why does my foot hurt?" I think that it's symbolic of a bigger question - "Why does my life hurt?" Because in getting rid of the shoes that are hindering us we have to ask what are the other modern things that are hindering us? Too much car driving? Excess "stuff" in our lives? It's freeing to find out that we are just fine, even better, without a lot of this stuff that we thought we couldn't live without.

The day before yesterday I walked around barefoot at my daughter's school during lunch hour when I pick her up from Kindergarten. The other parents didn't seem to notice but one little girl was nearly apopleptic over it.

"But where are your shoes? Why aren't you wearing shoes?" She kept asking me the same things over and over. I kept telling her it was because I didn't feel like it. And if it would help at all my flip flops were over there by the tree. I can only imagine what barefoot running is going to to do to the populace around here when they see me doing it.

And heck, this is California BTW. I'm certainly not the strangest thing out there. Is lack of footware really that subversive?

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In other news I ran in my Nike Frees to the track and at the track last night. I figured that was fairly close to barefoot. (I'm easing my way into it around here) The workout was a lovely pyramid of 400, 800, 1200, 800, 400 meters. I concentrated on good barefoot style form. Surprisingly my times were about 6 seconds per lap faster than I anticipated them being. I was pretty stoked. And there was no hint of hamstring issues or piriformis problems. Maybe my postural and barefoot work is starting to pay off.

I was hoping for an epic trail run on Mother's Day. But the virus was still lingering in the background. Less than a mile in I knew that it wasn't going to be my day for 15+ miles flying through the woods. But sometimes epic comes in small, almost imperceptible doses. I've learned that every day on the trail is soothing to the soul and if you learn how to listen, it teaches you many lessons.

So I took it in stride.

I had considered running in my Teva sandals instead of my usual trail runners. My feet felt hot and sweaty and I want to start transition to barefoot running. But I chickened out because I thought that I'd go long. I have run trails in sport sandals before, a long time ago when I forgot my running shoes and I was running with my dog and a few others that I was doggy sitting. This was long before the present barefootin' movement, so I thought that I couldn't continue doing that for all the usual lame reasons.

Anyway, back to this Sunday. I was kind of bummed out that I didn't just use my Tevas now that I could tell I was going to have to cut this run down to about 7-8 miles. But I just went ahead and ran with "barefoot" technique. I concentrated on erect posture (without sucking in the stomach and tucking the tailbone - just thinking of pulling up on the crown of the head) and landing lightly on the mid/ball of the foot, not crashing on the heels. I concentrated on being relaxed. Fairly quickly I was getting in the "zone" - just gliding along through the woods softly. This was pretty good considering that the rest of me felt a little feverish and sniffly. I considered going to the top and back down, which would make a comfortable 11 miles.

But then there was a gurgling in the gut. The other side of viruses....gastro problems. The length of my run was now beyond my control. I'd have to turn back down when I hit the Dean Trail crossing. I couldn't risk an "accident" on Mother's Day when there were more hikers than usual out. Getting caught by a hiking family while taking care of business would not be my idea of a good day.

So I concentrated on keeping my nice gliding form and being relaxed while holding in my "problem". I won't lie, I had to stop and walk a few times to keep it all together. But I did make it back to the trailhead bathroom without incident. (Whew!) It ended up being somewhere between 7-8 miles in about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Not bad considering the terrain and the inner conditions!

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A word on form - I've been reading the McCall Body Balance Method. It's about how we are moving our bodies and holding our postures in unnatural manners that are causing lots of problems. I got this book because I suspected that I was out of whack. In the few days that I've been practicing the methods my piriformis problem has dissappeared. It's going to take a while for me to change the way I've been moving and holding my posture but I'm hoping that it becomes second nature (again) soon.

No cool trail posts from this weekend, and no post on the latest track workout.

Casa de Coyote is innundated with the Spring Sniffles.

The Older Pup and Mama Coyote has the cold, the Younger One and Dada do not.

Mama coyote is taking it in stride. I'm looking at this as a good opportunity to get rid of my tight piriformis situation. I'm also waiting for a book that I ordered on Amazon...I wish it would get here already, before I'm better so that I can get some good readin' in.

I found out about this book on Barefoot Ted's site. It looks like a fascinating read on the Tarahumara and natural running...how we can run without all of those fancy shoes and how we'd probably be better off for it. It's something that I've always thought about. It just doesn't make sense that after millions of years of evolution somehow this animal that has traveled to the far corners of the globe on foot now needs squishy constrictive shoes to run.

Part of the problem now is that we need to ween ourselves of these shoes if we wish to run barefoot. Throughout our lives we've been wearing them and they've changed our stride and coddled our feet into mush. I've done a little bit of barefoot running. You can really tell after a few strides that your shoes have changed the way you would normally run. It makes me wonder if my piriformis and hamstring situation has anything to do with that changed stride and if I'd go barefoot would it fix it? Dunno, but either way it's probably a good idea to put at least a little bit of barefootin' into the training regimen.

The Wonders of Sports Massage!

