Baarefoot group run

I joined a group of other barefooter in NYC for a quick run today. Two were barefoot and two in five fingers. The time goes fast when running with other runners. Three reservior loops. 7.5mi@11:00

BarefootinNY for 981mi

WOD#175 5x(30GHD/25BkExt 13:15@149/168

WOD#175 5x(30GHD/25BkExt 13:15@149/168

Compare with

WOD#149 20:12@140/152,

WOD#90 17:04@162/177,

WOD#41 16:33@120/135

No headache (!), no midline destabilization. BkExt in circles in full swing was fun. 2:00/2:34/3:00/2:50/2:51

WOD#175 5x(30GHD/25BkExt 13:15@149/168

Back in the saddle 8mi@10:45

After the painful absteinence from running for 5months and equally painful 5hour marathon, the "get up and run marathon" experiment is officially over. Now I can get back into the routine of running whenever and however long I want.

I run 8 miles on wet surface today at 10:45min/mi including couple of walking breaks. It was kind of coarse for me as I haven't been in top barefoot conditions but the run was fun. I still have remenants of blister on left heel ironically making it more susceptible to deeper poking. I had two painful encounters. Also i have lost ability to run on gravel road with actual gravel. Ouch. But overall it was a blast.

Barefoot in NY for 974mi

Marathon wod and back to crossfit

WOD#174 WOD#174 Marathon! 5:08@162/190?

Insane sub for a 4x800m! I did manage to squeeze the marathon out as a wod with no wod specific training:-) However the marathon ate up the week before and after. Marathon was LONG but it is not a stretch to think of it as wod with minor DOMS and blister problems following day. I was back to normal within 4 days like it never happened which is a first for me among 4 marathon. No injury what so ever and if anything, the heel pain I had before the marathon is mostly gone which is weird. Now I know I can sign up for 2010 as well.

WOD#175 (Hang) PwrClean 45-65-75-85-95-105-115

Good form and nice progression to failure. 115# took two attempts but must be a PR. I confused PCs for HPCs but it was still good wods.

WOD#176 Mary! 5x15ElvPush-10Pistol-15PU 20:00@151/167

I did Mary despite covering Cindy before marathon but had to sub handstands with 3xelevated pushups. Pistols were horrible form as I had never tried or practiced them. I dont think I have a comparison before for Mary since I have always defaulted to Cindy which is a fav. Perhaps I should do both somehow going fwd.

WOD#174 WOD#174 Marathon! 5:08@162/190?

WOD#175 (Hang) PwrClean 45-65-75-85-95-105-115

WOD#176 Mary 5x15ElvPush-10Pistol-15PU 20:00@151/167

Marathon race report

Conventional wisdom says that running marathon is crazy, running without expensive running shoes is foolish and running marathon without marathon training is invitation to injury. I put the convention wisdom to test this year. No shoes, no fancy "carbo loading" diets and no 20mile runs every other weekend. In fact no running to speak of in last 5 months. Just wake up on a cool November morning, take a ride to the startlinw and start running.

I finished in just over 5 hours.... with no injuries. Even the DOMS are gone within three days and I am back to normal like it never happened. I am positive that this had something to do with barefoot running. For better or for worse, barefoot running made me stay fully alert about my form for all of 5 hours. I slowed down a lot when the running surface was coarse (which is very common on ny marathon course) and at every gatorade stop when it got sticky. But I was running steadily for the rest of the time at my target pace and finished strong.

I did get one blister and had it dressed at finishline. It was quite funny when I limped into the medical pit stop. Everyone gathered around me assuming there must be something really wrong with me after running barefoot and they were almost disappointed to see that it was just a minor blister. After I stepping out of there I picked up my bag. I was asked to keep moving and I said that I just need a minute to put my shoes on. The volunteer looked down at my feet and then looked up at and we started laughing. That made my day.

All in all, this was the slowest of the 4 marathons I have run but it is also the one I am most proud of. While I am the first to admit that no training is dumb, its good to know that our feet are designed to take marathon distance on moments notice and dont need shoes.

BF in NY for 966mi

Last minute thoughts

Few final thoughts before I sign off the the day and go to sleep.

After being very nervous nellie for couple of days, I feel surprisingly calm today. I have decided to take speed out of equation. There is no room for speed when it comes to running marathon barefoot and with no training and good chance of getting bad blisters by mile 20.

I just don't know what I am going to do to minimize chances of DNF due to blisters. If I can make it through the horror show i suffered last year between mile 18 and 22mi, I will be fine. The gameplan is to somehow make to mile18 fresh so I am not tempted to step off the course to my house which is right on the course. If it's bad by mile 18, take a pit stop at home and perhaps put on dressing and/or vibrams so I can get back on the course.

Other interesting observation has been that the carboloading caused headache for me two years in row. This is kindda interesting. I decided to do carboloading anyways just to be safe as I am going to need those gyclogen reserves. Ironically despite no running this year, i have less less body fat this year than any other marathon year! Generally thats a good news but not for marathon. The only long run I had done this season was without carbo loading and I had hit wall at mile 8, which won't even get me out of Brooklyn!

Finally, it was raining today and the roads are wet. Weather prections call for 100%cloud cover and some rain till 7am. The it clears and gets to 60 degrees and partly claudy. Hopefully the roads will be dry without puddles. Wet conditions will ge hard for bluster situation.

At the last minute I found my Armstrong wrist band which fits perfectly for my ankle D-tag holding. Better than my original plan to use pony tail rubber band...

Yawn. Ciao.
BF in NY for 940mi.