Making progress

My next attempt in the VFFs was down in San Jose at a park near my parents' place.  The park was an easy choice as it has a half mile dirt path around the perimeter.  Taking my lesson from my previous attempt, my plan this time was simple and conservative: walk to the park, run one loop, walk home. I stayed fairly true to that plan. I may have added on an extra .2 miles (because honestly – without some blaring indication that things were going badly, who wants to give up after only ½ mile?), but I consider this a triumph given that I was fighting the temptation to simply run another full loop of the park.  My calves reminded me in the first 10^th of a mile that this was still something new and different for them and to be nice. Roger that.

Overall, the run was very pleasant. This time, I decided to try the VFFs without the socks. Once again I marveled at the awesome feeling of really sensing the ground beneath my feet - heightened by the lack of extra cushioning from the socks.  Given that it was daylight and a less rocky surface, my sesamoids weren’t molested by an unseen stone, and my expectations were much more reined in this time around.  The feeling of close contact to the ground was – delightful.  Despite feeling like I barely raised my heartrate or formed a single bead of sweat, I made sure to stretch as fully as I do after any more vigorous run.  My efforts were rewarded with calves that felt exercised but not crippled in the days following.  Success!!

My next attempt in the VFFs happens in Palo Alto near Stanford University.  There are a lot of great running trails in this neck of the woods that I have only begun to discover. I love the Bay Area - this time of the year in particular!  With the intermittent rain and sun, the surrounding hills have been turning a breathtakingly brilliant green.  It makes me feel a little like Dorothy when she first steps into the land of OZ - in "brilliant technicolor."  And here I am in my very own pair of "ruby slippers" - granted, they aren't ruby, nor sparkly, but I do think of them as special.  I resist the urge to click my heels together and skip off down the road. 

Once again, I set my sights conservatively - just 3/4s of a mile to a mile. Unfortunately, my forerunner crapped out before I barely got going, so I didn't have anyway to keep track of the distance.  I have discovered that I have a very poor sense of distance.  I wonder if this is true for other runners.  But isn't this supposed to be one of the things that's great about running?  Losing track of time and distance? This time, I ended up running mainly on asphalt.  Surprisingly, this was no less comfortable than running on dirt had been.  In some ways, it was easier as there were fewer hazards to dodge.  I feel light and free. 

Once again, I left the injinji socks behind, but, unfortunately, suffered a blister as a result thanks to a less than perfect fit with the VFFs (interestingly, the blister formed on the instep of my foot with the seemingly better, snugger fit).  I guess it adds up with the mileage - go figure.  Disappointing, though.  Perhaps I will have to try some other kind of lubricant on my hot spots, because I definitely prefer the VFFs without the socks.

Near the end of the run, I notice a slight tingling in my calves.  Uh oh.  I begin walking back to my car immediately and stretch for a solid 10 minutes, hoping I'm not in for another four days of agony.  On getting home, I go on WalkJogRun (a great run-planning website that uses google maps) and discover that I ran closer to 1.5 miles.  Oops.  That's twice as far as the last time I did a VFF run, and nearly twice as long as I planned.  Crap.  Luckily, however, this time my calves are merely very tight and my ankles only mildly achy for a few days - a massive improvement from my first VFF attempt.  Despite only managing to do a VFF run every 10 days or so, my body seems to be responding.  1.5 miles nearly killed me the first time. Now, it was just a slap on the wrist or, errr...calves. 

Overall, I am encouraged by my progress, and thrilled to learn that even harder surfaces like asphalt feel fine without a cushy sole.  I find that I end up leaving the VFFs on even after I finish a run, just for the pure pleasure of the feeling. It really is like the freedom of being barefoot, but with the insulation and protection of a shoe.  I am a fan.  Big time. 

Next time: New (and somewhat unplanned) adventures in the VFFs...