Sore Pads and Spine

I've been wanting to lengthen the distance of my Vibram FiveFinger runs. Today I ran 7.4 miles on trails, most of which was either uphill or downhill. For the last couple of miles it felt as if the bottoms of my feet were burning, like I was running on a hot surface. The balls of my feet looked as if they were going to have half dollar sized blister, but now the area seems tender but thicker. I speculate that the up and down running combined with sweaty feet caused some deep friction. I think I've read of people wearing toe socks in their VFFs. I think I'd need a size up if I were to do that.

Since the previously-mentioned basketball game I've had some tenderness where I had a herniated disc a few years back. The barefoot running seemed to have helped or at least didn't aggravate it. This evening I took Elliott out for a little spin in the running stroller with Asics on and I immediately felt the jarring at the spot in my back. I changed my stride to be more like unshod steps and I didn't feel the pain. The rib cage pain has lessened but sharply reminds me I still have issues there if I cough suddenly.

Since the Bolder Boulder is this coming Monday I am going to take it relatively easy. I want to do some speedwork around midweek to get my legs used to faster turnover. But with nice weather I suspect I'll do the Anton Krupicka taper. Not in the sense of dropping from 180 to 140 miles the week before a big event, but rather in the sense of dropping the mileage just a bit, let's say from 35 to 30.