Another update - Minimalist continues

I  saw this add for Altra shoes and really thought it captured why I run.

With regard to my running, over the last few weeks I have tried to wear my more traditional shoes thinking that I would need the extra support and cushion at Murphy and my achilles has really gotten sore, I noticed that it never seemed to bother me when I was wearing my minimalist shoes. I thought it might be my increasing mileage but last weekend I was in pain 4 miles in, this week I wore my minimalist shoes and didn't have any noteworthy pain. This weekend I decided to reassess my thinking on this.

You see deep down, I  wasn't 100% committed to minimalist shoes. Sure I had been wearing them almost exclusively since April but I hadn't mentally said I would never go back to traditional shoes. I started wearing them to strengthen my ankle and that has worked but to commit that I was ready to give up on support and cushioning, well I wasn't sure. The last few weekends though have changed that, I tried to run in my older conventional shoes (9 to 12 mil drop, support and cushioning) and it hasn't worked all of my long runs were basically a disaster.

On Saturday, I ran 3 miles in my New Balance MT10's on an asphalt bike path and then 3 more miles in Lebanon Hills. For the 3 miles on asphalt, I had no issue whatsoever and again confirmed that is easier to run in minimalist shoes on pavement versus trails. Smooth and hard surfaces give instant feedback. On Sunday I decided to get a long run in Lebanon Hills. I wanted to get in 18 to 19 miles and I got in just short of 18 so I was pleased, I ran out of time not energy. For my run on Sunday, I tried to hit every single hiking trail in the center section of the park, I missed two small sections and really enjoyed running on the trails with no purpose but to hit every trail. The weather was cool but very good for running, I had some achilles pain but it was manageable. Before the run, I decided to re-commit to my minimalist shoes so I wore my New Balance MT110's. They aren't a pure minimalist shoe but are in that class of shoe more than anything else, they are a 4 mil drop, lightweight shoe (7.7 oz) and fit similar to the MT10's but they have a thin rock plate in the forefoot which gives a little more margin, here is a review of the shoes that I pretty much agree with from Jason of Barefoot Running.

So with a couple of more weekends between now and Murphy, I will maintain my commitment to my minimalist shoes and see how it goes.

Minimalist Running update 3

Lots of things going on, my youngest graduated high school, we had her grad party, my wife and I celebrated our 33rd anniversary, we went on a family vacation to Voyageurs National Park where we rented a houseboat. We started at Crane Lake and went over to Lake Kabetogama and up to Kettle Falls and then back. We saw lots of great sights and had a great time. My kind of vacation. But with regard to running, I am still a work in progress as a minimalist runner.

It has been interesting to see the difference in my aches and pains, last month I ran the Afton 25k. I ran, walked and chatted with Wayne and Kel. Fun to catch up. I wore my New Balance Minimus Trails which are my favorite of my minimalist shoes and didn't have any issues, my feet were sore at the end but heck I went 15.5 miles off a long run of 8 miles so I should have been sore.

So 16+ weeks into a minimalist conversion I am holding up mostly ok. I have figured out that I really have to focus on my turnover as when I get tired out, I tend to slow it down which can lead to breakdown in my form. When the cadence is around 180 the form is good and the pace is ok, not fast but close to normal. One thing that has been problematic is that I have more issues running on trails than roads in my minimalist shoes. It is so much easier to maintain form on roads over trails. The lack of cushioning or midsole thickness in my VFF's or Trail Gloves makes every sharp rock or root something to avoid. My Minimus Trails have a wee bit more thickness and are easier to run the trails in.

One other thing I had to deal with were the problems caused by playing softball, I had ankle pain when I tried to run the bases and was limping on it most of the season. Every time I tried to run the pain would hit by the third step and I would try have to throttle it back. I of course blamed my cleats versus my previous injury. I finally decided to simply run hard through the pain to see if it would loosen things up (my thinking was that it would be like breaking up my scar tissue). It did change things a bit as it has left me with a continually sore ankle. Last Sunday, I ran, make that hobbled through 11 miles down in the river bottoms. So what am I going to do, that's easy, I will try to get into 50k shape and if I can't, then this winter I know what I will have to do.

