geekrunning

2 months is a lot of time when it comes to running and it’s a lot of time too when you haven’t been.

Since my ‘incident’ back in mid February which resulted in me walking in a very strange and painful angle, running has been on my mind despite my lack of it. Not of course that I didnt want to do it, rather my physio suggested it wouldn’t be a good idea until I sorted out my back.

The bulk of my back issues, I have realised, was due to poor core strength partially as a result of bad posture and sitting position due to my long periods seated in front of a computer. Coupled with the fact that when I wasn’t sitting I might be hacking around on my bike or hacking about on my legs without the muscle strength to cope with it. Coupled with some long hours working with laptop on my knees. Not surprising that I got as crooked.

So it was time to do something about it. After a few weeks of physio (acupuncture and acupressure) my back muscle spasm calmed down and I began to straighten out. I began to look more closely as my posture and had to make sure I was getting up and stretching throughout the day. I was also required to maintain a simple series of exercises to work on core strength and to activate my quads and slowly get out of the bad habits I’d been developing over the years.

A few weeks in, I was recommended to look at doing some Pilates, (another thing I’d not got round to doing last year) firstly as a 1 to 1 with an instructor and more recently as a 6 week course. As I already was doing a light series of strength exercises, being able to add a larger variety of mat work to my repetoire was the next step. Ive managed now to keep to a twice daily routine over the last month, which I can fit in around the various chaos in our house (10-15 mins). I can still feel occasional pain from my back but at least know I’m doing something about it.

Born to Run

During my recovery I began reading Chris McDougalls recent title ‘Born to Run’ which was recommended by a fellow runner at parkrun who had been running in those funny feet gloves (vibram five fingers). Born to run focuses around McDougall who was in search of the legendary Cabello Blanco – and a desert tribe who were able to run long distances without reliance on modern footwear and more importantly without injury. Inspiring stuff for me as I am currently due to run Snowdon marathon later on this year.

As I read on I became more intrigued by McDougalls transition from injured shod runner to barefoot and pain free. Reading tales of people being able run long distances (the Leadville 100 for example is 8 times longer and climbs up to 10x higher than my marathon route) interspersed with sports science regarding the benefits of barefooting, it all began to make sense to try it out.

Loose the shoes

I’d been aware of barefooting over the last few years and had run occasionally on grass and sand and knew it was something I’d like to get into but didn’t really have any idea how to (seems strange that now). I’d spend a little time researching transition shoes as I was aware that going straight to barefoot from years of padding could be quite a strain on the Achilles and tendons. I then stumped up some cash and bought some New Balance Minimus MT10.

A few weeks ago I decided to make a break for it and began my experiment. As I was well out of practice I’d be able only to run a little bit anyway so there would be no incentive to go and do 10 miles, instead focussing on just being able to run for a few tens of metres at once. Barefooting in the woods one Sunday, I was amazed how much feel and feedback I was getting from the surface. Its completely different from running in shoes, with an instant reduction in heal strike as you can’t do that more than once.

Sadly my first day of proper barefoot was the day that Cabello made the news having gone missing during a morning run. He made news again when his body was recovered later that weekend when he was discovered by the ultra running search and rescue. Poignant in that he died doing what he enjoyed doing, a spark for me to kick off my new running adventures.

And so the journey begins again, this time with new styles, new strength, new techniques (thanks to barefoot ken Bobs excellent barefoot running, step by step), and 6 months to get round to Snowdon’s mountain course.

Follow @geekrunninguk on twitter to read about my journey.