Sandals

I started out with the toe shoes which led to my minimal shoes obsession. I got some Merrell shoes for work that meet the bill of minimal yet aesthetically functional for work. Then I found sandals. These ate the closest to being barefoot i have found but still have protection from the hour pavement.

They are kinda like Jesus shoes.

Looking for a place to swim

Today I went for my ride around the Universal Studios lot which has been my mode of exersize for the past few weeks. Still dealing with a little tenderness on my knee.

I thought I'd look for a place to swim but as you can see the beaches were closed.


I got in about 7 miles total riding today and it felt great. The So. Cal. weather is perfect: not a cloud in the sky, not too hot out. I have found a spot on the lot that is like a park, apparently some folks play softball there, but it's a good uphill ride for 1 1/2 miles to get there. Once there I usually drop the bike and do some push ups, sit ups and such, today I gave it a shot at running and did 3 laps around which I estimate to be about a mile. I've been wearing the floves (VFFs) while riding so it's an easy transition to run. Kinda nice running on the grass though some spots were a bit squishy from all of the rain over the last 2 weeks. Overall the run felt good, just don't want to over do it.

After riding around past the Desperate Housewives, Spartacus Square and the Old West I headed back to the office. When I got there I looked down and discovered that I had caught some grass between my toes while running.

I think I'll be adding in that run as a regular part of the routine.

I came across this article from a study on Barefoot or in minimal footwear.... and interesting read.

Watch out for the waves

Last Saturday I got up early and set out for Zuma to train with the team from work. I arrived around 7:15am and got the bike unloaded and was setting up, everyone was getting their wetsuits on and the yellow lifeguard truck drove up. Turns out the lifeguards performed nearly 100 rescues on Friday and were expecting the surf and riptide to be just as bad for Saturday... they wouldn't let us go in the water. I drove the 1 hour 15 minutes specifically to swim in the ocean so I was a bit disappointed.

We decided we would do an extra long bike ride. Normally we just do the race route of 18 miles but with the additional time we decided to add on some miles and headed north up the coast and doubled that distance. It felt great, I was able to maintain a good pace and finish strong. Then some barefoot running to work on the transition.

the barefoot running overall felt good (as each run has) this was the first time I really felt like I found the rythm and could tell when I was doing it right. As a bonus my calfs felt much better afterwards.

Monday I went for a run at lunch time, again in the VFF's. This time I added a mile and some hills to the route. Maybe not the best idea. I started to feel a little something with my knee right at the end at about 3 miles and about 2 hours later my calfs started to knot up. The knee felt fine when I started walking and has been fine since, but I could harldy walk on Tuesday morning because the calfs were so tight. they loosened up as the day went on and today feel a lot better.

Wednesday I set out for a run again. This time flat and just 2.27 miles. During the second half I stopped to do pushups every couple of hundred yards and got in 120. Again I felt the rhythm and had a good pace for the run. The plan now is to keep it flat and slowly increase the distance.

Swimming at the Duarte pool tonight. My endurance is getting better, and stroke is a little more efficient with better body placement in the water but I really need to work on breathing.