Minimalist Running - update 2

It's been 7 weeks since I started my total conversion to minimalist running and all is going well. My mileage is down by design to make sure that I don't overdue it and I am focusing on a fast turnover and form so I figured I should get my thoughts out to what I have learned. I am now almost an expert in mimalist shoes and have seen improvements in ankle and arch strength. I am pretty happy with the results and am about ready to start ramping up the mileage.

I now have 3 pair of what I call total minimalist shoes in my rotation as I purchased a pair of Merrell Trail Gloves from Sierra Trading for $55. Each of my minimalist shoes are different and give me a unique experience. My VFF's provide the best feel of the ground, with no extra cushioning. My Minimus Trails provide very good feel, more cushion (still not much) and a 4 mil drop. My Trail Gloves are right between, they have some cushion, a 0 mil drop and are just a little big which is what I was expecting. You see, I used the ShoeFiter app that they use at Running Warehouse to figure out my size. You can see below the estimate of how the Trail Gloves would fit in contrast against my Inov-8 295's and my Peregrines. Interesting tool (I should add it's accurate in this case), I especially like that it shows how tight or loose the shoe will fit from the heel to the toe.

Another pair of shoes still in my rotation are my Saucony Peregrines although I don't consider them a complete minimalist shoes but they were part of my transition (4 mil drop) that I started last year and I now view them as my super cushioned, supportive long distance training shoe.

One interesting thing to note with my conversion, when I first started the process I had consistent pain, no make that soreness in my right ankle (yes the Chippewa ankle) which I thought was actually good, funny thing though, that pain went away within the first few weeks but my left arch started feeling funny. Funny in a kind of good way, like I was working the muscles and tendons in the foot for the first time in years. I tore a tendon in my left foot in the fall of 99 which caused me to drop out of TCM and it shut down my running for 4 weeks, so I am thinking that my move to minimalist is actually helping strengthen a long time issue. I think that's kind of cool.

Minimalist Running Experiment Continues

Well it's been 3 1/2 weeks since Chippewa where I made the decision to run only in minimalist shoes and thus far all is going well. It's forcing my right ankle to work a bit which I think is good and I love the feeling of running in my Minimus's as well as my VFF's. I have been running pretty much in just these shoes but I have done a couple of runs in my Peregrines which now are starting to feel way too cushioned and supportive.

My longest run in my VFF's was on Sunday, I went 6 miles and felt great with no issues the next day, I did walk for a minute or so every mile and I even resisted going a few more miles which I really wanted to do. So what's the plan? Real simple, to continue to add in more and more minimalist runs, focusing on turnover and slowly pushing the speed. When I get the turnover right I am moving fairly quickly with a nice short mid-footed (basically a flat footed) step. I am avoiding over-striding to run faster instead just working on my foot turnover cadence.

One idea with minimalist running that finally just registered in my brain is that I will be buying fewer shoes. Since none of my minimalist shoes have any cushion to speak of I will wear them until they fall apart. My guess is 600 to 800 miles or more.

Part of my thinking in doing this was what I picked up on a running podcast called TrailRunner Nation. They had a guest on that I have really enjoyed, his name is the Sock Doc and he has been interviewed twice. I agree with his philosophy on not wearing orthotics and on not stretching. His premise is that if you need an orthotic you are masking a problem. With regard to stretching, he says if you need to, you have other problems going on, my kind of advice, of course if you read the article I should note that I have yet to follow his advice but I still agree with his thinking. So check out the Sock Doc's website and definitely take a look at his "Training Principles" posts, well worth a read. If you want an easy way to get his insight, take a look at the notes from the podcasts and more importantly, take a listen:

(Shoes - Orthotics)/Stretching Podcast
The Sock Doc - Aerobic vs Anaerobic Training

Running update

I went for a short run in my VFF's on Thursday, it was only a mile and the ankle wasn't right which means my decision to drop at Chippewa was correct and it confirmed my decision to go minimalist. I found that being close to the ground allowed me to be more aware of each step and it seemed like I was running with less pain. When I was ramping up my mileage for Chippewa I didn't run in my minimalist shoes very often as I thought they might cause me more issues with my ankle and calf. I now think that I was simply not wanting to face the reality that I was having issues as I wanted to be an ultra runner again. During the last two years I have been humbled by my DNF's, before the injuries I felt that I could will myself to finish almost anything, now I am not sure I will ever finish an ultra again. I do know that I need to be able to run with less pain on each step to give myself a good shot at success.

