BAREFOOT RUNNING

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been trying out barefoot running. Although it's not true barefoot, I've been running in home-made huarache sandals. the shoes the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico run in. And they run hundreds of miles at a time over treacherous landscape.

I've been reading a lot about barefoot running and running in general, including the book "Born To Run" by Christopher McDougall. His book is about the Tarahumara Indians andhe is an advocate for barefoot/minimal running. I've also been following Anton Krupicka's blog "Riding The Wind" . He's an exceptional ultramarathoner who lives in Colorado. Check out some of the videos of him running on Youtube. His form is awesome. No wasted motion.

Anyhow, I've been really working on my running form and barefoot/sandal running on trails seems to be helping me get to where I need to be.


These are some huarache sandals I made. The work pretty good for getting my running form in balance. Slow and easy and build up the mileage, that's the trick. I'm up to 4 miles with the sandals on trails and an additional 2 miles on the road in shoes so far.

JUST A NOTE

Well, it's been a while since I've posted anything on here. Facebook is so much more convenient for making quick notes on daily life.

Several things have happened since the last time I posted. First off, we lost our beloved Bear a few months ago. After 14 years of protecting our family, old age caught up to him. At least it was quick. He went blind a few months before, but seemed to adjust ok. Then one morning he began having what appeared to be chest pains and couldn't move so we took him to the vet who said he had a tumor pushing on his heart.

At his age she didn't think he could survive surgery so we had to put him down so he wouldn't suffer any longer.

Enough of the sad news ...

IU'm just about completely healed and I've been up and running for a few months now. My ankle (actually it's the peroneal tendon beside my ankle) is about 80 percent back to normal. I've even been trail running a few times. I've also started doing a little "barefoot running" using Huarache running sandals I've made at home.

I've been reading "Born to Run" by Christopher Mcdougall. It's a true story about the Tarahumara indians in Mexoco - the running people. They can run hundreds of trail miles nonstop and in sandals no less. It's quite an inspiring story.

We've also discovered chia seeds - the super food. We've been consuming for a bout a week now. I'll try to give a report on it after about a month. The Tarahumara use chia seeds as their source of energy for running all day.

I've decided to try to qualify for Ironman again next year. I'm not too excited about getting back on the bike, however. I haven't been on the bike on the road since Ironman last year. All I think about when I think about riding is how much my ankle would hurt. I know it's getting better but I just have no desire to climb back on, yet. I'm hoping once I actually get out there on the bike I'll like it just like I used to.

My swim times are getting much faster and that's on just swimming less than 6,000 yards a week. I'm excited to see how I'll do once I begin training seriously. I've also been working on my running form. As I said I've began running barefooted which is supposed to help you run correctly. I've also been working on running more energy-efficient.

Well, that's about all I have time for right now. So get off the couch and do something. Be safe out there.