No shoes, no problem!

January 7, 2011 - Running.

Today was spent running.  Most of the day it was running errands, finally, about 2100, I went to the gym and ran 5 miles.  I've decided that treadmill running is NOT outside running.  But I realized while I was running that lifting weights is NOT lifting things.  Treadmills, like weights, are tools that you can use to train certain aspects of a job.  I lift pts all day, which are heavy and awkward and require my whole body to work in unison.  When I lift weights, I can focus on one muscle group.  Isolate to enhance.  On the road/trail I'm focused on where my steps are going to land, my breathing, the distance/elevation covered, etc.  On the treadmill I can isolate a certain aspect.  Tonight's focus was on my feet.  I usually run with hard heels, stomping deep into the dirt.  But, as I've come to learn, it's much more efficient, in many ways, to run on the balls of your feet.  It's how you would run if you were barefoot and how the Tarahumara became responsible for many scientific studies on running.

The Tarahumara are a tribe in Mexico that is world renown for running barefoot for up to 700km in one session.  It only makes sense that they have fewer injuries and can run longer distances faster than some of our track starts... they're running properly: we weren't born with shoes on our feet!  "Humans have engaged in endurance running for millions of years, but the modern running shoe was not invented until the 1970s." says Daniel Lieberman, et al.

So, with that in mind, I focused tonight on how my foot was landing and what I needed to do to change it.  My calves are sore, but my feet feel better!  Success!

B'fast this morning was a bowl of raisin bran.  I didn't feel like cooking.  :)  Lunch was another homemade quesadilla, this time I added some Nature's Season, making it explode with flavor!  Mmm.  Then for dinner was an impromptu stop On The Border for a burrito with Sarah.  We were running more errands together and it smelled sooo goooood!  It tasted good too!  :)  And I didn't say "No tomatoes and onions please."  Gotta learn to like the healthy stuff.

More work in the morning!  That alarm is gonna go off in about 7 hours, time for bed!  Good night all!

:-D