So, Friday I took the plunge and picked up a new pair of minimalist shoes from Run N Fun (Burnsville). I bought the New Balance Minimus Trail MT10 (see the specs below as copied from the Running Warehouse)

Weight: 7.1 oz (size 9)

Stack Height: Heel (15mm), Forefoot (11mm); non-removable insole

How It Fits (based on width D) Width D=Medium

• Sizing: Standard running shoe length
• Heel: Medium to narrow
• Midfoot: Low to medium volume
• Forefoot: Medium
• Toe-Box height: Low
• Arch Structure: Medium height

I went for a 3 mile run in them yesterday and what can I say other than I love them. They are so comfortable that I would like to wear them all the time, interesting that less cushion and support felt better. My ankle seemed fine during the run and I was happy to confirm that the MT20's have more protection than my VFF's as I was purposely stepping on rocks and roots and didn't feel any sharp edges but I could still feel them so the ankle didn't even think about rolling. I wanted to go longer than 3 miles but chose to keep the distance short until I am pain free as even though I have done some minimalist running, I know that my full immersion will stress other parts of my body so I plan to try to go shorter but faster after a few weeks of building a minimalist base. So for the next few weeks, I will be running only in my MT20's, my VFF's and my Saucony Peregrines. I am back doing the ankle strengthening workouts that I was given last year plus a few more that I found on-line and plan to continue to do them this year. When I am pain free and can run 20 miles in any of these shoes then I will be ready to race an ultra again.

Chippewa DNF - plan b

Sometimes we make choices to do things we want to do even though there may be a risk or even if we may know that it's the wrong choice. Today my choices caught up to me. I went into Chippewa probably undertrained physically. I thought it was my base training that was my problem, my long runs or lack of enough of them but it was my ankle that revealed itself as still being a problem today. If I had been honest with myself I would have admitted it but I can be stubborn.

Now my ankle is strong enough to run 5, 10 and maybe 15 miles. I was feeling great today through most of the first half and had a 50k PR in my sights when it all kind of unraveled. I am not exactly sure when it off track but here is what I know, when I left the 2nd self serve aid station I stepped into a hole and hyper-extended my left leg. It hurt but I was more embarrassed than anything, as I started to run again I had knee pain but it seemed to go away. That said, after that, my right ankle went from occasional pain twinges as it dealt with uneven surface changes to more of a throbbing and my achilles was hurting as well. No big deal I thought and I continued to the turn around point.

I got in in around 3:35 which was right where I wanted to be. I talked to my wife and said all was going well and that I would see her at the next aid station. Looking back I think I may have been talking to myself as much as to her. As after I left the aid station I started getting nauseous, so I took a S-cap, I slowed down a bit but kept moving, the nausea continued so I retraced my eating and drinking and decided that I might have not eaten enough nor drank enough or was it just an electrolyte issue. I hate nausea, I hate it. I kept going and it seemed that the S-cap helped. So I kept going along but slower, after 45 minutes, I took another S-cap and sure enough as I started feeling better my ankle/achilles changed to more of right foot numbness reinforced with pain on each step.

So on I went, I was still doing math in my head and I thought I could get in easily with a PR and if I could loosen things up a really good one for me. That's an advantage of being slow and having not running too many 50k's, a PR is setting there waiting on me to just have a good day. I really wanted the PR, I really wanted to finish but the right foot issue was causing pain in the left foot and leg, so I had to make a race decision. Do I continue and probably get a PR but risk ending my running season in April or stop and drop from the race. I debated for a while and finally decided that I should drop. I lost 2011 to a decision to continue to run in 2010, repeating that again just wouldn't be wise.

So what does this mean?

