Step into Minimalism

From our +Amphibian King Galway Facebook page:



What is 'Minimalism' or 'Natural' running?

MINIMALIST RUNNING SHOES FEATURE LOWER MIDSOLE HEIGHTS AND OFFER LESS SUPPORT THAN TRADITIONAL RUNNING SHOES

BY PUTTING THE FOOT CLOSER TO THE GROUND AND ALLOWING A FREER RANGE OF MOTION. MINIMALIST RUNNING SHOES ENCOURAGE A DISTINCT FOOT STRIKE.

MINIMALIST RUNNING SHOES ARE RECOMMENDED FOR RUNNERS UTILIZING OR TRANSITIONING INTO A MIDFOOT / FOREFOOT STRIKE MOST OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH BAREFOOT OR NATURAL RUNNING FORM

WHEN SUPPLEMENTED INTO YOUR WORKOUT MINIMALIST RUNNING SHOES CAN HELP YOU BECOME STRONGER AND MORE EFFICIENT

In +Amphibian King Galway we get asked about minimalism and transitioning to barefoot running, a lot. Like so many things in life there are as many different answers as there are individuals asking the questions. Transitioning to barefoot running or any form of minimalism requires time, dedication and patience.

You have spent how many years to date wearing structured footwear, shoes, runners, boots that have all worked to isolate your feet from their environment. They have protected your feet from that environment, but in doing so your awareness of the environment you are in contact with is diminished. When was the last time you kicked off the shoes and socks and really enjoyed the feel of a lawn?, or dug your feet into a sandy beach? or picked stuff up with your toes? Try it and see.

Having advised so many people and listened to so much feedback on peoples experiences the best advice we can give to people looking to try minimalism running is to go off road. Get out in the woods, into the park, try something completely different from your normal run.

Why are your suggesting to hit the trails?

• Your mindset will be different, you will not be focussed on running x miles at y pace. Just run! And by the way do it without ipod so you enjoy the complete experience of sensory input.
• Your run will be different, you will skip around obstacles, jump over branches, you will feel lighter without focusing on steady stride & casdence.
• The surface is nature. She is forgiving & will welcome you, just leave her as you found her. #LeaveNoTrace
• There is no disruption to your road running habit. Stay as you are running in your normal shoes, to your normal training program and introduce these off road runs as a completely different exercise format.
• The new muscle patterns and runnign form with transfer into your road shoe, You will run better and more efficiently in your 'normal' shoe without having to change anything.

How?

Pick up a pair of low profile trail or minimalist trail shoes, we'll give you help with selecting these, and get out and enjoy. Give yourself a winter of off road minimalist running and you will see the difference for yourself in the Spring.

Quick update on the past month.

The last time I posted here I was flying high on a solid performance in the morning session of The Caveman down in Aillwee Caves.

The afternoon timetrial was a 4k run back out the reverse of the morning's route for 2km and then back up the final 2k of climbs. Tough, tough route. Not the easiest thing in the world given the morning session is a tough hill run but, hey, we were all in the same boat.

Bursting outta Aillwee Caves

I tired a bit towards the end of the run and finished up dropping one place to end up 10th overall across the two events for the day. Not bad for an auld lad!

All eager at the start.

Day 2 featured a 24k mountain bike circuit which was two laps in reverse of yesterday morning's run route (still with me?) to be followed in the afternoon by a 12k timetrial being one lap in reverse of this bike route.

Either way there was a lot of climbing involved.

Starting at the bottom of the hill, climbing up to the Cave entrance and then dropping down through the woods before scooting across the field and up through the mud and a looonnng drag up the back of the hills before dropping off the edge of a cliff.

The views were spectacular and looking at some of Chris Deakin's photos from the day you get to appreciate some of the views that I missed on the day:

He has tons more over on the Caveman Facebook page well worth checking out.

One of my 'favourite' shots of the day was this one which he took shortly after my race was over:

I'd done all the hard work, controlled the tricky descents and passed Chris on a bend and came off the bike. Nothing fancy, nothing stupid, just came off on a corner.

Hockeyed my left leg out of it. Realised during the clean up in the ambulance, elbow, forearm, hip, thigh, shin and most of all my knee took all of the impact. Inspecting the bike, it took a passting too, with the front derraileur attempting to relocate to the back of the bike. No damage to my Kask helmet though! :)

Race over, limped back on a bruised bike with a slowly seizing knee. Brave face to wife & kids who couldn't understand what had happened me as I'd passed them earlier in the top 6 or 8 of the field going out on the lap. They thought I had gone though when they weren't looking and reckoned I was just finishing the race, well I was, just not how they expected.

Race over, home, rest, icepacks, elevation and compression or something like that.

Roll forward two weeks of Zero exercise, Zero running and two weeks of progressively less hobbling and I'm standing on the start line of Dublin Marathon with the 3:30 pacers. I only came clean to my coach Fran the day before (he was wondering why my blog had gone quiet) so I was quite sheepish about an ambitious starting spot.

