BFR #5, #6, and an injury 04, 05, & 06APR10.

Time to catch up on some of the bare foot running action, and a bit of inaction.

I took two days off after the last outing. When I got up on both Friday and Saturday I hobbled from bed, both soles of my feet were tender, and my calves were stiff and sore. Tough a 2.5 our run over difficult terrain and a 970 step climb and the rest of my body fealt great. No niggles in the knees, or aching quads. Despite the pain in other areas I was upbeat about how barefoot running is turning out. So two days of walking barefoot witht he dog, with activity the calves free up and feel a lot better.

BFR #5 04APR10

Calves felt OK today, a bit stiff when I first got up. It's a long weekend, I could not avid it so I went out for and easy trot along the route of my first run. It's a 30-40 minute loop, no idea of how long it is. My wife Jo-Anne drops me off a bit before the start of the loop, which gives me a bt of extra distance along the cliff top, which has some excelent views accross to Mount Solitary.

Mount Solitary

When I get to the loop I run it in the opposite direction, meet up with her, a quick kiss and I turn around and run in the same directioon as her and then wait at the finish.

I took the new Osprey Manta 20 Pack out for a trial run. Filling the bladder is easy with the integral handle, which with the hydraulics compression system seems to add a bit of weight, but dose make the bladder easy to handle and contribute to the stability of the pack. The pack itself comes in different lengths to account for different torso sizes. This means the shorter pack which I have has a slightly smaller bladder than the taller pack. This is a minor issue, as the bladder holds a little over 2.5 liters, and pack fit is far more important.

The pack sits comfortably with the majority of the load taken on the hips. The hip belt sytem is very comfortable despite its light weight. Pockets on the hip belt are reasonably sized, and will easily carry the food intake (as long as you use gels or bars, a banana would challenge it's capacity) you would need on a leg of 20 or so kilometers. The pack has a suspension system that holds the pack off your back via a stiff aluminium frame and tightly streached mess. This was a big attraction for me as I sweat often and early on any run. When the bladder is jammed to capacity the inner pad does contact my back, but this is not uncomfortable and as soon as a bit of water has been consumed and the bladder shrinks that contact disapears, throughout cooling of the back is good. This pack is extreamly comfortable due to its great design, there are ample adjustments without the several meters of trailing and flapping bits of tape associated with some packs.

The bite valve looks like it could be in a modern museum of art. It has a nifty securing system which consists of rare earth magnets so the tube does not flap around and is easily retrieve and replaced without fidgiting. To open the valve it is bent slightly and the bitet valve, well, bitten down on. When the bladdr is full, cool sweet water is deliverd by the compression system, no sucking needed. When the bladder nears empty a slight suck is needed, but a lot easier than a standard bladder.

Bite valve and postive pressure

I didn't carry mach in the pack today, but at a first look it appears as if the capacity and functionalit of the packes will be good, and should be stable with the compression straps. I will see how it goes on a later run.

The run itself? I felt good, no real discomfort in the calves, feet were fine, and I took it easy. Oh and another comment. I passed two very attractive blonde back packers going in the opposite direction, "Awww, you're awesome!"

OK, thats it, I'm hooked on barefoot running. Pretty girls never used to tell me I'm awesome when I wore running shoes.

BFR #6 05APR10

An easy flat run today. The trail runs don't allow me to get into a rythym, I have to contiuously ahve to adjust my stride length and foot placement. Today I wanted to get out and work on some of the things mentioned on website, blogs, and Chi running videos about running. I never though running would be so technical, but I guess I am un-learning a few years of bad running habits.

I planned to see what my cadence was. I set a one minute timer on my watch and counted the steps. First attempt was 142, Hmmm, a bit low. I then shortened my strid a little and concentrated on lifting my foot quickly. When I wasn;t thinking about moving forward it was 160, still short of the recommended 180. To increase cadence it is recommend to use a metronome. $10 on Ebay has one winging its wat to me now.

It seems the trail running had masked how bad my calves were. When I was on the flat with a steady cadence and constant foot strike they started to hurt and tighten up. I turned around early after about ten minutes and headed home.

BFR #7 06APR10

Back at work today, evey lunch time I try to exercise. I have to make sure I make the break from the office, I could spend every waking hour dealing with what need to be done, and it would all never get done, work life balance is important.

Despite the strick OHS policies of the military I decided I was going to risk the barefooting on base again. As described in te Chi running video and Jason Robillard's barefoot running book I did some relaxation exercises to get everything loose. Stepped out of the change room to set off. The first step a sharp pain speared though my right calf on the inside of my leg, What the!

I tried a tentative second step, no something had let go, I limped back to the change rooms.

Shit.