Colder... (Jan 4)

Just went for a three mile run, it's a balmy 15 degrees outside with wind here in Vermont.  Today I ran in my Soft Star Original Runamocs.  I found that my feet stayed warm except for what was outside of the shoe, i.e. the part of Achilles that was exposed and the bottom of my leg.  I wore long under armor spandex pants, which came down most of my leg, but the area around my ankle was still uncovered.  Overall, the coldest parts of my body were not my feet in my Runamocs.

Some things that were cold were my upper head and thighs simply because I dressed too cold.  As I have been recently, I worked on my form today.  After I was a third to half the way there my body got cold and numbed a little, which took my focus, and feeling, away from the sensation in my feet.  I know my right foot wasn't doing the same thing as my left because it hurt more in the ankle and was stiff.  I found my neck and shoulders were somewhat stiff also.  This prevented me from completely relaxing, which would allow me to move more easily and smoothly.  I tried a variety of things but couldn't really get my right foot to do the same as my left.  Nevertheless I tried everything from allowing my foot to "collapse" after the ball hit, springing up to prevent push/pulling the ground, shortening my stride/ taking more steps, bending my knees and compressing my legs more, all to no avail.  I also experimented with running faster and slower.  Certainly running slower allows one to focus on the details of their form more but sometimes going too slow causes one to over think things.  As creator of Invisible Shoes, Steven Sashen, says, everyone's barefoot form is different and cannot be "taught" (paraphrase).

After the run I noticed a couple of things: (1) I was cold, (2) my feet didn't hurt at all or feel any different except that my big toes hurt a bit.  I have found that I bruise my big toes due to my poor form.  Recently I have been trying to lighten my stride and experiment with placement to prevent this from happening.  

Next time I go out I will look warm up the area around my ankle, either with socks or sweatpants, etc.  Also, I will continue to work on feeling the ground and properly placing my feet so that no injury results.  Thanks for reading and remember to take off your socks and shoes and go barefoot! (Unless it's below 50, then consider minimalist shoes :))