As promised to Tinytears60 , a photo of my shoes and socks, and me in them.
Almost as planned, I set off at 7.25am and the day was already warmer than I'd have liked.
I'm not going to say it was easy: it wasn't. My shins complained a little at first, but quietened down after about 20 seconds.
At one point I got overtaken by a seasoned runner doing about twice my pace.
The approach to the turnaround point is an upward incline. In previous weeks, I'd struggled with that. Today it felt much the same as the rest of that first run.
The second eight minute run was harder than the first. My legs were fine, though. A stitch tried to appear about half way through, but I was able to flex my belly muscles to get it to go away (as Jo had suggested in Week 4).
Harder than Wednesday's run, but very pleased to have done it.
Got home, glass of water, towel, did stretches, towel, another glass of water, and on to here to write it up.
Stats: distance 7.2km inc walks; pace 7'40"/km inc walks, average 6'32"/km running.
Today's eclectic playlist of oddities and oldies:
07:23 Johnny Horton - North To Alaska
07:26 The Searchers - It's Just The Way
07:29 Billie Jo Spears - Love Ain't Gonna Wait For Us
07:32 The Yardbirds - Over Under Sideways Down
07:34 Julie Andrews - Show Me (from My Fair Lady)
07:36 Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Shop Around
07:39 Herman's Hermits - I'm Henery The Eighth (I Am)
07:40 Shadows - Genie With The Light Brown Lamp
07:43 Genesis - Jesus He Knows Me
07:47 George Harrison - Poor Little Girl
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If you're curious enough to look them up, they're Vibram FiveFingers KSO Evos (I have other models too). Zero drop "barefoot" shoes aren't for everyone, of course.
I will look them up! But I can’t forget that once I had some socks with 5 finger toes. I couldn’t stop laughing every time I looked at my feet! I don’t understand about drops yet, I‘ll look that up, too.
"Drop" is how much heel raise the shoe has, measured as how much higher the heel is than the forefoot when in the shoe. A zero drop shoe is the same effect as being without shoes.
I'm so used to them now that I'm uncomfortable when I'm shoes with any amount of heel, eg. formal shoes.
Ah, thanks for explaining. Surely, after many years of wearing shoes with some sort of heel, going to a zero drop shoe would affect muscles and tendons in your foot. Just curious.
It would affect the tendons and muscles in your calf. That's why the advice for people wearing them for the first time is to break yourself into them very gradually. Back when the "Birthday Shoes" forum was still working, there were multiple warnings against "too much too soon".
I've been wearing them as my standard footwear for 8 years now. I've adapted.
A bit over ten years ago I was in an amateur production of the farce Wild Goose Chase playing the lead part originally played by Leslie Phillips. The character is a lovable con photographer hiding out in a country house from some thugs. Amongst the multiple disguises I had to adopt in the part was one of cross-dressing as a Mrs Gribble.
I needed some plain black over-the-knee socks for that as I'd be required to wear a skirt, and which I could also wear through the rest of the play to save changing time. When you have size 12 feet that's not an easy task.
The only long socks I could find had toes in them. I tried them and, having got over the unusual feeling of fabric between my toes, I was sold.
A couple of years later, I'd had new orthotic insoles fitted at the local hospital -- I have mild hypermobility and consequently flat feet. The podiatrist added a wedge on the inside surface of the insole to correct one heel's position. It was too extreme. When I next went on a walk of about a mile I got a painful blister. They fixed it on the next appointment, but the seed of wanting to look for an alternative was sown.
A month or so later I was moaning about my flat-footedness and insoles on a forum and someone suggested toe shoes as an off-the-wall alternative. I'd already got toed socks; toe shoes were the logical next step.
It took a few back-and-forths with Amazon until I got the right size. (Their sizing is unconventional, approximately based on European shoe sizing.) Initially, I only wore them round the house like slippers.
Gradually, I gained the courage to venture outside in them. With regular use, my calf muscles and tendons tightened up enough to support the arches naturally.
In the following years, I've been scouring eBay for new or nearly-new bargains in my size (M46). I now have quite a selection.
Until lockdown and C25K I'd never done any running in them more than a quick dash. I'd been walking everywhere in them but no running.
For really wet days, I do have some more conventional Merrell zero drop shoes which offer a lot more water resistance. I even have zero drop hiking boots (and toed hiking socks of course).
It never ceases to amuse me that the first thing most people ask me about the shoes is, invariably, "Are they comfortable?" 😁
Zero drop makes sense for hypermobility ... I bet they are fab for you... my friends daughter has that...
I’m not sure I could ... I tried walking flat footed just now and feel like I’m going to fall over .. but hey... if they work for you ...then great ... 👍😀
As I said, they do take a lot of getting used to. It's like walking around barefoot. Your feet and legs have had years and years of walking in shoes with some sort of heel in them. They're bound to protest at the change.
One thing I did notice was that my feet went down half a shoe size after a few months, as the arches raised.
Thanks for this! Intriguing. Do you find it easy to switch between different types of shoes or do you get so used to these that all other shoes now feel uncomfortable?
Ordinary shoes are now uncomfortable. They feel hard on the heels because almost all of them have a bit of a lift at the heel end, even the small amount in men's shoes. But as a side-effect, my posture has improved, probably because of the difference in weight distribution across my feet.
I've already run in the jungle shorts in the rain. They're made of synthetic fibres so I wasn't uncomfortable. I do have proper running shorts, though.
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Week 7 run3 - hot hot hot
W5R2 - half way there!
w5r2- first run in the rain!
W5r2 - that was really tough 
W5R2 a few pics and a feedback
