Pull Back week – Phew

Well on my last blog I advised just how many hills I had been doing..

The above are some of my regular battles.  All in training for this:  All 87.3 km of it…

Thank goodness this last weeks training was a “pull back week”:  So thank fully went from well over 100kms the previous week to 75km’s this week past.  And I really did need the rest, I was getting so over all fatigued.  Tired, emotional, dramatic, weary, fed up, slow, and even had sore glutes after that Wallygrunta.

This week I am feeling so much better.  Not nearly as tired or fatigued, and a lot happier with life.

However I am trying very hard not focus on speed as utlra endurance running is NOT about speed, but stamina, endurance and strength.  And a little speed.  Little being the operative word.

Since I hurt my feet in those Altra Minimus Trails last month, I have been very weary of wearing any shoes, and have stayed firmly real barefoot for my road runs, and wearing my home made neandersandals for my trail runs.  However I have come to the realization that although I reckon I can very comfortably run 90 km barefoot, the reality is the run is a very long day, throughout the morning and afternoon, it will be very hot, the roads are old and very rough, and the other issue is debris on the road, as there are a lot of spectators!

So I went back to having a once a week run on the road in SHOES…

An interesting tip I picked up is how to lace your shoe laces for different types of feet, amazed.  Never to old to learn new tricks.  So I have a very high instep and wide feet.  I have previously blogged on how I discovered with some experimenting that the shoes laces actually affect how my feet feel when I run..Well see in my picture how I have tied the shoe laces.  Guess what..it WORKS!  So simple yet so effective.

Having said that – the run done on Saturday in this picture was only 18 km’s.  From about 15 km’s my feet were heating up quote a bit and my soles were on fire by the time I reached the park.  And note that I also used socks this time, which is another big issue for me.

I have now made up my mind.   I am going to run the Comrades in my Neandersandals.  They just work. Beautifully.  I have worn out my first $3 pair I made a few weeks ago (over 200 km in them :)).  So now I have upgraded to an $8 pair…

And I changed the lace up configuration to match the Luna Sandal.  Now that was not so clever.   The lace up configuration for my feet is best in my first effort where the toe pull back lace goes to the inside of my ankle, rather than the outside.  With the new configuration I found the slop base did not sit square under my feet and tended to slide itself side ways leaving my heel with no sole when running.  Lucky that is not an issue for me when I run as I do not run on my sole, but it is an issue for when I walk.  In the above photo this is the result of running 32km of trail on Sunday.  The other issue with this upgrade, is that the sole is very wavy – which performs well with keeping stones loose so they just “role out”, but I did find with the downhills there was a little agro on my foot pad.  Way better than real barefoot, but just an observation.  I would assume next week will be much better as the soles will have been worn in!

Three weeks left until my Larkhill 50km ultra….Deep breath!