Fed up with ordinaryExtra ordinary is where it's at

Okay so yesterday was my first run in my Vibram FiveFingers. As mentioned yesterday I did four miles in them with no ill effects.

This morning the slight pain in my left calf has gone but both calves are a little tighter than usual after a run. I also have a bit of an ache on my left foot, just below my little toe (I’m not sure if that part of the foot has a specific name).

All in all though I feel fine. So today will be a slightly longer run. Or at least that was the plan. Last night saw a couple of inches of snow fall. The paths are really quite icy this morning and it’s bloody freezing! I’m not sure I want to run in the snow with open top shoes! I may have to find a quite road route to do instead of heading through the parks. We’ll see what happens.

I’ve not really been watching what I’m eating lately. Well, not in terms of volume anyway.

I’ve been trying to eat much less snacks, mainly crisps! Instead I’ve taken to eating rice cakes. Surprisingly they taste pretty good! I’ve found some with lemon and pepper flavour that contain almost nothing in terms of calories, sugar or fat. Just a bit of salt, which is fine with me as I’m sweating lots with the running and generally have a lowish salt intake.

As for the numbers, this week I weigh 13st 9lbs. I’m pleased with that as it’s a loss of a few pounds and included a belated family Christmas gathering. I was very restrained and ate hardly any chocolates and only went up for seconds of the main meal, no thirds or fourths for me! How restrained!

You may have noticed (the two or three people that read this anyway!) that I’ve just added some Google AdSense adverts to the site.

I’m experimenting here and don’t want to cheapen the site or to make your experience less than pleasurable. But I’m also very happy to accept money from Google if people find the adverts useful.

So, it’s a balancing act but seeing as I’m unlikely to make [any] money from the ads, I’m happy to remove them if you think they’re in the way.

Let me know what you think!

Having worn my Vibram FiveFingers solidly for two days, this morning I took on my first run in them.

I was a little worried because it was freezing this morning. Literally. A bit of snow on the ground and frozen ponds in the park. I was concerned about how well the FiveFingers would cope with slippery conditions and whether or not my feet would turn into blocks of ice! I was wearing toe socks but wearing FiveFingers you can really feel the temperature of the ground.

Even though I was [mostly] expecting the run to be fine on my legs, knees, ankles and feet, having read so many warnings about being extra careful as atrophied muscles will moan and hurt for a while, I was a little nervous that I would ache really badly.

My plan was to do a couple of miles at most.

After one mile I felt good. Really good. My feet weren’t at all cold, I had no pain from either bones or muscles and I couldn’t even feel the blisters that I’ve had on my second toe since starting running.

I didn’t want to stop and so I kept on going. All in all I did four miles but could easily have gone further. I only stopped because I was worried that I’d regret it afterwards when, later in the day, my calves hurt like hell.

I was running slightly differently too. My observations were that I was:

• running with a higher cadence
• taking noticeably shorter strides
• running faster than usual (four miles in just over 30 minutes)

Running on hard ground didn’t feel odd at all. It didn’t feel like I was pounding the ground either. But running on grass and mud, even frozen solid grass and mud felt brilliant. I wasn’t expecting that at all. I found myself running on the verges where possible, not because the pavement hurt but because the grass felt so good!

Grip wise, it’s hard to tell. The thing I noticed was that, because I could feel the ground much more, I could tell when my feet were slipping even a little bit. So I did notice the ground was slippy. I can’t tell if this is just increased sensation or decreased grip.

Now I’m back I can feel the smallest amount of tightness in my left calf. At this point I don’t know if I would feel that normally after a run or whether it’s from the FiveFingers. We’ll see after a longer run I guess. Tomorrow I’ll up it to 6 miles.

Well, my initial thoughts regarding my Vibram FiveFingers are that they’re good. No, better than that, they’re brilliant!

So far the only downside has been that my feet are cold. I’ve got some toe socks for them but they’re the little ankle type ones. Sitting still at my desk makes my ankles pretty cold.

I’m persisting without socks though today as I figure my feet will get used to it soon enough.

Putting them on has been pretty easy, although it makes you realise how little control you have over your toes (have you ever actually tried to move one of them other than your big toe?) and how squashed my toes are. I wear pretty loose fitting shoes and have nothing even remotely pointy but still they are squashed compared to the FiveFingers.

I’ve not run in them yet. I was planning on going out this morning but a parenting related bad mood made me stay at home. Having to get up at 5am doesn’t do much for your motivation. Perhaps I’ll go out later for a quick couple of miles.

I’ll be careful though as the shoe box warned me:

Attention: Walking barefoot is different than walking in shoes. Please read the instructions before use.

Also, I’m very self-conscious when outside in them. I’m sure that will go but at the moment I’m certain that everyone is looking at my feet (I’m sure they’re not really). At the same time though, I want to let everyone look at my ace new shoes! Strange.

After many months of experimenting I believe I have ended the shoe dilemmas.

After running again in my “normal” running shoes for a couple of longer runs, I started getting the twinges that they were causing previously. So I started researching shoes again.

I came across a pair of shoes called Feelmax Niesa. I know, Feelmax sounds like a brand of condoms but these shoes are recommended by none other than Barefoot Ted. High praise indeed and so I ordered a pair. Unfortunately when they arrived they were simply too narrow across the bridge of my foot. They felt uncomfortably tight even without socks. With a sad heart, I am going to send them back. I’m not going to gamble on them stretching with wear as if they don’t I can’t afford to have spent nearly £70 on a pair of shoes that I can’t wear. I’d hoped that the Feelmax shoes would be good.

In the hunt of an alternative, or perhaps just retail therapy, today I went into town to try on some FiveFingers.

The only place that sells them in Sheffield seems to be Naked Ape in the town centre. So that’s where I went.

I tried on various types, or rather, tried to try various types. I couldn’t even get my feet into the KSO Flow or KSO Trek models as the toes seemed too narrow. I’m sure they would have stretched with use but, as with the Feelmax shoes, I haven’t enough money to gamble with that.

However, the FiveFingers Classic fit easily. The (very helpful) guy in the shop said it was one of the quickest he’s seen someone get into them first time. Perhaps I’m just made for them! Anyway, the shop assistant was wearing a pair of Classics and it was really good to be able to ask all sorts of questions about them. (Did they last well? Did they rub or slip in use? What was the grip like? …)

I decided the take the plunge. I bought a pair.

And it’s a strange feeling. I’m wearing them in the office at the moment and they feel great. But I’m also a bit scared to go outside in them! Will people laugh/stare/chase me with sticks? We’ll have to wait and see.

For now, I can’t wait to get out for my first run in them! I hope I don’t regret the purchase…

After a particularly unhelpful appointment with my GP, I had an appointment with an Osteopath (Phil Heler of the Wainwright Therapy Centre) on Friday. I wasn’t too sure that he would be able to help much but after more than a month of headaches, I was ready to try.

An hour, and several twists and clicks of my head later, I felt great! My head and shoulders felt a bit bruised almost but the tightness was gone.

A few days later and my head still feels tender but the constant ache isn’t there at all. I’ve got another appointment on Friday and hopefully that should finish it off. Hoorah!