31 Foot Bruise Imposter (aka PF)

I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not a bruise…it’s Plantar Fasciitis. It confused me because it presented around my toes and not in the back of the arch/heel area. I started rolling it a few days ago and my fascia is super tight. Yesterday, I broke out my old Brooks Launch with Biofit insoles and ran 30 minutes on the treadmill with no pain. It was tight, but no pain. I rolled it afterward and it feels pretty good.

I’m back to walking around the house in Birkenstocks and rolling my foot with the fascia ball at my computer. I’ve run 3 times in 3 days with no pain. Today I ran 6 miles with no pain. Again, some tightness, but no pain. I’m back to my old set up for now (i.e., Brooks Launch with arch supports), as it’s the only set-up that does not aggravate the PF spot. Once I get this thing to chill out, I’ll start introducing minimalist stuff again. This set back definitely has me taking a more conservative approach to the whole minimalist transition. It was going so good, but this keeps it in perspective, I suppose. 38 years in shoes. Not gonna happen overnight.

This is a great reminder to anyone out there that is or wants to transition to less shoe. Make it a a nice conservative, slow transition f you want to continue to run a descent volume. I think two factors were my downfall:

1) Too much volume too quick. If I was willing to take 3 months to really back off my volume, I think I would have been fine, but I was back up to my normal volume in 6 weeks, all in light shoe with no arch support when my feet were used to the Brooks Launch with insoles.

2) I’d quit doing the little stuff. The stuff I was doing at the beginning of the transition—like rolling my arches and fascia and working on foot strengthening by picking up the ball and dropping with my toes—I’d neglected the past few weeks.

My usual OVER zealous approach. Too much too quick in the VFFs, too much volume. I’m just happy to be able to train again…the gym and the elliptical was driving me NUTS. Giddyup!

12 Elliptical Trainer Blues

Not sure what you guys do out there for low-impact cross training when letting something heal up, but I’d love to hear some ideas. The bruised foot is healing up, but oh man, 30 minutes on an elliptical trainer is about all I can take, then 20-30 minutes on the stationery bike and I’m out. I’d rather beat my head against a brick wall. Not sure how folks do cardio work in a gym on a regular basis. I’ve been to the gym the last 4 days in a row. I’m doing strength training every other day (core, push-ups, pull-ups, low reps, heavy weight lower body, rows, dead lifts and dips)…which I don’t mind. I used to be a gym rat with regard to lifting when I was in college and I can go for that, it’s just the cardio portion in the gym that drives me crazy. We have 2 inches of slushy snow on the roads right now, so cycling outside is out. I’m counting down the days to get back to running outside, even in the slush. 4 more days. I made a deal with myself go 8 days on elliptical trainer and stationery bike  and stay off the bruised foot before running on it again. It’s feeling better, but it’s still there a little. I’m hopeful it will be pretty good in another 4 days. Giddyup.

9 Overdoing it: Bruised foot

Well, I overdid it a bit last week and have to back off this week. Last Wednesday and Thursday I did back-to-back runs in the Vibram Five Fingers, with Thursday’s session being a rather quick 5-miler and at night. Then, Friday (about 9 hours after my Thursday night run in the VFFs) I went out and ran 17.5 miles in the Inov8 X-Talon 212s with 5,000 feet of climbing on rocky, technical terrain. I had a little bit of a tender spot where my 2nd toe connects at the ball of my left foot at the tend of my VFF run on Thursday and I think Friday’s burly run was the last straw, as it got tender at about mile 10 on the 1,500 foot rocky descent of Gray Butte. It was okay on Friday’s run, but I woke up Saturday with it pretty darn sore.

I went out Saturday night and only made it a 1/2 mile from my house before I was forced to turn back…1 mile total for the day. Sunday I rested it and by Monday evening was able to run 6.4 with it feeling “okay”—had to break out the beefy, cushy discontinued Nike Zoom S-Works Trail—which felt like bricks.

Today (Tuesday) I ran 5.6  in the AM in the Nike’s and 4.2 in the PM in the New Balance MT100s and iced it after both runs. It’s getting better. Looks like Southern Oregon Fat Ass 50k is out this coming weekend. Oh well, gotta roll with it. I’m going to continue short sessions on it this week to keep my legs moving but allow it to heal. Live and learn. Part of the process of this transition. My first small set-back. Glad it’s only minor. Onward and updward…

9 Bronco Billy Guinea Pig Test #1: No calories, 3 hour run, 5000 ft of climbing

Well, I guinea-pigged myself on Friday morning and went out to one of my favorite hard trail runs that boasts 1500-1800 feet of climbing per hour on technical, rocky trail. I decided to finally make the push to the 3 hour mark before taking in any calories on a 17.5 mile run with 5000 feet of climbing The route has 5 large climbs of 900, 1500, 650, 500 and 700 feet respectively, with the rest of the elevation in the form of rolling grunt climbs. This route pretty much has you either ascending or descending nearly all the time. I broke out the Inov8 212s for their fourth official run, which I’m really liking so far (way better on technical than the New Balance MT100s).

