Tapered

Posted in races, trail by Nate

I’ve been taking it relatively slow for the past two weeks. The hip and knee soreness have reduced considerably – not quite to ancient history as I had hoped. But it is bearable and run-on-able. I’ve been putsing around all week doing 5 miles or less and at slow speeds, but it’s been great.

Yesterday, I did a short 3 miler starting out with the Five Finger KSO’s. I love them as much as the first time, if not more. I intend to use them a lot over the summer. How much, I can’t say yet – I’d still like to see how I feel after 10+ miles in them.

Curiosity got the best of me and I stopped midway through yesterday’s trail to go completely barefoot. As you might suspect, it hurts. Pebbles hurt. Most surfaces but loosely packed dirt and leaves hurt. And those hurt if they have jagged pebbles. Rocks and gravel hurt the most, but by the time I got to that my feet were already numb. And this was after just 1/2 a mile. I have a newfound respect for Barefoot Ted and the like. In spite of the pain, I’m curious to know how much of it I could possibly take and will probably end up trying a few longer runs totally barefoot. What I’m trying to say is – as minimal as the FiveFingers are, they still offer a lot of protection where you need it.

I got Mae out on a trail last night and one more today. The pictures in this post are from this afternoon’s quick 3 miler through some river-adjacent trails in Ann Arbor. All pretty flat, but great just to keep warmed up and ready for tomorrow.

We went to Ann Arbor to get my packet for tomorrow’s 1/2 trail marathon – which I’m really looking forward to. I’m going back and fourth between thinking I should attempt a sub 2 hour finish and thinking of just taking it slow and enjoying myself. After stubbing the toenail off my pinky toe this morning, I may opt for the latter (now two toenails missing from my right foot). In all honesty, I’ll likely start the race with too much excitement, belting out 7:30 minute miles for the first 5 miles (way too fast for me to sustain), then I’ll crash and end up puttering along to the finish line 3 hours later.

Or not, we’ll see.