My toe is finially starting to come good so it will be back out training Monday. One of the biggest things i have learnt from years of racing and training is to allow lots of time for you body to heal when broken. To many people rush back to training and racing after an injury or broken bone. This includes starting back into your training slowly and building up to were you left off. Following is my first weeks program
Monday run 5km barefoot flat run
Wednesday 8km flat run Five fingers
Thursday 5km flat run barefoot
Saturday 8km Flat run five fingers
Sunday re look at how the week has gone and set the following weeks program
Monday, August 2, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
How often do i hurt my feet while running barefoot
I often get ask do i hurt my feet or get injured while barefoot running. The answer is simple hardly ever, after running barefoot for over 2 years now the worst thing that has happened to me is stepping in dog shit and the odd blister in the early days. Theses blisters came from not taking my time when i was transitioning from shoes to barefoot and running in hot weather. So in short i have had no injury's from running barefoot however i have had several injures frow walking around the house in barefeet. Case in point i recently completed the marathon and had taken 2 weeks to recover. I was just about to get back out running when i broke my toe making my sons bed. I have injured my feet around the garden or house4 of 5 times a year. So my suggestion to those of you who are running barefoot is dont worry to much about the running part be more concerned when you are in barefeet around the house or garden thats when the risk of injure is high.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Next Challenge
I have committed to my next challenge to run from the West Coast to the East coast of the South Island, totally off road (traverse the South Island) February 2011. It will be either barefoot or in Fivefingers
I will keep you posted, let the adventure and training begin
I will keep you posted, let the adventure and training begin
Posted comment
My applogies to who ever it was that posted a comment on my blog as i accidently rejected it. Sorry about this i thought i accepted it. Please re post your comment.
Cheers Josh
Cheers Josh
Thursday, June 10, 2010
SBS Christchurch Marathon race report
SBS Christchurch marathon barefoot race report
The week leading up to the race I looked at the weather forecast and it was for fine conditions with no
rain, perfect conditions for barefoot running. Did my last 2 training runs barefoot for the week and was
all set to achieve my goal. Then on Friday night before the race I checked the weather and yes it had
changed. Rain, rain and more rain with a little cold southerly wind thrown into the mix. My worst
nightmare come true. Running 42kms in the rain barefoot on tar seal was a going to be a challenge let
alone my goal of completing the marathon under 4hrs.
Race day dawned and sure enough it was raining cats and dogs. Gear packed, gobbled down the usual
race day breakfast off porridge, porridge and more porridge, and departed for the Town hall (start area
of the race). The entrance area of the town hall was packed with people all getting ready for the race.
Twenty-five minutes to race start the music was pumping and all the competitors were being called to
the start area. Time to lose the shoes and go and line up on the start line. Its a strange feeling to be the
only person amongst thousands of people not to be wearing shoes. Fifteen mins to go and I am lined up
in a sea of people. They were everywhere and there I stood with my ice breaker beanie on, ice breaker
top, water proof jacket leggings and no shoes (I must have looked like a right plonker). People started
to notice that I had no shoes and I answered the normal questions of “Where are your shoes? You’re
not going to do it barefoot?” followed by “Oh my god you’re not doing the marathon barefoot!”.
With the music pumping and the atmosphere electric the count down started 3 2 1 go we were off and
racing…. well, waiting 2 odd minutes for the few thousand people in front of us to get going. The start
line was area was of concern to me as this was where my bare feet were most likely to get trampled on.
Seeing the start I was away and focused at the task ahead and my race plan to ease into it. Running well
I started to pass people and found my rhythm and found that my feet were fine and the cold not to be
much of a issue. It is amazing peoples reaction to being passed by a person running barefoot. They
don’t like it. Often I would pass someone only to find them to come sprinting back to pass me. I would
have a little chuckle to myself and focus on the task ahead. All was going well and I was on target to
achieve my goal of a sub 4 hour run.
At the 19 kilometre mark I started to feel a hot spot on my right forefoot and knew there was a blister
on the way. This was my concern with running in the rain on tar seal with the skin on feet being wet for
such a prolonged time, that the thick skin on my feet would rub between the two major layers of skin.
There was not much I could do about it but to keep running and focus on maintaining good running
technique. As I approached the end of the first lap (start finish line out side the town hall) I knew in my
heart that I should be calling it a day at the 21km mark. As I looked up at the race clock which was
reading 1hr 48mins I was at a conflict with in myself about what to do. Do I stop or do I continue, what
damage could I do, am I being soft, is it all just in my mind? These were just some of the things that
were running through my mind, then I focused on one of my core beliefs “If I start a race I finish it”.