Overall it went pretty well, I’ve been weening off gels on long runs for a few weeks and was up to about 2 1/2 hours without calories (just water and Succeed! Caps for electrolyte replacement). I felt strong most of the run. I did get some hunger pangs starting at about 1 hour, 50 minutes into the run, but they soon subsided. They returned about every half hour, but I ignored them and they would fade. I really didn’t feel the need for calories, energy-wise, until about 2:45 into the run on the last hard climb, which is pretty tough (700 feet in 3/4 of a mile). I normally would make myself run most of this climb, but with the calorie deficit, I was doing on/off transitions of running/power hiking and I found myself with not enough juice to really grind the running portions and ended up hiking more than I normally would. I held out though and made it to 3:00…but had a gel out and ready as soon as my watch rolled 3 hours. I have to say…that was the best Vanilla Bean Gu I have had in a long time! 🙂

I ended up running about 3:09 for the route…so, the gel was just to get me down the last 700 foot descent and up the final “little” 200 foot climb out of the canyon to the trailhead, as I was definitely getting pretty bonky the last 15-20 minutes or so. I was SO hungry that I devoured a banana and my recovery drink at the car immediately, called a local restaurant that’s on my way and grabbed take-out for the drive home. I think having a full round of food in a cooler at the trailhead is a must after going the no carb route on a long run. I needed calories immediately. It will get you back straight and recovered quicker…even waiting the 10-15 minutes to get the take-out was too much. On no calorie long run days, I’ll bring a full meal worth of food from now on. The banana and recovery drink didn’t even phase my hunger.

So, will I do it again? Heck yeah. Will I do it if I’m on a training run with other dudes pushing it a little harder? Probably not a full 3 hours…but definitely wait until at least 2 hours before taking any gel from now on. And, for normal long run training, I’ll keep doing it. The general theory makes sense to me. It’s suppose to help my body tap into fat quicker, conserve glycogen, and learn to operate more effectively in a low blood glucose state. I feel I need to give it some time to see if it works. Plus, in my experience, as with any aspect of training, if you don’t train it, you won’t be able to do it (at least not well). That’s how the body works. If you want to run hills well, you have to train hills. If you want to run fast, you have to spend some time running fast. The rule of specificity. I think over a few more attempts, the body will adapt and I suspect I can get to the 3 hour mark without even feeling bonky. We’ll see. Until then, I’ll keep guinea-piggin’ it up. Giddyup!

23 How-to Transition to Running in Minimalist Shoes

I’ve had several questions about my minimalist transition, how to’s, etc. So I thought I’d look back and try to put it in a generalized “how-to” post, based on my experience. With the benefit of hindsight, I put it into a generic 8 week program to be full time in a minimalist shoe in 2 months. I personally made the full transition in 6 weeks, but please keep in mind, I’m an ultrarunner and typically run a minimum of 2000 miles a year, compete in a least 6 ultramarathon races per year and have been doing this for nearly a decade. So, my transition may be a bit quicker than most. However, if you spend time barefoot and re-learn your proper running stride (barefoot), listen to your body and don’t overdue it giving your body time to adapt, I truly believe you can do this. And, it won’t take as long as you might think. Happy natural running!

So, here’s generally the concept behind my transition from the Brooks Launch with a beefy arch support insole (basically an over the counter soft orthotic), to a minimalist 7+ ounce trail flat with just the flat, stock insole it comes with (e.g. NB MT100 or the Inov8 x-talon 212)…

Week 1 and 2:

I started spending time barefoot (around the house, wore Vibram Five Fingers around town to run errands, etc.). If I felt discomfort in my feet or arches, I put on arch supported sandals (Montrail flip-flops, Birkenstocks, etc.) and wore them the remainder of the day (first day was maybe 30 minutes before I put on sandals). I did this mainly around the house. Then, repeated this regimen every day until I could go all day barefoot without discomfort).

During this time, I ran every other run (never back to back days) in a minimalist shoe, half of my normal run time. (Example: if my typical daily run is 1 hour, 6 days a week: I ran every other 3 days in my normal running shoes for 1 hour, and the other 3 days , I bumped back my volume and ran 30 minutes every other day in the minimalist shoe.)

