A Shoe Shirt and Bare Feet

Oh the irony of the shoe shirt.
My barefoot run to the gym yesterday was less than stellar. Every once in a while I have one of those runs where nothing seems to go right. I can't find my rhythm, I step on every sharp and jabby thing all in the wrong spots, I lose my mojo. I was totally distracted yesterday. It happens. That run was the exact opposite of my previous run. Now, THAT was a stellar run. The kind that almost had me convinced that I had achieved running evolution. Well, apparently not. Yesterday's little jaunt to the gym was littered with swear words and bruises. Maybe it was the Puma shirt. My feet were punishing me for wearing a shoe shirt. I should have known better.

Speaking of punishment. My workovers have been going really well. Last night's menu was totally doable without much suffering at all and this morning's workover was more of the same. Most of the time, though, I suffer, I sweat, I swear and I grunt. Yeah. That's a bit embarrassing. The grunt. For some reason I can't deadlift or do the hard bench presses without doing it. I have no idea where it comes from. I try to hold it back and for the most part I'm able to, but its getting harder. Its a little intimidating being the only chick in the free weight area of the gym in the first place so drawing attention to myself is something I try not to do. Once I have a little more confidence lifting and doing all the crazy shit Seth has me do then I'll feel a little more comfortable with the whole grunting thing. I swear, sometimes when I'm on my last rep of a heavy weight its like birthing a baby. Maybe I should embrace the grunt. Go really primal with it. Yeah. When I'm ready, maybe I will.

So with all this strength training I'm doing I'm not running my long runs, but amazingly enough I'm not going crazy. I don't know why, but I always thought that my long runs were my only ticket to stress release. Well, I'm getting that from these workovers. Probably because I'm pushing my hardest on every one. It feels really good. I feel like I'm getting somewhere now. I was a wadded and tight mess two months ago, but just last week a random chick tracked me down at the gym just to ask me...


"Are you a rock climber?"

"No. I run." 

And then... this was the kicker... she says to me...


"Because you seem really flexible. We thought for sure you were a rock climber."

Holy crap! Did she just say flexible??? (Insert scratched record sound here)

Now, I don't know if rock climbers are the super stretchy type and to be honest I used to rock climb a little when I was much younger, but I've been inflexible all my life so the fact that she would use the term "flexible" really baffled me. I'm a lot of things, but flexible I am not. Maybe things are slowly changing with that. It makes me happy. It makes me VERY happy.

So, now that I'm feeling a little better about my running, my strength and my flexibility I'm getting back into the swing of the race season. I've got a celebratory spring batch of henna made for my race day body art and I'm ready for my first 5k race of the season. The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on May 7th. I plan on running it completely barefoot. It won't be my first barefoot race, but it will be my first race that I don't plan on wearing my VFFs at all. 
First henna of the season

And not to get too cocky with my race schedule now that things are working themselves out, but I'm contemplating running the Blood, Sweat, and Beers Trail run again in Auburn, CA at the end of July. That's a week after my triathalon. Not sure I will be ready to do this one, though. It has some pretty brutal hills and doing it minimal (there's no way I would run that shit in my own bare feet) will require that my heel pain issues have dialed themselves WAY back. So we'll see. But, the race lives up to my free beer standards so I will work hard to get myself there.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Comments

  1. You are seriously one cool chic!
    I ordered my t-shirt and just waiting for it to arrive :) Can't wait!
    What weight program are you doing? I just can't get motivated....

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm all about grunting during weight lifting. Do it all the time. It's an intensity thing for me. Let's me know I'm taking my workout seriously. Your not working hard enough unless you need to grunt.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Angie - I'm working with Seth Kotelnicki, a strength and conditioning coach. He's the only trainer around here who is super knowledgeable about barefoot/minimalist running. He's a minimalist runner himself. He creates a customized program for me based on my goals. I'm pretty clueless. Without him I wouldn't know where to start.

    MGBG - True. And I'm a very hard worker. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm still only getting my legs used to my VFFs, but I'd love to do a 5k race in them this season.
    I do strength work too but I'm so NOT a grunter, I'm probably too self conscious for that!

    ReplyDelete
  5. "Maybe it was the Puma shirt. My feet were punishing me for wearing a shoe shirt. I should have known better." --> HA! That made me laugh out loud. Nice observation.

    Were you out at Prairie City on Wednesday? I think the kid's races started! It was mayhem out there (and windy).

    My hubby mountain bikes (not me) I just run and eventually, after this kid is born will start my own "workovers" to some muscle and lose the babyweight. :-) Looking forward to that actually.

    I hope you can run Blood Sweat and Beers. I ran the inaugural race of that series and it was a blast (definitely tough though). Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Trailmomma - We weren't out at Prarie City last week. I've been doing Seth's workovers on Wed nights. My husband tends to burn out come race season so he's waiting a few more weeks. What does your husband ride? Pat races single speed.

    So when are you due?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Twenty Miles Of Punishment

Shame and Camel Toe

Evofem's Softcup Review

I'm A Sucker For Beauty & Athletic Eye Candy

A Running Orgasm?