I finally found a new masseuse! It's Jason at Hands-On Wellness. If you are in the area and are in need of some de-knotting - I highly recommend them! Jason knows athletes and what you need. My lower back and hamstring are finally free of knots and tension for the first time in months. I wish I'd gone much sooner. I'm now going to go monthly for tune-ups, the expense is worth it to stay healthy and running.

My Saturday massage allowed me to have a good run at Wunderlich. Aerobically I didn't feel up to snuff, but my muscles and legs felt good. There's much work to be done, but the journey is part of the fun, right?

Sunday Trail Bliss

I rolled up to Zweirlein trail head in Huddart Park a little later than I wanted too, but it didn't matter because I had all the time in the world to get in a good trail run. My water pack was topped off with PowerAide, and I was ready to go. The weather, well it was finally perfect - no horrendous winds or unseasonably cold weather. I should just give up and move to Arizona already.

I was kind of surprised that there weren't that many cars in the parking lot, being that it was Sunday and one of the nicest days we've had in months.

The trail quickly dips off into the redwood forest. And the trail is beautiful, soft and loamy from decomposing redwood needles. A few squirrels chattered at me as I ran by. A fairly large lizard sunned himself on a rock and did his little up and down display dance.

It takes me a long while to get warmed up. So I did a little bit of walking running, which I'm not happy with myself for doing. It seems whimpy and lazy to me in hindsight. I need to bump it up hard again.

I passed by a few small groups of hikers heading back to the parking lot. And only one runner, surprisingly. The Zweirlein trailhead opens up to the Crystal Springs Trail, a long trail that connects through several open space areas. I was taking CPT to the top of the ridgeline. Down in the lower regions it switchbacks through lovely, dense redwood forests and then gradually transitions to an oak forest. The oak forest is thicker in undergrowth and at times a little creepier as larger critters can easily hide out there. It didn't feel creepy in the slightest today though.

I wound past the Toyon camp ground area and came to a great natural rock bench. Sitting on the cool rock feels great on the hamstrings!

It seems that the CST was resurfaced in parts since I was there last. It had pressed gravel in some sections that are pretty remote, kinda surprising. I suppose they did this for the equestrians, since the horses tear up the trail in the wet weather.

After winding up through the oak and chapparal for a while the CST plunges back into redwood forest again. This is when I know that I'ms nearing the top because at about this time I'm trying to remember where the heck the top is. It's a constant climb up with almost no break. And you think that you've hit the top when you make the connection with the Skyline Ridge Trail, but nope, it's the insult to injury part. There's a 0.7 mile section to the very top from here that has several bumps that are super steep, pretty much too steep to run at any real speed but I'm sure that some of the speedy local trail racers just fly up them. At times I have to kind of march them sideways, foot over foot.

When you crest that last hill and reach the very top you're still shrouded in beautiful redwoods as you are for most of this run. I stopped here to snap a few pictures and have a Gu. Then I kept running on the Skyline Ridge trail until I hit the Chincaupin trail. I love this trail. It's like a rollercoaster going back down again. Chincaupin rolls down through the redwoods and sometimes clings to some very steep cliffs, getting narrow to a point just before being nervewracking.

The further I descended, the warmer it felt. Quite by accident I happened upon a great way to keep cool. When filling up my backpack bladder I must have accidently sprayed some water inside my backpack. It started to slowly leak out during my run and onto my back....refreshing! At first I was afraid that my bladder had a leak in it (okay, not THAT bladder) but the leak didn't taste or look like PowerAide. I think maybe next time I'll stick some ice into my backpack and see how that works.

As I neared the trailhead I could smell barbecues cooking. And when I came out into the parking/camp area it was packed with people who weren't there only an hour and a half before. I guess folks were getting a late start on their Sunday fun. When I drove out of Huddart there was a steady line of cars coming in.

So for Sunday, it was about 11 miles in the coastal mountains.

Monday = day off

Tuesday = 3.5 miles easy, feeling a little sore.

Wednesday - 5 miles with the babyjogger.

Wind Aided (Addled) Workout or
Running Against the Wind and Myself



So I did my speed (not) workout in the hurricane force winds that we had last night. It was both better and worse than expected. I dressed like a ninja in all black for the occasion (because all of my white and colored shirts are in the wash basket getting moldy).

It was better than expected because it wasn't as frickin' cold as I thought it was going to be. I managed to layer enough to keep those wet cold ocean winds outta my clothes and off my skin.

It was worse because on the backside of the track the wind was so strong that it blew me into the other lanes and almost brought me to a complete stand-still several times. Running for time was not really an option. I can blame it entirely on the wind but hell, I've lost fitness these past two weeks AGAIN, (two steps forward one step back) so I can't blame it on the weather, even if I want to.

I did two mediocre 800s and was depressed about them. It was all I could do to keep times under 8 minute miles. So I switched it up to 400s, looking for some leg speed. That was a bit better. It's cheating though. But heck, at least I did something and maybe this half a$$ed speed workout helped pushed my fitness a tiny bit forward.

