Ok, maybe just my feet are weird. Ever since last fall, when I started running in Vibrams a lot, I've found that my right foot hurts in regular running shoes. I get this pain near the top of the ball of my foot, right where the toes start. It's not unbearable and it doesn't affect my gait, but it does make running uncomfortable after about the 6 mile point. It's like I'm landing too hard on a bruise. I thought maybe it was that my shoes were too small, so I bought my next round of shoes in a half size bigger. I had hoped that with a summer of wearing the Pure Connects instead of either more drastic drop shoes OR VFFs that I'd retrain my feet. But, no. Yesterday's run was pretty uncomfortable by the end and my feet were a bit sore this … [Read more...]
AMR’s 10 Running Related Personal Questions
The lovely ladies at Another Mother Runner came up with a great group of questions for us all to answer. Have you answered? No? Well, get on it. 1. Best run ever: I have a lot of good runs every fall. I can't say that any one run stands out. When it comes to races though, there are a few. One of my best came in the middle of taper for my second marathon. My legs were feeling fresh and a 9:15 pace felt like a good easy pace (gosh, I miss that) until I reached the end and couldn't resist "chic'ing" two poor guys. Yeah, that pretty much rocked LOL. 2. Three words that describe my running: Sanity, silence, necessary 3. My go-to running outfit is:whatever is clean in the drawer. I'm starting to love racing in Skirt … [Read more...]
Sweat to Street Sunday: the runner to mom edition
Welcome to Sweat to Street Sunday's! Each week my fabulously fit co-hosts and I will link up with one everyday outfit AND one fitness outfit that we love! Meet Your Hosts! Family and Life in Las Vegas (Emily) Wild Things RUN Free (Charlotte) Running and Cupcakes (Samantha) MCM Mama (Erika) Boobs, Barbells, and Broccoli (Tenecia) ***IF YOU WANT TO FOLLOW SWEAT TO STREET ON TWITTER OR PLAN ON TWEETING YOUR POST, PLEASE USE THE HASHTAG #SweatToStreet*** Sweat to Street has been created as a place to link up your favorite outfits of the week as a new Sunday blog feature. The idea is to have some fun and change it up! Each week we encourage you to post one workout outfit and one outfit you wore that isn’t fitness … [Read more...]
Random thoughts from a 12 mile run
The boys and I are in Wisconsin visiting my parents for spring break. I took advantage of having extra hands to go for a 12 mile run today. I was pretty happy with the run overall as I finished it with a 10:38 average pace (my last mile was even under a 10 minute pace). Some observations: Cold (43 degrees) + Vibrams + 12 miles = really tired feet. From where the sidewalk starts at one end of Main Street all the way to where the sidewalk ends at the other end of town is only 3 miles. This makes for a LOT of wandering through neighborhoods. I always forget how hilly this little midwestern town is. I'm sure Hospital Hill is named because of the old hospital, but given how my heart was pounding at the top, I can see where it … [Read more...]
Long run done right
I've been fearing long runs ever since I began training for the half marathon this spring. I dread how exhausted I feel at the end. I don't enjoy working that hard for that long. All the miles after 6 just became "not fun". And I finally figured out my problem. I was running too fast. (Yes, we all do this, but my body has been sending me lots of signals lately to tell me to knock it off. Guess I finally decided to listen.) The purpose of the long run is NOT to see how fast you can run those miles, but rather to spend time on your feet. They are meant to increase your VO2 max and to teach your body to burn fat for energy (and I certainly have plenty of stores for that.) So, I plugged my most recent 5k (where I truly … [Read more...]
10 miles in Vibrams and a Sparkly Soul Giveaway
That's right. This... In these... I honestly thought I'd never break double digits in minimalist shoes. Of course, lately I can't seem to run single digits in regular running shoes, so I was beginning to wonder if my days running anything longer than a 10K were over. I'm happy to say they are not. Today I'm a little sore (but who wouldn't be after their first double digit run in almost a year?), my calf is a little tight and cranky, and the balls of my feet are a little roughed up. All in all, I would say it was a successful venture. In other news, Sparkly Soul sent me two headbands to review (and offered two more for my readers!). I've now run in them a couple of times and worn one to yoga once. I even wore one running … [Read more...]
