So Excited

I got my size 35 KSOs in the mail today. I ordered them directly from Vibram because it was comparable in price and the shipping was way faster (three days as opposed to 13 weeks and counting) than the local outfitter.

I walked around a bit. I hopped. I scampered from the living room to the kitchen. I gleefully kicked my tiny little kickers. But I haven't been for a run in them yet. I'm so excited to.

I'll keep you posted.

I've made a huge mistake...

I attempted to go to the YMCA on a Sunday afternoon to go swimming. Though you can probably guess, let me tell you who was using the pool at the YMCA--children. Thousands of them. They were throwing balls, floaty things, handfuls of water, one another...anything and everything. They were shrieking. They were pestering the lifeguard, they were pestering one another, and they were pestering me. They were really good at being kids, but not particularly good at being courteous pool-sharers.

There were three lanes designated for lap swimming. Unfortunately those were already taken with multiple people in a lane, and my patience had already taken a cut upon seeing a foam noodle trespass into lap territory.

The whirlpool was at capacity with the 55+ crowd, and the sauna even had a pair of chatty Cathys.

I've learned my lesson.

thresholds

On swim team, when we would swim a long set or work on a particular kind of endurance, our swim coach would tell us to pace ourselves at something he called 'threshold'. In brief, it describes giving 80-85% effort, not as much as a sprint and yet still just at that border of being all out. The goal, as I see it, was to work at pacing while not completely wearing ourselves down, thus training us for the actual competitions.

The concept of threshold often crosses my mind while I'm swimming, especially these days when my swimming form is not as strong as it used to be. It's extremely tiring to push yourself just so for a long stretch, but somehow you don't seem to notice until you're finished with the swim.

I never thought to apply this practice to running until today. This week, running has been extremely unsuccessful for me. I barely made it past a mile on Tuesday and today was doing well until I let myself slow a little bit, and all of the sudden I was just done. I had pushed up my time to .4 mph more than I'm used to, running about a 9 minute mile for 3/10ths of a mile, and although it didn't feel the greatest, I was doing it. I was running that fast and ticking away distance.

It all ended the minute I let that mph fall. My body refused to continue running, my legs felt so tired, my head swam a bit. It was like the break I gave myself in allowing for a slower speed was the catalyst for complete exhaustion. The threshold I'd allowed myself to run at, while ultimately not my fastest, was definitely pushing the limits of what I can do. And I learned a lesson about speed: don't push it until you're at the end. Save the fast running for last.

Ultimately, I need some running training help. I can get on a treadmill for a mile to two miles but beyond that I'm either bored or exhausted. Is it just a matter of breaking past a certain physical/mental boundary or is there a better way to increase my speed and my distance without destroying myself? How will I do all this after having swam and biked a great distance?

Help. Running is hard. Mer.

Bike Trainers

Thank you , http://www.livingincomfort.com/bictrain.html for the picture.

Have you guys seen these? They seem rad. They allow any bike to be a stationary bike. Your bike, even. Your bike with your seat, your geometry, your pedals, your gears, your sweat soaked into the handlebar wrapping (gross, but even grosser when it's not yours, right?).

It seems like they run between $150-$400 and I'm sure have all sorts of features and components I would care about if I were shopping a little more seriously (say, at the beginning of a long winter) for indoor biking equipment. They're a little odd though--you sit up about 3" off the ground, and while there is no forward motion, the suspension of your rear wheel allows for lateral motion.

So what's the deal with these? Are they helpful? Are they dumb? Are they cool, but not cool enough to justify purchasing one?

Quasi-Barefoot Running

I've written about barefoot running before, albeit on another blog, briefly, and at the beginning of my quasi-barefoot miles, when I was still sort of figuring the whole thing out. I've been running quasi-barefoot indoors now for a few months though now. The short verdict is: I love it.

With hard soles, I got a sharp pain in my knees after less than a mile of running. It was severe enough that I had to stop almost immediately, and often times would find myself hobbling around for days to come. If I wanted to run more than a mile, I was almost guaranteed to hurt for at least a week, preventing me from having any sort of pleasure or consistency in my jogs. It was clearly an awful way to live for a girl who needed to return to her third floor apartment every night, a trek that took twice as long and involved a whole lot of wincing.

