Today my calves thank me.
After falling in love with Chi Running, I read the "if you like this, you'd like..." Barefoot Running. Its a great read and I'm going to hear the author speak in Campbell next week.
Long story short, overengineered running shoes are the CAUSE of most running injuries, and overly supportive shoes cause our feet to atrophy. (when the bones and tendons grow soft and weak, the poor wee plantar tendon is forced to carry weight, which it was never indended to do!)
So, I'm following his philosophy (if its not fun, don't do it) and his training method (start very slowly!) and enlisting my 10 year old for moral support.
Day one, Tyler and I did a jog around the grassy parts of Belgatos Park, then hiked the dirt path back. This 20 minutes felt GREAT. Then, throwing caution to the wind, I did a one hour uphill hike in minimal shoes, and while my feet came out fine, my calves were sore at me (pun intended) and ached with an intensity remeniscent of a teenage crush.
So today, day 2, as I jogged the grassy circle, when my calves twinged, I respected them. I then switched to another training mode - walking barefoot around my block to build better foot pads.
Stay tuned .... plan to keep this journey going all summer.
