weekly summary mon 13th to sun 19th december

Mon 13th - rest day
Tues 14th - am 8miles (3 in vibrams, remainder in forest), pm cycle to work
Wed 15th - pm cycle home from work followed by 8 miles(same as yesterday)
Thurs 16th - rest
Fri 17th - 7 miles(3 in vibrams) remainder in forest
Sat 18th - am 11.3 miles (3.5 in vibrams), pm walk 1hr 30mins
Sun 19th - am 10.5 miles(4 in vibrams)
Total - 44.8miles
Summary
this week i upped the mileage a little to see how the legs would react to the vibram running. i thought my calves would be more sore than they are but i think by concentrating on keeping it slow and light, my technique is improving. like most advocates of barefoot running say, its pretty hard not to run properly. i probably did a little too much on sunday but i bumped in to one of the lads on his mountain bike in the forest as i was finishing so i tacked on another lap with him. my heel was a little sore by the finish as a result. what is it about running that allows you to convince yourself to keep going even when you know you probably shouldn't. anyway today i chanced a short run to and from the gym( about 6 miles in total) and on the way home my left foot started to feel a little funny so a day off tomorrow is definately called for. just hope its not serious and it will disappear again like most of the niggles i have been getting with all the recent barefoot experimenting

the transition

i have decided to start this blog to keep track of my running, seeing as i am useless at keeping a training diary(which i know would be very handy when im wondering why i have injured myself again). I also want to document my training for the Lakeland 100, a 103.9mile off road race in the lake district in cumbria, which is on in july next year. this will be by far the longest race i have done (by 60 odd miles)the second reason for the blog is to document my efforts to transition from normal cushioned runners and orthotics to barefoot and minimalist footwear. i will post my thoughts on this later but so far i have been sans orthotics since about a week or 2 after this years dublin marathon and in the last month i have been using vibram 5 fingers for the first 1 to 3 miles of my runs and then throwing on the very light and flat inov 8 f-lite 230s for the remainder. . i have to say it feels so much better to run with little or nothing on my feet. obviously it will take time to get the pace and distance up but thats a sacrifice im willing to make. i have also started to whip the vibrams off and do a little bit completely barefoot to toughen the skin on my feet and as much as possible i have been walking around the house in bare feet. a few different people's blogs i have read have convinced me further that this is the way to go ie. anton krupicka, terry conway (who incidently came 4th in the lakeland 100 this year, having only 12 months previously stopped wearing orthotics and cushioned runners) michael sandler, jason robillard etc etc.
anyway from now on i hope to post regularly the stats and details of my progress for what its worth and hopefully some of you will find it even remotely interesting
until next time, happy running