December - the road to London

[marathondan]

Week 0 of 18
Lunar phase: waning gibbous (last quarter Saturday)

Missed my two midweek runs due to general Christmas hassles. This is the last week of warmup, the last week I can get away with a little slackness. Still, there's a time to push on and a time to conserve energy. Last night was a lovely 7.5 miles under a lightly clouded starscape. I checked the car thermometer as I went out around 9pm - a balmy 4.5C.

I was interested to see how I would cope with barefoot running in fairly low temperatures, but I also wanted to try a bit of running in flats. So after two laps in road runners, I switched to my top of the range running flats, i.e. an old battered pair of imitation Converse hi-tops. They took ages to lace up, but once they were on they were surprisingly fine to run in. A problem I've noticed is that after sitting down for a few minutes to change shoes, my back is really stiff and, coupled with the slight uphill on the first part of the circuit, I had to adopt a really upright stance, right on the balls of my feet, to loosen my back.

Then for the final lap I tried the thrid footwear option, i.e. none at all. At first I thought I had gone beyond the acceptable temperature range, but after a few hundred metres I noticed the cool less. I tried to keep to the grassy edge of the trail, but the mud was everywhere and it was a real squelch-fest underfoot. The soles of my feet felt strangely numb as I wiped down before replacing my socks and road shoes, but overall it was a success.

Lower leg / ankle niggles are present but minor, indicating that my barefoot suspension is toughening up. The ongoing ankle issue is still present, but much more when static than when running. My plan is to push on with caution for now.

So the proper plan begins next week, with a tempo sessions and intervals. I need to plot a suitable route on the green, and work out which footwear option to go for.

New moon on Saturday night - it'll be a gloomy one.