Changing it up with running shoes

Wanted to see whether my lower back and joints pitch a fit. The walking/sprinter-shuffling felt good, and I went a little faster and further than previously. Will be hard to separate out whether I did too much (and that led to sore joints) or whether the shoes did. Science suffers, and I hope I don't suffer as well. :)

Meh to the nth degree

Sometimes a person just has to ignore their "Idonwannas" - and that was me, today. Didn't wanna get up, didn't wanna go out, didn't wanna keep on for the first five minutes. I felt sluggish and very stiff, but it got better as I went on.

Early Sunday slogging

A very warm and humid Sunday, did my walking/slogging before a boat trip with my new company folks. Stiff and slow at first, but warmed up some and got a little faster.

Taking two days rest between seems to be working

No noticeable TOFP, little stiffness; I felt like I got a good aerobic workout. It was a workout, but it was a good level of challenge.

Muggy Monday

A toasty and steamy 80 degrees F before sunrise here. Felt very slow and sluggish. A tiny bit of TOFP in left foot, and I don't know what what up with my oxygen conversion system this morning.

On the positive side, I was out, I was walking, and I am now inside and cooling off.

Slow and sleepy and stiff and...

...a little lower-back sore (likely from new-office-set-up "yoga").

But I was out there, working on growing some more mitochondira.
Have a pleasant day, y'all.

Back at it

Took a bit of time off, both for TOFP rest and to get some stuff done in the rest of life. TOFP much better; seems to be only the barest hint of it. Will see how it feels tomorrow!

Steamy Monday

For as dry as it's been, sure felt steamy this morning. I think the Friday aches may have been a brief virus - has other no-so-great symptoms flash by over the weekend, bleah.

But today was a nice walk in the steam, with some running mixed in. Other than feeling a little weak from the passing crud, all was fine.

Aches and the morning

Woke up feeling like that massage I had last week had sort of over-loosened me. Very sore and stiff in my shoulders, lower back, knees...so I walked. Oh well. There will be more time to run...

Listening to...

...everything. The pre-dawn birds (grackles, mockingbirds, jays, cardinals). My joints (bits of crackling going on). My feet - and very little TOFP this morning. Had a deep tissue massage Monday, feeling tender around the hips and lower back.

Now for coffee...

Looser laces and the grassy bits

So I radically loosened the laces on my left foot Bikila, and walked, mixing in some running on those little grassy bits between driveways. Dang I'm tired, but so far so good on the reduction in TOFP.

If I'm gonna run, someone better start tossing me some golden apples. Just sayin'.

Snap crackle pop

Did my core workout and then a nice slow totally barefoot 10 minute walk, during which I was treated to a mini-chorus of tiny snapping and popping sounds, some from my left foot and ankle, some from my right ankle and knee.

Apparently I am half-woman, half-Rice-Krispies.

Oh well. The walking was fun, and Red the Cat joined me for the last minute, making sure I got my "pet the kitteh" obstacle course work in.

Another short barefoot walk

There's something about walking barefoot on a summer morning that transports me right into childhood, in a good way.

Did my core work, and walked about 7 minutes; my left foot is feeling better, and I am resisting the temptation to do more walking.

Crunch time

Did my core workout as noted on Daily Mile, then a teeny bit of barefoot walking. I need to think of this rehab process like Zen walking meditation. Right now I'm not thinking of this as anything other than "meh," and grumbling.

Ooh, Joss the Kitteh touched my bare foot gently with her pointy little claws: accuclawture!

From Ow to Wow to Ow (and hopefully back again)

So, once again into the phys ed stuff.

Since my lower back and knees have given me fits of ache and pain, causing me to stop doing Masters track and field a while back, I researched something else to do.

About three weeks ago, I started back doing this barefoot walking thing in Vibram Bikilas.

Wow! No back pain!
Wow! No knee pain!
And then...
Ow ow ow! After about three weeks of what I thought was slow and gentle re-entry using a Couch-to-5K app and RunKeeper, I found myself the proud owner of "top of foot pain"!

Thanks to the kind soles at the Minimalist Runner Google Group, I've been encouraged to rest and resume once the pain stops.

Figured I should start a blog to help me learn a little bit about the journey I've embarked on, and have a place to keep things like stats.

That's all for now, folks.