RE-Learning to Run... Day #3

Day three in recovery mode and with my new Vibram 5 Fingers

Run attempt #3: 4 Easy
Location: Treadmill (kill me now)
Mileage: 4 Mile
Incline: Cross Country Road (aka holy hills!)
Shoe: Vibram 5-finger classics
Pace: 9:20 avg min/mile

Report: If you missed yesterdays post, I opted for the device of torture instead of the road so I wouldn't look like some sort of purple-footed hitch hiking freak if I had to stop and walk. I psyched myself up, convinced myself that the treadmill is just like the road and I could be safe and warm inside! This is going to be just great, really....

Mile 1: Ok, not so bad... it's nice to be warm inside, and we're on a flat ground. My ankle feels pretty good. I do my usual half mile, then stop to rub the tendon/ligament/w.e and most of the tightness goes away and I continue my merry little jaunt...
Mile 2-3: OMG! Have I mentioned that I HATE treadmills??? It was all fun and games until this stupid machine decides to incline at a level I never knew humans were capable of walking, let along running, at! Cross country my butt-- I ran cross country and I never thought I was scaling a building! The good news? My ankle isn't bothering me on the hills-- which combine both actions that usually give me pain: kicking back in my stride and walking up stairs.

Mile 4: Please oh please let it be over soon... Legs, just hold out a little longer-- I promise it will be over soon and I won't do this to you again. You've done nothing to deserve this!!!! Usually when the hill starts decending, it drops by about half the incline-- but not in the last mile!!! They give you a surprise and only drop it by like half a degree, just to feel that extra burn! Gee what fun.

Post Run: Thank god that's over! Ankle survived pretty well and I made it thorugh my first full treadmill workout. That is the longest I've ever run on the torture chamber and I'm glad to be done. My ankle? Not too bad... again, I noticed if I lost form and pronated (as much as you can in VFFs) it would get very tight. Other than that it seems ok... Going to see the Dr. this morning.

Vibrams: I'm definitely getting used to them. I'm currently trying to contact Vibram to hear what they have for a suggested weekly milage & long runs to get acclimated with the shoe. I've read a lot about people's ventures into vibrams... they all seem to get really sore at first from the VFFs. Either my legs are so used to the torture I put them through with marathons, or I haven't gone a far enough distance to feel them yet. I do know (depending on what the Dr. says) I need to decide this week if I'm going to be ready to use the VFFs in 2.5 weeks for my next marathon. If I'm not I need to get back into shoes. One of the most agreed upon suggestions is NOT to switch between shoes and your VFFs regularly. But this is looking days ahead, today the focus is what the Dr. says.

No embarrassing vibram moments to report today!!!!

Give-a-ways:
Road ID- here
Pink Dots Custom Creations here