10 Mile Vibram Day

It has been a rainy and snowy week in Colorado. Aside from seven miles last Sunday, I only did some track work during the week. Thursday, at lunch I changed into shorts and a T-shirt, went out one door and came in another. It was 38 degrees. On Tuesday I ran two miles in the VFF at about 8:50 pace. I felt fast but really wasn't. Yesterday I ran three one mile repeats and one half mile. The times were 8:39, 7:45, 7:17, and 3:11. I was wearing traditional running shoes.

This morning I pushed Elliott 3.7 miles in the running stroller on pavement wearing the VFFs and in the afternoon I went out with Alex and we did 6.3 miles on trails that included several hills. He ended up quite a ways behind me at a couple of points and declared that he was out of his comfort zone...although he did leave me behind on the first three or four hill pushes. He hasn't been running that much, and has been doing shorter distances.

The Vibrams certainly seem more appropriate for off road. I speculate that prolonged running on pavement could end up causing some of the same overuse injuries that occur with running shoes. Being off road provides for an infinite variety of foot falls and adjustments; each step is different. I just read a brief blurb in Runner's World answering a reader's question that stated that modern day running shoes do not need breaking in. I agree, but I think that the feet need breaking in every time one begins to wear a new running shoe. The foot fall will be different and if the runner is on an even surface, he or she will be making repetitive new steps, stressing the foot in a new way.

My crossover to all minimalist running seems to have accelerated; my miles were down this week but 19.0 were in VFFs (similar to last week) and 3.5 (much less than last week's 20)were in Asics Evolutions. The plantar faciitis persists (10 months and counting) but has been tolerable and seems to be abating somewhat although my foot is in an ice bath as I edit. Aside from the PF I feel as if I didn't run today.