Anyway I was now on the smooth part of the course (nice smooth tar seal). Brilliant. Up went the
pace and I was back on track. Rounding the turn and heading for home it was a great feeling to know
that there was only 12km to go and the realisation that I was going to achieve my goal.
What amazed me more was all the reactions of the officials and spectators. They were amazed that I
was still going and that I was still running. Around the last turn and two kilometres to go. Brilliant, and
up the tempo goes and back to that nice tar seal. Round the park, down the home straight, there is the
finish line. Bloody brilliant! Crossing the line in 3hrs 58 minutes and 13 seconds.
As I crossed the finish line I was left with a interesting thought “ What are our physical and mental
limits and why don’t we use our abilities to capacity any more?”
The week leading up to the race I looked at the weather forecast and it was for fine conditions with no
rain, perfect conditions for barefoot running. Did my last 2 training runs barefoot for the week and was
all set to achieve my goal. Then on Friday night before the race I checked the weather and yes it had
changed. Rain, rain and more rain with a little cold southerly wind thrown into the mix. My worst
nightmare come true. Running 42kms in the rain barefoot on tar seal was a going to be a challenge let
alone my goal of completing the marathon under 4hrs.
Race day dawned and sure enough it was raining cats and dogs. Gear packed, gobbled down the usual
race day breakfast off porridge, porridge and more porridge, and departed for the Town hall (start area
of the race). The entrance area of the town hall was packed with people all getting ready for the race.
Twenty-five minutes to race start the music was pumping and all the competitors were being called to
the start area. Time to lose the shoes and go and line up on the start line. Its a strange feeling to be the
only person amongst thousands of people not to be wearing shoes. Fifteen mins to go and I am lined up
in a sea of people. They were everywhere and there I stood with my ice breaker beanie on, ice breaker
top, water proof jacket leggings and no shoes (I must have looked like a right plonker). People started
to notice that I had no shoes and I answered the normal questions of “Where are your shoes? You’re
not going to do it barefoot?” followed by “Oh my god you’re not doing the marathon barefoot!”.
With the music pumping and the atmosphere electric the count down started 3 2 1 go we were off and
racing…. well, waiting 2 odd minutes for the few thousand people in front of us to get going. The start
line was area was of concern to me as this was where my bare feet were most likely to get trampled on.
Seeing the start I was away and focused at the task ahead and my race plan to ease into it. Running well
I started to pass people and found my rhythm and found that my feet were fine and the cold not to be
much of a issue. It is amazing peoples reaction to being passed by a person running barefoot. They
don’t like it. Often I would pass someone only to find them to come sprinting back to pass me. I would
have a little chuckle to myself and focus on the task ahead. All was going well and I was on target to
achieve my goal of a sub 4 hour run.
At the 19 kilometre mark I started to feel a hot spot on my right forefoot and knew there was a blister
on the way. This was my concern with running in the rain on tar seal with the skin on feet being wet for
such a prolonged time, that the thick skin on my feet would rub between the two major layers of skin.
There was not much I could do about it but to keep running and focus on maintaining good running
technique. As I approached the end of the first lap (start finish line out side the town hall) I knew in my
heart that I should be calling it a day at the 21km mark. As I looked up at the race clock which was
reading 1hr 48mins I was at a conflict with in myself about what to do. Do I stop or do I continue, what
damage could I do, am I being soft, is it all just in my mind? These were just some of the things that
were running through my mind, then I focused on one of my core beliefs “If I start a race I finish it”.
Anyway I was now on the smooth part of the course (nice smooth tar seal). Brilliant. Up went the
pace and I was back on track. Rounding the turn and heading for home it was a great feeling to know
that there was only 12km to go and the realisation that I was going to achieve my goal.
What amazed me more was all the reactions of the officials and spectators. They were amazed that I
was still going and that I was still running. Around the last turn and two kilometres to go. Brilliant, and
up the tempo goes and back to that nice tar seal. Round the park, down the home straight, there is the
finish line. Bloody brilliant! Crossing the line in 3hrs 58 minutes and 13 seconds.
As I crossed the finish line I was left with a interesting thought “ What are our physical and mental
limits and why don’t we use our abilities to capacity any more?”
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