Anyway, I was going out the way I'd planned, if it goes pear shaped I was happy to stop and I'd always race another day.

Well it did.

Go pear shaped, that is.

I was sore from the start. I ran to plan though, even had time to pee in the park, the world's biggest public urinal once a year, and stayed with the pace plan.

Around the 10 mile mark the pain was solid, I could run, but I knew it was now going to be a case of just getting there. Around me Chris, George & Adrian were all aiming for the same sub 3:30 goal and we traded places a couple of times, shared the water bottle etc. No chatting, just running in the moments.

At halfway I was out. Hit the halfway mat bang on the mark for the target but I was going no further. I rounded the Kestrel corner, had to stop to pick up a water bottle and next step with weight on my left knee I was done. A wall stopped me from falling over in agony.

Nee, naw to the finish line (I won't joke about asking to be wheeled across the line in light of the idiots who did cheat) into the mediacl tent and a couple of painkillers later, a foil blanket, couple of twists and pokes of my leg and the Doc advised that I'd inflamed cartilage in my leg. Rest, ice, compression and elevation or something like that.

He did like my "I hope not!!" answer when he asked me "if it was a recurring injury?"

Almost 2 weeks later of progressively less hobbling and I'm considering my next move. The knee is getting one more week of rest and then its time to build everything back up slowly again.

Watch this space, cos there's going to be changes around here!!

Paleo Racing - Becoming a Caveman

A beautiful crisp, frosty, Autumn morning saw me up early and off to Aillwee Caves just outside Ballyvaughan in Co. Clare for what is my first outing as a trail / hill runner in a race.

The drive up to the car park and registration does absolutely nothing to dispell the mounting concerns / disbelief about the race profile for the morning.

Look at the profile.

We will climb in excess of 250m over the ecourse of 4k with the majority of the climbing being about 225m over 2k. Of course we get to descend too! Which should be fun.

There was a total of 48 willing souls ready at the start line, all eyeing each other anxiously as previous winning times were announced. Not so much eyeing up competition as to identify was the culprit in our midst and not to be standing in his / her way at the start.

Count down from 5, 4, 3, 2..1 and off we went. Down the avenue from the cave entrance to the front gate,  having 'large bones' helps with the descending as gravity assists and while watching the footing on the wet tarmac in notorious slippy trail shoes (great off road, not so great on road) made it safely down and settled into a nice rhythm as we ran along the base of the hill steadily ascending towards the bottom of the climb.

Now, like hitting a wall, the bodies in front of me seemed to stop and everyone started walking. The brave and silly might try continue running but with heart bursting out of your chest and lungs gasping for air you don't have a chosice. Hands on knees and just stride steadily up, up, up and up again. There were a couple of respites where you could walk upright and stretch your legs for a couple of strides. By the time I got to the top I had christened these respites as Landings on the 'Devils Staircase'.

Top of the 'Devils Staircase' - Picture by Chris Deakin

Towards the top one or two lads passed me, trotting along while I remained walking. Sure enough there was no major gain and by staying steady I was ready at the top of the hill to run again.

Race your own race, as the experienced heads would tell you.

The view from the top was spectacular. I didn't hang around long to take the view in but it is amazing. The descent was a steady decline across the ridge line of the hills through fields with plenty of cow pats to dodge along the way.

I caught the two guys that passed me and knew I was sitting top 10 in the field at that stage. Looking over the shoulder at the turnaround I could  see bodies strung out along the whole ridge line. There was one new outline that had passed the lads so I felt the pressure coming on. Around the 10k mark we started to drop outta the sky again. This time it was muddy! Cattle had cut up the trail on Friday evening and it was a mudbath. There was no clean line to follow and it was tricky to find decent footing. With the mud and grass creating an extra hazard by hiding nice sized rocks you could easily put a foot astray or trip over and end up faceplanted in the muck.

At the bottom we crossed an open paddock and the first thought in my head is "If there's a bull in this field you're done for!" I was wearing a bright orange Saucony top.

Across the field and back onto the avenue, up the hill. It should only be 1k from here to the finish but it was a tough kilometer. We wound our way up, down and around a very technical trail through the woods and gardens. Passing the craft village the temptation to stop in wonder was strong. Time to look back later.

Bursting out of the woods at the top it was only a short jaunt to the finish area. With nothing left in the tank it was a very subdued uphill, crossing of the line.

Conor asked me what I thought of that, with a big smile on my face I told him it was the toughest run I'd ever done and that I couldn't wait to go again, in the afternoon, that is.

Finished 9th in a time of 1:05. Happy days!!

Roll on the timetrial in the afternoon with a run from the caves, Caveman style.

The Hills are Alive - January 27th

I was in Dublin for a couple of days visiting the folks with the kids. On Friday morning I woke up itching for a run as I didn't get my planned run in on Thursday. As I looked out the window I spotted the old familiar sight of the Lead Mines (link to history) chimney at Ballycorus.