Friday, July 31, 2009

It's Official. I'm a Pig.

It's been quite a week. The big development is signing up for the Pigman 1/2 Ironman in Iowa. Shev's going to meet me after she trains for her upcoming Ironman in Wisconsin and she'll swim on a relay. I will bring the girls. It should be fun.


I am excited to see how I'll handle the distance. I've not been training for this (or anything for that matter) so I need to take it EASY. My plan is to make a day of it by not charging the hills and not trying to push. It will also be a new distance achievment for my barefoot running as well. I am a bit worried the road will be too hot. By the run the sun should be at it's apex and the pavement may be scorchin! If you smell bacon....

If I am going to do a full marathon barefoot, I'll need to keep pressing the distances. Pigman will be an excellend opportunity to do just that. Plus I should get a great endurance workout and I will experience running tired barefoot.

I am making progress. Tuesday night was the all comers track meet at the Peoria Stadium. I am glad I went. We were rained out but none the less most of the meet went off without a hitch. The Peoria Track and Field Club is off to a positive start. This week in addition to 2 all comers track meets they are hosting a camp at no cost for kids k-8. This is a great thing for Peoria. We'll be searching for voluteers with experience running track meets to raise this to its max potential. I ran the 3k. Wow, what a great distance! The goal was pacing. I tried to run exactly 1:30 quarters. I was a few seconds slow. In the past, I've tried to do barefoot running on a track thinking it would be more gentle on my feet. It's deceptive though for although you have a soft, gravel free, surface you also tend to revert to the old habits learned in shoes. So, I often get a blister.

Wed evening I went for a bike ride and got my butt handed to me by my wife who effortlessly climbed away from me. I ended up lost outside Chillicothe but found my way back. I finished about the same time as her but she went much further. On Thurday I did a 60 minute swim workout and then later went to the FAST practice where I did 6 miles of barefoot running. It went well and I managed about a 9 minute pace.It was an improvement over my previous barefoot attempts on this terrain. I just need to keep it up. I saw a lot of folks including Chris Alexander who is having knee surgery today so keep him in your thoughts. After he recovers he's going to do some barefoot running as well. I look forward to having someone around to talk to about barefoot running. Hopefully we'll make some progress together.


Tomorrow I am competing in my first Tri in Canton. It's just a sprint distance and thats a good thing. The trail run is 3 miles approximately and paved supposedly. I need to get my bike cleaned up. It's a disaster. I am looking forward to it.

On Sunday, I plan on running 12 miles barefoot and then biking with Shev for about 40-50 miles of her 6 hour ride. So that's my plan. For the week I will have 22 miles of barefoot runnig. Not bad.

Why do I enjoy to run barefoot? I think the feeling of my feet on the road makes me feel more alive. It's no different than wanting to go outside on a cold winter day. You could just stay indoors. It's strange.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

So how'd the race go Rob? I'm gonna have to get back soon to catch up to you.

Chris A

Rob F. said...

Chris,

Ha ha ha. I don't think I'm in the same class as you. It's embarassing enough when it's a 5k but the distances between you and I only get greater and greater when you put wheels and swimming in the competition. How's the recovery coming? Can you go on walks at least yet? Hang in there, you'll be back in no time. In the mean time it's a great op to try out that barefoot idea. Maybe we can run H-Ville sans shoes together!

Cheers,
Rob