Also, during this time, I rolled my foot and arches on a golf ball every evening and worked on keeping my heel on the floor while picking up and dropping the golf ball repeatedly (at different angles…to the side, straight on, etc.). At first, my arch would cramp and couldn’t even pick it up with my left foot (my weaker foot that pronates more). But with time, I could pick up the golf ball with any of my toes (big toes, outside little toes, etc.). I also worked on curling and flexing and spreading my feet and toes…which I do often when sitting at my computer or driving after long runs back from the trailhead (barefoot).

Week 2 and 3:

By this time, I was spending a lot of non-running time comfortably barefoot. When I did wear casual shoes, I felt constricted and my feet wanted out. I immediately flipped off shoes when I walked in the door. My feet and ankles started feeling stronger…and springy. I started to introduce a Vibram Five Finger cooldown run at the end of my every other 3 day minimalist 30 minute run sessions. First day was 6 minutes in the VFFs and my feet were sore after 6 minutes. I kept adding a few minutes every run in them until I could run a 20 minute cooldown in them comfortably.

In my personal opinion, these were key sessions. This really started to work on proper natural (barefoot) running form required to run in a minimalist shoe and not get injured. That meant working on no overstriding, a midfoot strike, heel kiss the ground slightly, bent knees, running light…really using your leg bend, and ankle/achilles/calf flex to absorb shock.  I had some calf/achilles soreness during this period, but I kept stretching consistently and eventually the soreness passed. Plus, remember, these sessions were every other day, so my body had time to heal and adapt before the stress of the next session.

Week 5 and 6:

Still barefoot as much as possible in casual time. I started to gradually increase my minimalist run sessions to more days a week and more time for each run (slowly…no more than 5-10 minutes more each run). I’m only running my once per week long run in my old running shoe set-up and they feel weird and clunky and VERY heavy. I was now running about 40-60 minutes 5+ days a week in the minimalist shoes with a 20 minute VFF cooldowns at the end. In this week, I replaced one of my run days with strictly a VFF run of 30 minutes. I’m having fun and feeling more comfortable in the VFFs and I’m looking forward to the “adventure” in them when I go out. In the 6th week, I do my first VFF “longer” trail run  of about 55 minutes (on singletrack with part of it on snow). I have a blast! My feet are slightly tender the last 10 minutes of the run (as it was frozen ground), but they’re fine the next day.  I’m now solidly running 3 (sometimes 4) sessions in the VFFs per week in the form of either a long cooldown (15-25 minutes) or at least one run per week as a VFF-only run of 30-50 minutes. The VFFs are in my bag on long run days and I switch into them to wear home after my weekly long trail run. I found that if I put on a shoe, especially after my long run days, my arches and foot get Plantar Fasciitis symptoms. (NOTE: I believe this is because of restricted movement, post-run, as your feet need to stretch out and move and wiggle, just like stretching and shaking out your legs). So, I usually choose to either drive home after long runs completely barefoot, or wear VFFs so they can flex and stretch.

Week 7 and 8:

My minimalist epiphany: Ongoing and required to stay minimalist…barefoot as much as possible in casual time and HAVE to run a few days a week in the Vibram Five Fingers or barefoot (once the weather allows) to keep form dialed in and ongoing strengthening in the lower legs and feet. I think of them as basically form drills.

At this point (as well as moving forward in the future), I’m running at least 2 days a week in the VFFs for barefoot form reminders and general strengthening (plus I wear them around town sometimes for running errands), not counting a cooldown or two…my general rule is 3 sessions per week in them. These VFF running sessions vary from 15-60 minutes, depending on if it’s a cooldown or a recovery run day where I’m strictly in them as my run for the day. During this two week span, I bumped back my long run day to a normal 1 hour run and transitioned ALL my runs in the minimalist shoes. Now over the coming weeks, I start to build my weekly long run (and one other run per week) in order to get my old running volume back in the minimalist footwear.

So, that’s my experience, I just ran a 50k trail race in minimalist shoes and had no issues. I’m totally psyched to be in light shoes and look forward to my time running in the Five Fingers each week. They really, really help form and strength on my easy run days. So, I hope that helps somebody out there free their feet and go minimalist and tap into their natural running form. Have fun and Giddyup!

16 Minimalist Footwear: Evolution Theory

Sorry for the lull in posts the past week—I’ve been slammed with work and have neglected the blog and running (longest being 5.1 miles). So, I have a question…

What does Minimalist Footwear mean?

