How long does it take to change to minimalist running?

After about a year, I can finally, easily run ten miles of trails in these:

Vibram FiveFingers Spyridon LS

More importantly, the following day I'm able to run again, so I'm able to recover fairly quickly too with the help of some compression socks and a bit of massage.

The transition to minimalist or barefoot running takes time, a long time. I've been at it for a year, and even now I still us cushioned shoes in amongst my minimalist shoes, to mix it up a bit, and to be able to continue running without the hard workout that minimalist shoes give.

That hard workout has also meant that I've needed more rest, something that I'm finally embracing. Only in the last few months have I been happy to not run, even when I'm desperate to, the rest really is worth it. Hitting the trails fresh after an extra day off feels so much better than hitting the trails tired and hurting; something that I've done for years.

Interestingly, when I slip my XT Wings back on for a run, they really do feel odd, with their "massive" cushioned heels. But it's easier to run farther in them, the cushioning really does help with that... maybe I'll try some cushioned zero drop shoes in the future.

But I'm very much "into" the raw connection that minimalist shoes give, once you're used to it, and can get the miles in that keep you content, I see no reason to run in anything else.

Come and have a go if you think you're fast enough!

This is a great feature that Strava provides. They call it a segment, and essentially it's a route (or segment of a route) that you can pull out of one of your training logs. Not only can you see your performance on subsequent uses of the route, but others can find the segment and give it a blast too.

Actually, Strava is smart enough to do this automatically, so it's quite possible to be seen on the leaderboard with out actually trying.

Of course, you can make the segment private too if you don't want other people competing with you.

What to do when your training plan starts in 11 weeks?

I'm planning for a big run in August this year. The Trail Running Association organises The Ridgeway Challenge, 85 miles of The Ridgeway National Trail: "through ancient landscapes.  Over rolling, open downland to the west of the River Thames, and through secluded valleys and woods in The Chilterns to the east, following the same route used since prehistoric times by travellers, herdsmen and soldiers."

The 24 week training plan I'm going to use starts in the middle of March. That's 11 weeks away. So what do I do in the meantime?

As I see it, there are two options. Start the training plan now, but take a couple of weeks off before starting the plan properly in March. Or just do some lengthy base building.

I'm leaning towards the base building, getting used to running with some weight in a backpack, strength work, long hills, trying some different fuel options.

So, into the 24 week plan early, or base building. What would you do?

Women need to show that they are worth watching

I just saw this short clip on Vimeo:


Finding Traction Trailer from Partnership Productions on Vimeo.

It's awesome, seriously, the running, the passion, the mentality.. "a 5 minute nap". Hard. As. Nails.

But, one of Nikki's comments is "Women need to take our place in professional sports, and we need to show that we are worth watching". They're not worth watching? When the UTMB is on, I follow one person, Lizzie Hawker.

Whilst we've all heard that men are stronger than women, most of us know that when runners go long it's about inner strength, and women have just as much of that as men.

Moving past the honeymoon

It's been a while since the revelation of minimalist running...

Everything you read about it suggests that you're likely to over do it and end up injured, and so from day one I took it easy. My mileage went from around 40 a week to 10, and that was REALLY hard to do. I don't run for competition, so the drop in mileage didn't compromise any race plans. I run for the pleasure, both physical and mental and losing that daily time out on the trail was hard. Although the different feeling of running the trails with a minimal shoe made it difficult to stop. Even now the feeling makes me grin.

I slowly built up my mileage back to 40 odd miles a week, and I think my longest run was about 15 miles. But it was ridiculously hard on my lower legs. I can chuckle now at my stupidity, at my inability to walk first thing in the morning and pain for most of the day. Of course it was only muscular pain so my legs would get used to it eventually; right? Wrong!

At the 500 mile point I simply had to take a month off because mileage was decreasing and the soreness wasn't going, oh and tendinitis was beginning to show itself again.

But now I'm back into it. Rather than repeating the last 500 miles as I'm prone to doing (run, injure, rest, run, injure, rest etc) I've bought my XT Wings back into the mix, and ensuring that I don't run with the same shoe 2 runs in a row (Vivo's, XT Wings, VFFs) seems to be really helping. Oh and resting. I'm no longer punishing myself if I don't run for a couple of days.

But I can't help myself if the weather is dire. You simply can't beat getting out in the cold wind and rain. The harder the better and all that.

Vivobarefoot's sustainable product guarantee.

I was really dubious about this, as it seems to be a great policy but could ultimately cause the death of a company if things go slightly wrong.

Well, after an email or two, the company said they'd exchange my shoes. So I jumped on the train and took them back to the Covent Garden store. They knew I was coming and after explaining the problem, I left with a replacement pair without any fuss. Impressed.

Of course, I had a good look at all of their other shoes whilst I was there. Niiiiice.

250 miles later...

Since I bought the Breatho Trail shoes back in February, apart from one run, they're the only shoes I've been on the trail in. I've done some VFF work and a little barefoot but the Vivobarefoot shoes have been the shoe of choice.

All of my running routes from home take in about 1 mile of "unsurfaced road" which is essentially compacted pebbles/stones which have been rollered into the ground. About 2 weeks ago I took a decent impact on the ball of my left foot, probably somewhere between the second and third metatarsal, but I've continued to run... down that same track which hasn't allowed the bruise to heal. But why now? I've been running that track for almost 3 months.

 I've been pondering how long it will take for the sole on a minimalist shoe to compress, and whether it will matter in the same way that concern is shown with traditional running shoes. Well the insole has compressed a little, but I can't really determine if the sole has compressed, but what has happened is shown below:

The lugs have worn down really badly. In the 250 miles I've done in these shoes maybe 20 have been on the road, the rest has been on trails.

Whilst the wear pattern implies that I'm landing on the outside of my foot I wouldn't expect (and have never experienced) such wear after so few miles. I know that this is a new shoe from Vivobarefoot, maybe the sole is too soft, we'll see what they have to say.