Running the Vibram Alter Ego

After yesterday's running I found myself hobbling around the house. I didn't know how my run would feel today, but I actually seemed to recover quite well. Today was a Vibram Five Finger day and I ran as if I hadn't even run the day before, never mind that it was over 17 miles. My muscles seemed fresh and I didn't experience any plantar faciitis or big toes pain. The pace came in a little slow according to the iphone but I climbed over several fences, stopped to enjoy a couple of vistas and walked the steeper parts of a couple of inclines. I analyzed a little data and discovered that I have done 35% of my running over the past nine weeks in some minimalist fashion or another. My plan is to increase that by ten percent every week. So this week I intend to run 38.5% minimally and so on. I also plan to increase my overall mileage but I'll have to see how that goes. I've been averaging about 32 for a year now. It's probably just as well; if I had run 35 on just this weekend I probably would have ended up like my sister...too bonked to blog.

Yesterday and today were evidence that the running season for the general public begins May 1st around here. All winter and spring I was convinced that I was about the only person running in Boulder County. There were people running everywhere this weekend. I know Anton Krupicka has been running the more topographically interesting parts of Boulder County from his blog and it paid off; he won the Miwok 100k yesterday by 18 minutes. One hundred thousand feet of elevation gain per month is impressive and so is 2200 miles for the first four months.