So as you may know I have been sidelined recently with a case of runner's knee. After my long run where I had to run with a sore knee for 2 miles so that I could get back to the van and pick up the boys my knee has been bugging me. I knew that I should just rest and so I have. Last friday (Nov 11th), my knee was feeling good and the weather was great out. A little warm, still no snow and my wonderful wife agreed to let me go out and run for a bit. I knew I wasn't going to go far, so I just chose to run around the lake close to our house. I wore my new Vibram Bikilas, which I love. I now wear either them or my KSO's all day long when I'm at home. I'd go barefoot at home but with 7 kids there are a lot of crumbs on the ground so that's not the best option. :)
Anyways it's about half a mile from our house to the lake. I ran there in my Bikilas and then took off my shoes.
Narrowly avoided getting pooped on by a flock of geese right after I took my shoes off. Yuck.
The path around the lake. Not a sunny day, but it was warm enough for barefoot running.
The path around the lake is just shy of 1 mile, so I was hoping to run around the lake twice and then head home. 3 miles still seems short, but good. About halfway around the lake though my left knee starts to hurt. Crap. My knee still isn't good. Resigned I put on my Bikilas and slowly headed back home as I didn't want to make things worse. Really getting frustrated at not being able to run more, but I can't force my knee to get better so I just have to rest more.
Then last night Robbie and I were talking about running. Figuring out what our next race should be, what our plans are for the upcoming year, etc. She then asked about my knee. I showed her where the pain was and she said that it sounded like Runner's Knee. And then we had an 'Aha!' moment. When I stand normally my feet are not parallel. My feet point out in a V. I always have done that and I'm sure that it's kinda like that when I run too.
Relaxed stance. I might point my toes out even more normally, I'm not sure.
I have heard that running barefoot will help your body to correct issues like that. I can imagine that trying to run barefoot with my feet turned out like that would make landing on my forefoot more dangerous. With my feet turned out landing on my forefoot would probably make me land a little harder on the little 4th and 5th metatarsals in my feet. These are not really designed for high impact and can lead to stress fractures. Going barefoot probably naturally causes me to correct for this and run with my feet more parallel. Maybe this is the cause of my pain. I'm going to be more mindful of how I sit, stand, walk and run to see if this helps my knee to feel better. I'm also going to do some Runner's knee stretches that we had found on Youtube.
I'll document how it goes. Hopefully the pain will go away and my relaxed standing posture will improve.
Today was a stressful, tiring day. I do not know who thought that daylight savings was a good idea, but I doubt they had kids. My kids have not adjusted to the time change and I really haven't either. We were all awake before 6:30 this morning. After finishing school late and dealing with a sick baby and a clingy toddler, I was done by the time Kyle came home from work. I texted him and asked if I could get out and run as soon as he got home. Being the loving and very smart man that he is he was very supportive of me getting out and getting in a run. It was about 2C and falling as I left and it was getting pretty dark. I started out in my VFFs and my Injinji socks. I dressed warm in a t-shirt, base layer, vest, thermal tights, mitts, and my bondi band ponytail hat. I was warm and feeling good. I noticed two things about running in my Bikilas. First, when I ran on soft unpacked snow the snow stuck to the bottom of my shoes and I could feel very noticeable chunks of ice/snow under my feet. I had to stop and scrape it off. I also noticed that after about 1.5 miles my toes were getting numb. It actually felt like I was running on bricks of ice. I couldn't flex or wiggle my toes anymore. I headed home because frozen toes isn't my idea of a good time. I hit 2 miles by the time I got home and I was feeling great except for my frozen, and now thawing painfully, toes. I decided to do quick shoe change and head back out. I grabbed my new Deep See Beach Walkers, a pair of sock liners and a pair of running socks. All warmed up I headed out for some more. The shoes were great. Light and flexible but nice and warm. I could still feel the ground under my feet but I no longer felt like I was running on bricks of ice. I ran another 2 miles. I ran in ankle deep snow, over ice and along the path around the pond where I live. I was perfect. (not my running, I still need work), but the shoes did everything that I wanted them too. Me feet were warm and snug and I could still feel what I was running on. They worked very well in the snow and my socks didn't get wet. I slipped on the ice with them any time I pushed off instead of lifting my feet but anything short of spikes on ice is a recipe for slipping without great form I'm sure. I was quite surprised at how little slipping I did when I remembered to lift my feet. I am looking forward to many more miles in my Beach Walkers. I am sad to say that my VFF will now be stuck inside the house to be saved for chinook days and spring time.
Last night Kyle and I had the opportunity to meet Toe Girl Tina from The Living Barefoot Show. It was so much fun. We had heard from her blog that she was going to be part of the 5 Peaks Central Alberta Mountain Equipment Co-op night. She was super friendly and has tons of great information. We asked her about shoes and running in the winter and also talked with her about barefoot coaching. Tina is a VIVOBAREFOOT Certified Coach. I am very interested to get some coaching from her. I have enjoyed running barefoot and listening to my feet to adjust my form but with the winter here, now I cannot run barefoot and I need more help learning proper form. It was also so nice to meet another woman who runs barefoot and minimalist. I have only met one women in person running in VFF. Actually I ran with her for a while in the harvest half this past October. I have connected with barefoot women online but Tina was the first I've connected with in real life. I was very impressed by her vast knowledge on minimalist shoes for all occasions, dress shoes, winter boots, and what I needed most, ideas on what to run in during the cold winter. Tina suggested a pair of water shoes from Atmosphere; Deep See Beach Walkers. They are super flexible, have great ground feel all the while keeping the cold out. Kyle and I lucked out on Sunday. We ran across the street to Atmosphere to pick some up and they were having a members sale. For a 2$ donation we were given a 25% discount and a 10% discount on sale items. Awesome! Winter running shoes for less than 20$. While we were there we also browsed and pick up some new Vibrams. I got a pair of Jayas and Kyle got a pair of Bikilas. We will let you know what we think of them later on.
Here are some pictures of the Deep See Beach Walkers. Paired with some warm socks we think these will get us through Calgary's cold snowy winter.