With soft, minimal shoes, I have experienced no aches in my knees. None. Astoundingly zero. I can run farther, more frequently, with greater joy and comfort. Not only do my knees lack pain, but my hips and lower back are pain-free after running, too. Instead of leading with my heel, I've learned to stretch my step and lead with my toes--to reach forward and get as much earth between my strides as possible. I feel more efficient and sleeker. Most importantly, though, I feel the wonderful absence of pain.

The only time I had a bad experience with quasi-barefoot running was my very first attempt. Yes, the first venture with flexible soled shoes was a huge failure in terms of comfort. I had heard that upon trying barefoot running (or something like it), my calves would be noticeably sore. Being the foolish person I am, I took this with a grain of salt. MISTAKE. HORRIBLE MISTAKE. I ended up running about 1.5 miles that day (the first part felt great) and could not walk for the next two weeks. My calves were so tight it hurt to even lay down and think about moving my legs. They ached in a way that made me fear I would never be able to walk again. It was awful.

I got over it though. And thus, became wise enough to offer advice for novice minimalist runners: Go for a shorter run than you think you should. If you're the type to usually go for a 6-mile run, don't cut it down to just 4 miles. Go for maybe 1-1.5 miles. If you're the type to go for a 2-3 mile run (like myself), try .5 miles first. Your calves will thank you.

barefoot is the new black?

Kate and I braved the snow today to do some shopping, in hopes that President's Day would yield some sales that were of use.

It did, but neither of us really walked away satisfied from any one place. We tried a local outdoor store, Midwest Mountaineering, and REI of course, looking for a few things. Kate wanted her five finger shoes in the right size, and I wanted to try them on and see what I thought. I also had serious bike on the brain, and the Hub Bike Co-op is right next door to MM.

I'll let Kate expound on her own issues finding a pair of five finger or similar shoes that work for her, and stick to my own observations. I tried on a few Vibrams, as well as the Merrill Pace Glove, which uses the same working theory as five-finger Vibrams but does not separate the toes individually. That is one nice looking shoe, but on my feet the 38 was too big and the 37 was too small, so I was SOL. Too bad, because I love Merrills. The Vibrams on hand at MM were okay, but it wasn't until I tried a Bikla style at REI that I felt like I really understood what these shoes were trying to get at. Even in walking just around the shoe section, my legs and feet felt different. Not bad-different, but just different. I can see how they would take some getting used to, but I liked them. My step forward from here is to try to simulate barefoot running, perhaps with an old pair of flat-heeled Champion street shoes I have, to see if it helps me make a decision at all. Either way, whether I get a pair of new running shoes or new Vibrams, I'll be spending around $100 for a quality pair, I just have to decide which is the path I want to go down.



In the meantime, this bike was so. beautiful. And on sale! Still, more money than I have right now. But beautiful. My next step toward a new bike purchase is research, and the man at The Hub was kind enough to walk me through what I wanted without pushing me to buy anything.




Suggestions? Ideas?

lauren: week two round up

This week was almost a total disaster, in terms of keeping up with my workout schedule. It took a lot of effort to pull through this weekend and keep things going.

This is a hard thing for me. I get super pumped about a project and then burn out on it if I don't plan out every little thing and make myself do it in steps. If I start to miss workouts or change my schedule too much, I know I will start to fade in enthusiasm. So, when a busy week strikes and a busier weekend caps it off, I have to start making decisions that aren't super popular.

In order to shake a headache and what I thought was a super bad cold coming on, on Friday I called in sick to one of my lessons and took a nap instead. I had a gig that night and work at 8 am the next morning, and it felt right. That meant that on Saturday I had to make a choice: a rehearsal I really didn't need to go to, or my week-end run.

I made the choice to run and I don't regret it. I'd been feeling so sluggish and gross by the end of the week that sweating out some of that crap and getting blood flowing again was exactly what I needed. I meant to swim too, but as usual, the HIlton pool on a Saturday afternoon was full of little kids and sulky teenagers. No dice.

This means I only missed one workout this week, and swimming at that, which I find easy to make up since I always love getting in a pool. I'm not worried.

Meanwhile, though, the spring that Kate spoke of has ended prematurely with 10+ inches of fresh, drifting snow, and so biking and outdoor running are now again distant dreams.

Le sigh.