Somethings Different Now

I first noticed it last Tuesday at Brad's FAST workout. I was still slugging it out at a pre-barefoot slog. I run so slowly without the shoes. Sometimes my pace is 10:00 per mile. But that night, I noticed something was different. Sure my feet still hurt when I stepped on a sharp rock but the skin seemed to be holding up much better. This enabled me to stop obsessing over every chip on the road and focus on my form. I still had to stop to break at about 5 miles but it was because my feet were so tired. THAT IS DIFFERENT.

Barefoot Julian asked me a month ago how strong were my feet. I nonchalantly replied that it wasn't a problem. I've been running in minimal footwear to include the vibram FF's for years. My feet were strong. WRONG. That night I entered a new phase of my barefoot running. The phase where I start focusing on strengthening the feet. That night my feet hurt but I didn't have any noticeable trauma to the soft tissue of the sole.

Now I get it, Julian! I'm gonna need a lot more mileage before I get to Huntsville. But I am excited. Now I'm developing the muscle structure to give proper support to the bone. On Wed I walked around in Vibrams at Six Flags for 10 hours hardly sitting. That was probably one of the best things I could do for the feet.

Thursday, I completed the ENTIRE group C FAST workout with the exception I wasn't correctly hitting the tempo pace parts. That's an improvment though over Tuesday where I couldn't finish it. And Friday I did a 75 minute bike workout followed by a 6 mile run. Today I swim and tomorrow I do my last EPIC brick workout. 3 hour bike and 12 mile run.

The feet are getting stronger. The legs are not there for sure. But now I have the platform to build on. Hopefully this will result in fewer injury. The foot is a remarkabe double arched structure. Here's a video of the biomechanics. It was produced to show patentients needing surgery how the biomechanics of the foot function but It's really good. I'm energized!