I could blame the hurricane force winds for my crappy speed training times last night but that wouldn't be the full, true story. Truth is, I haven't been as dedicated as I need to be and the irony is that as my times get worse, the harder it is for me to face the track. Does anyone else do this? I'm a little worried about speed work due to the hamstring issue that I recenly had...but I need to get over it. So in interest of keeping me on the straight and narrow I'll post details of my workouts here to keep track of them.

I've been getting rid of the things in my life that get in the way of my improvement. That little drink in the evenings to relax...gone and not missed. Trying to get to bed early? Done (when sick little ones don't interfere). Lightening up my eating habits to loose weight...done (still waiting for results though).

I'm going to add a little improvements gadgets at the side of my blog to keep track of all of this stuff and to keep me honest.

Duty Calls

This is day two of the 3-year-old's flu. I probably don't need to say anymore about that for you to have a full image in your mind of what is going on here. Mountains of barfy laundry. A whimpering, impish patient. And not much time for anything else. Luckily we did get a pretty good night's sleep. And the barf frequency has greatly dropped from about once every 1/2 hour to only once so far this morning. I'm tentatively crossing fingers that we are on the upswing and NOT headed for the doctor's office.

Today is Track Tuesday. We have 800's scheduled. There are horrendous winds outside today. Ugh. We may have up to 50 mph gusts by track time. WTF? Not only do I have to suffer through 800's but in my "favorite" weather condition, cold wind. The upside is that this is supposed to go away after tomorrow and we'll have HOT weather up through the weekend at least. Finally! I've been finding too many excuses to hide out inside.

And there is sad news in blogland - Marcy has announced her retirement from blogging....say it isn't so!

The Sunday After

I was feeling a bit outta sorts yesterday morning. Achy and a little sniffly. I just chalked it up to allergies. So I went for a run to shake it out. Same route as the morning before. I was a little slower and I didn't have any snap in my legs. But my head cleared up a little during the run so I hoped that I had either alleviated my allergies a bit or burned an impending cold out of my body.

Soon after coming back home I was feeling achier and stuffier. And it just got worse. I had a fever. So I headed off to bed.

But at least I got my run in for the day. Funny how runners think that way. I'd earned my rest because I had gotten my run in and was that much closer to getting faster, leaner and stronger. Even if I'd sent myself back to the sheets.

I was worried about loosing training time and being sick for days with another stupid cold. So I bundled up and started to pound down the fluids. I've found that for me at least drinking amazing amounts of fluid coupled with sleeping really turns things around.

On Easter morning I woke up with a suprisingly clear head. A very good sign since I get really crappy congested colds. My voice was a bit horse but as the morning is wearing on it's clearing up nicely.

I'm even considering a morning run tomorrow if I continue to improve at this pace. It will definitely be a shorter "clean out" run, but I think that this time it really will do the trick. :)

Full Moon Morning

I woke up at about 4:30 this morning with a cat on my head. As much as I try to hide it, she instantly knows when I wake up and starts purring with the utmost pleasure. She then commenced kneeding my head and pillow with her paws and grooming my cheek with a rough tongue. It's all about love, so I just endured it until she decided to visit her bowl of kibbles.

Four-thirty seemed to early to get up so I hung in there for an hour, trying to catch a few z's but none were had. That was okay, I was totally awake. I got up and fumbled through my armoire for some running shorts, a long sleeved tee, bra, socks and my shoes. The older girl shuffled into our room and took my spot in bed, cuddled up next to her dada.

It was still dark when I stepped out onto the front porch at about 5:50 am. I was greeted by an indigo sky, calm, still air and an enormous moon that appeared to be nesting on a cushion of clouds.

A perfect beginning to the day.

I love running into the morning. It's great to start in the dark and come home in the light. I love the peacefulness, lack of cars and rushing people. I run faster and further in the mornings for some reason.

About five minutes out I noticed that the birds started singing. A chorus of finches, California towhees and some unidentifiable bird that carried on a rolling conversation with itself. Other than the birds all was still. I did not encounter another runner the entire run, which I found to be quite surprising. I only passed by one cyclist with a cyclops eye of a headlamp coming towards me in the half dark.

I returned home before 7 am refreshed and already well started into my day. One of the best things about a morning run is that you start out your day with an accomplishment. It's not so much getting that run out of the way, because, hopefully you enjoy it, it's making sure that you get that run in before the other parts of life get in the way.

Beautiful Weekend, Virtually No Running Though....

Well, sometimes it just happens that way when you have friends and relatives out to visit. And that's okay, I'll roll with it.

We celebrated an Auntie's birthday with a surprise party. The MIL came out to stay with us and we all had a blast. Today, the last day of the adventure we went on a great trail hike at the Edgewood Preserve.

Unfortunately the Hubby was laid out with a bad cold, that I'm hoping to avoid. So he missed the hike.

We saw a big rattlesnake on the trail. I trail volunteer warned us about it before we came up to it. So I walked up to it for a closer look. I thought I had the zoom on, but I guess not...I'll clean up the shot for a better look. She was a little perturbed about the trail clean-up guy...but ya know, it's her home.