Light shoes? Non-supportive shoes? Vibram Five Fingers? A close friend  and I were talking about this recently. This good friend, Teague, owns a local running specialty store (FootZone) and has been in business in Bend for over 13 years. I appreciate his perspective. He’s been around the block when it comes to footwear. So, what does minimalist footwear mean? His opinion—it depends. “What do you mean,” I asked.

Before I give his answer, I should state that the reason I like Teague—besides our similar tastes in Thump’s cappuccinos, good micro brews, and bluegrass—he’s balanced and grounded. He has an interesting perspective compared to most running store owners. For one, he’s embraced the minimalist running movement by carrying a solid selection of minimalist footwear, including road, trail, and VFFs. And two, he puts up with my newest-and-greatest-epiphany or rant against mandatory vaccinations and water fluoridation—don’t even get me started!

So, what’s Teague’s take?

At the end of the day, minimalist shoes can vary, depending on you (the individual), the terrain you run on, and where you are personally as a minimalist runner. For example, take a theoretical 6″3″, 200+ pound dude who’s been running in a Brook’s Beast and is transitioning to the Brooks Cascadia—is the Cascadia considered a minimalist shoe? In my book and most others, absolutely not…but to Brook’s Beast dude, probably. Could he go to an even more minimalist shoe? Of course. But, for now that shoe is minimalist to him. So, it really depends on your personal evolution as a runner. There are always going to be folks who never get past the orthotics, pronation control and the beefy, high-heeled running shoe—who never will want to take the time to push themselves out of their comfort zone to adapt and will continue believing they need to be corrected in order to run properly. And if they don’t take the time to re-learn, they probably should be corrected.

I have to agree, on a basic level, with Teague. Will I accept it? You know I won’t, Teague. If I can convert just one more to the minimalist cause with my rants to anyone who’ll listen—well, all the better. For me, it’s a natural progression back to how I was designed to run—an awakening, so to speak. Yes, that newest-and-greatest-epiphany. Your barefeet, re-learning and listening to your feet—not putting them in a cast. And, to answer my wife’s recent question—NO, minimalist running DOES NOT mean less shoes, just really cool lightweight ones. 🙂 Speaking of, I can’t wait to break in the fresh new pair of Inov8 X-Talon 212s on tomorrow’s trail run—thanks to my good friend at the FootZone. Giddyup!

22 New minimalist Inov8 set for mid 2010

Check out these new Inov8’s set to hit the market mid 2010. Weighing in at 6.7 ounces, low-profile, and Inov8’s 1 arrow midsole thickness. Looks like they have a similar upper to the F-lite 230, but with a slightly thinner midsole (1 arrow vs. the F-lite 230’s 2 arrow midsole)…and the X-talon 212 lugged outsole. These look VERY promising. I like the orange too. I found out about these from another Oregon ultrarunner, Joe Grant, who runs in minimalist shoes.

My minimalist transition update…

I just ran the Bad Ass 50k (our local Fat Ass Fun Run in Central Oregon) in the New Balance MT 100s and my body/feet held up great in the minimalist set up. I think I’m fully transitioned now. However, I’ve found one aspect to be troublesome with the MT100s, now that I have 150+ miles logged in them, (including today’s 50k)—sloppy upper on the downs. Trying to stay true to the “slow-progression” to minimalist footwear, I’ve been pretty conservative on technical downhills in training until today’s 50k. Today, I ran down pretty aggro and they proved a little sloppy in the midfoot upper on technical, rocky downhills. My foot slides side to side in them too much and they actually hang off the midsole almost a 1/2 inch at times and I banged my pinkie toe on sharp lava rocks while hammering down at 5:45-6:15 pace coming off the Cinder Butte descent in the Bad Ass 50k today.

This got me into a conversation, post race, with Joe (who told me about the X-Talon 190 coming out). He ran Mont Blanc in the Inov8 X-talon 212 last summer and loved them. I also raced against him at White River 50 miler where he was sporting the F-lite 230s. He has a wider forefoot like mine and we talked about the narrow forefoot fit of fell racing shoes, specifically Inov8s. He mentioned that they stretch a bit after some break-in and that it’s not bad to have a forefoot upper that is snug (read not restrictive, just snug) so it holds your foot over the midsole when having to make those quick hard “mini” cuts and “quick dancing steps” on technical downhills, preventing the side to side sloppiness I was experiencing in the NB MT100’s upper. The NB is fine on other mellower terrain, but it was just too sloppy for my liking on the technical downs. I broke out my blue Invo8 F-lite 230’s tonight and decided it was time to give them another shot. I messed with some unique lacing in the midfoot to loosen up across my instep and put a slightly thinner insole in them. They actually felt good around the house. I’m going to run in them quite a bit this week and report back. Giddyup!