My analysis during the run led me to conclude that is I was trying to do two things at once that weren't complementary. I was trying to ramp up my base mileage to do long distance events and strengthen my ankle to be able to bear the stress. If I was honest during my training the ankle had been bothersome, I got around it by avoiding uneven surfaces later into my runs. Add in reduced training time with the internal job change and the robotics mentoring and my effort today reflects all the things I did and didn't do.


Time to move to
  which is.......


I am probably going to abandon the Superior 50 for this year and instead will focus on strengthening the ankle by doing more minimalist running. My other choice would be to go for stability shoes and lock down the foot but I think that will ultimately make it weaker.

I will pick up some minimalist shoes to complement my VFF's and once I am walking pain free I will start to focus on speed and strength training for my ankle. I am thinking that 4 to 12 weeks may make a huge difference and after that I will for shoot for Moose Mountain with and an outside chance os still doing the Afton 50k, if either of those work out, then Wild Duluth and/or Surf the Murph 50k's maybe followed by Tecumseh Trail marathon down in Indiana.

The key for this year now is to get the ankle working well enough to handle longer distance running.

VFF run #2

After my long run yesterday I decided to get in a short run tonight. It was run #2 in my Vibram Five Fingers Treksports and it went just fine, actually better than fine.

My initial run in my VFF's was over 10 days ago and for that run, I went 1 mile and thought I might have gone a little far but I got away with it as I had no ramifications afterward. For tonight, I again just went a mile but I felt like I should have kept going. I felt really good considering everything which led me to wonder, can running in my VFF's be considered cross training?

Normally as I ramp up my mileage the day after a long run I have soreness especially if I try to run through it. So I decided to run in my VFF's and see how they felt, the answer was no soreness after the first steps, no strains, granted it was just 12 minutes of running but I like the early signs. I have read a bit about transitioning to barefoot running and I am still reading about it so I am not really too sure how I should use them or how fast I should add mileage. My plans are to use my VFF to help strengthen my feet and ankles and build slowly up (over then next few months) to 3 mile runs but even then the majority of my runs I plan on wearing trail shoes. I do hope to transition to lighter weight versions with the lower heel drops but I like the protection they offer. I may build up strength and confidence over time but for now I am taking it slow. I have my 50k in 4 weeks and need to ramp the mileage up for that, after that my plan is to use them more often during the fall, winter and into next year.

Here is a youtube video on the Treksports (except mine are black).

Minimalist Running Update

As I continue my path to adding miles with a more minimalist shoe, I have of course been doing a bit of research to find out what is out there on the subject.

First though, for me, I am easing into minimalist running with a once a week run of 3 miles (or at least every 10 days for sure) in my Saucony Peregrines. I have noticed no issues but with my calf still hurting it's hard to tell for sure but it seems that when on trails I land pretty much mid or flat footed since I have yet to notice my heel hitting. I am hopeful that soon the calf issue will be behind me and I can get a better test of the shoes. One thing that I should mention is that the calf doesn't bug me anymore with the minimalist shoes, not sure what if anything that means. For those not familiar with the Peregrines they are a like a beginners guide to minimalist running so they aren't that extreme.

If you are looking for information on minimalist running here are couple of links I came across. The first link is to website called "The Minimalist Runner", lots of good info, mostly shoe reviews with a handful of other articles. I also found this website called ZeroDrop, it's fairly good as well. If you want shoe info check out this link on "Minimalist and Barefoot shoe guide" or this link from the minimalist runner, "Shoe Matrix and Shopping Guide".

Here is a link to really good review from The Minimalist Runner on the Saucony Peregrines or take a listen to the short video from an iRunFar review of the Saucony Peregrines

Along with a video on comparing minimalist shoes with "standard" shoes.

Minimalist Running begins

Stopped at TC Running on Thursday and checked out their trail shoes. Kurt D. assisted and I ended up getting a pair of Saucony ProGrid Peregrines. These are kind of an intro to minimalist running since they weigh around 9 oz although they do only have a 4 mm drop versus the normal 10 to 20 mm drop. They fit and feel like a slipper. I probably went farther than I should have yesterday but I didn't have any issues, actually I was surprised as the lower heel didn't seem to matter at all.

Here is what they looked like at the start of the run

Here they are after 5 miles