Running, Loving, Living Virtual Race Report
Happy Birthday and Happy Blogiversary to Toni at Running, Loving, Living. In honor of both, I ran her 3.5 mile virtual run. It was icy outside and I've been wearing Vibrams lately (pretty sure that's not a good shoe choice for ice...), so I decided to do her race as speed work on the treadmill. The only truly notable part of the run was mile 2 was my fastest mile ever at 7:25 and I did it barefoot!!! I was just a little sweaty! I had a little road rash on my feet at the end. Thanks, Toni, for giving me an excuse to push myself!! I've survived the most stressful parts of this week. Just two more meetings today, the Pinewood Derby tomorrow, and then I can focus on our annual … [Read more...]
It’s all about priorities
Have you ever had one of those weeks? You know the ones. On top of your normally busy life, a couple of out of the norm or unexpected things come along. This week is insane. The boys' annual physicals (that I booked 6 months ago) were yesterday. Two meetings (that I've been pushing for)finally came through this week. My boss has me doing a training for him (and I'm a little nervous). None of these is a huge deal, but to have them all fall in one week has made this one of those weeks where the only way to get everything done is to either skimp on sleep or skimp on working out. I'm not skimping on working out. Sunday night I sat down with my calendar and figured out my plan for the week. My workouts are marked on my calendar, … [Read more...]
Just call me Cinderella
Wait, that was many feet, one pair of shoes. So, maybe Goldilocks. But that only took her three tries. Crap, I'm not up on my fairy tales. What can I say, I'm the mom of two boys - all I hear about are legos and ninjas LOL. But, seriously, I do feel like I'm on a quest for the perfect shoe and I can't quite find the right one. I love all of them, but each and every pair comes with a drawback. Here's what's currently in rotation: Mizuno Wave Riders Newton Gravitas Brooks Pure Connect Merrell Pace Glove Vibram Five Fingers My feet After running in vibrams the other day and barefoot on the treadmill for my speedwork, I'm pretty sure that my other shoes have become too small. Become too small, you … [Read more...]
And my feet said “Ahhhh”
I may have mentioned a hundred few times that I've been having issues with my toes/feet lately. It doesn't seem to matter which pair of shoes I wear (and I have everything from Saucony Triumphs to Newton Gravitas to Brooks Pure Connects and I switch regularly). At about the two mile point in any run, the ball of my right foot starts hurting and then the bottoms of my toes start to hurt. The pain doesn't really change my gait and it goes away immediately upon finishing the run. But, I've got to tell you, running 9 miles with pain in the front of my foot (and it is pain, not just discomfort), really sucked. So, I tried an experiment. I don't seem to have the pain when I run barefoot on the treadmill, so I'm pretty sure my problem is … [Read more...]
Five random thoughts Friday
I haven't run since the race last Saturday. I have, however, done some form of exercise each day, including a walk yesterday that had 444 steps. My quads should be ready to go for the hill tomorrow (not). I have been averaging a book a day on my iphone. Unfortunately, the amount I read is inversely proportional to the amount I sleep. I'm tired. For those who asked, I use the Overdrive epub app since that's what my library uses. I figure if I run out of books from the library, I'll download the kindle app and peruse the free/cheap books on kindle. I'm too cheap to buy ebooks. Also, the small screen doesn't bother me at all. The words are a decent size, you just have to "turn the page" frequently. And I can read in pretty much any … [Read more...]
Random thoughts on a Friday
I just ran 7.4 miles in my VFFs! Longest run to date. I have a dumb phone and texting is difficult. However, I am currently texting Emz during her 24 mile run. 'Cause what's a little texting difficulty compared to 24 hours on a treadmill? I'm thinking the 3 hour time difference will work in my favor when I get up at 6 to give her some more text love during the last few hours of her run. Don't know what I'm talkin' about? Go over to RunEmz for details and donate while you are at it. Conversation with Shoo last night - S: Mom, did they shoot off fireworks when I was born? Me: No. S: Well, why not? Tomorrow I get to meet up with Barefoot AngieB and Miss Zippy in DC. Trying to decide if we'll go for a barefoot/minimalist … [Read more...]