0 2010 Bad Ass 50k Fun Run done

We had a great day in the high desert—dry dirt, mostly cloudy skies and temps in the low 40s. With and estimated 60+ runners today, most running the 9- or the 13-miler, a few in the 22-miler and 14 running the 50k. Most of us ended up running in shorts today. It was the nicest weather we’ve had at the Bad Ass since The Colonel and I started this thing 4 years ago.

Max King cruised through the course and broke The Colonel’s course record by about a 1/2 hour and Ashley Nordell broke Darla (Brader) Askew’s old course record by 4 minutes.

Results are posted on the Bad Ass website.

Post-50k hangout around the fire pit.

Bronco Billy and The Colonel, co-race directors. 4 successful Bad Ass Fun Runs organized.

0 The Bad Ass 50k, Saturday, January 2, 9am

I just got back from marking the Bad Ass 50k Fun Run loop out east of the Badlands in the Horseridge area and the course is beautiful this year! Soft sandy dirt, NO SNOW at all on the loop. I looked up on the Cinder Butte, and couldn’t see any snow, so I’m assuming it’s clear too. It’s muddy in a few spots, but with the breezy conditions today and tonight, that should be mostly gone by tomorrow (it’s so sandy, it drains fast out there).

Today’s (New Years Day) conditions were perfect out there, 46 and sunny. Tomorrow’s forecast is partly cloudy and a high near 41, which means a few more degrees higher out east in the desert. So, mid 40s by midday. Start may be still chilly at 9am, but should be nice and no YakTraks or studded shoes needed this year. Hope to see some of y’all out there for a fun winter run in the high desert. We have 13-, 22- and 50k distance options. Giddyup!

17 To gel or not to gel?

I’ve been reading a new book my wife got me for Christmas…Healthy Intelligent Training: The Proven Principles of Arthur Lydiard by Dr. Keith Livingstone. I’ve always been a fan of Lydiard’s methods and think he was way ahead of his time. I also think many folks dabble in Lydiard and don’t truly understand him. This book puts his methods in perspective and also has the benefit of our current understanding of physiology, training response, etc. It’s a geeky training book, but really good.

Anyway, point of the post…

It has an interesting section on carb intake (e.g. gel, energy drink, etc.) on long runs in training—not racing. It says we should not use ANY carbs during long training runs of up to 3-3 1/2 hours (anything over that, supplementing carbs is recommended). Also, keep in mind these are aerobic steady state runs, not hard pace. They do recommend water and electrolytes (especially if it’s hot), but no carbs in order to train our systems to conserve glycogen and burn fat.

The basic physiological premise is this…

While running slowly increases fat burning for fuel, another way to really increase fat burning is to run when the blood glycogen (carb) stores are lowered. When muscle glycogen stores are lowered, fat burning really goes up since there is little carbohydrate available to utilize. Carb stores are lowered after 1 to 2 hours of running so you want to do 30-90 minutes of running AFTER this to maximize fat burning and to help stimulate the body to store more muscle glycogen for future runs (and races). When running (and racing) for this long, the blood glucose level also lowers. Ingesting carbohydrates, either through a sports drink or energy gels, before and during the run, maintains your blood glucose level. This no carb approach challenges the body to run with a lowered blood glucose level (and over time) adapt to better handle this state of lowered blood glucose.

The long, steady state runs must be at least two hours. The longer the better. If you’re used to gels during long runs, you’ll have to ween yourself, as your body is adapted to the constant supply of blood glucose and not the lowered state. But, as you reduce, the body will adapt and you’ll eventually be able to run up to 3 1/2 hours without any carbs (Which could take up to 8 weeks to adapt fully, depending on the individual). They also recommend not having any right before the workout either. Have normal breakfast (several hours before), then go train. This is for training only, then, in a race, you give yourself the normal dose and your body feels pampered. Interesting stuff.

NOTE: The book does say, that when you do this in training, you need to be ready to ingest carbs, protein and fat immediately afterward, or at a minimum within that 30 minute window after run completion. You’ll be low and need to get your glycogen levels back up for recovery and next day training. It’s just for during the long run.

Question…have any of you tried this? I know the Skaggs brothers practice this and so does Tony Krupicka. I’ve been thinking about it for a while (the weening off completely for 2-3 hour runs). And, over the past season, have actually started ingesting less gel on long training runs than I would in a race and not taking any up to 2 hours or so…occasionally, but not consistently. However, this takes it to a different level and has a few studies to back it up. Anyway, found it interesting and thought I’d share it. Giddyup!