Morning exercises
When I was loosing weight rapidly in Miami I would work out before breakfast. I got to a point where I hated to do that because I would totally run out of energy before my workout was over. Of course, I was being a bit nutty about it all - I roller bladed 10 miles before breakfast or rode my bike for 20 miles. I was totally bonking on no breakfast. Over the past year or so I've read a few articles about how you burn more fat exercising before you break your fast, but my aversion from previous experience kept me from trying it again. I read another quick article about it again, and this one motivated me to give it a try. Anything to stave off holiday weight gain (except not eating holiday treats....) I got up yesterday morning and walked on the treadmill before breakfast, and it was totally fine. I did it again this morning too with no ill effects. I suspect I will be able to run/walk before breakfast as well. If I get to the point that I am training for an actual race I will probably shift to eating breakfast before running, but that seems to be a ways away from the moment. We shall see if this one tweak to my routine has any positive effects. I was 200.8 lbs on Monday. I'll be curious to see where I am on Friday.
What about running?
My feet are feeling great. I am still adjusting to my new Terra Plana vivobarefoot shoes. I wake up with a little soreness in my feet (overall) that fades as I walk around. I can feel my general walking pace picking up, and I'm up to walking at a 2.6 mph pace on the treadmill. These are all fabulous things. I have done a few walk/run sessions on the treadmill. I've decided to lay off on that until about January 15th, 2011. This will give me about a month of walking around totally barefoot style. I can feel my feet getting stronger, but since I am still experiencing some foot fatigue I want to be darn sure I'm ready to take the next step.
When I can run again I will run for 2 minutes 30 seconds for four sprints during my roughly 30 minutes on the treadmill. I'll start the process by run/walk one day, walk for 2 days in a row and then run again. My week will go run, walk walk, run, walk walk. Once I have NO foot soreness from this set up I will move up to a run walk run walk pattern. Again, once I have NO foot soreness at all I will move on to extending my running segments past 2 minutes and 30 seconds (which is the average length of a commercial break). I may end up with a full month going by between changes, rather than a week. But since all of my recent foot misery (metatarsalia, Achilles tendinitis) has come from rushing into running, I think I will slow down and remember my mantra: This is for the rest of my life. If it takes me a year to get to running 30 minutes without a break, so what? I will get there. And go past that. And run a marathon. I have time. And if I don't, I don't know it so why get all worked up about it?
What about weight lifting?
I think winter has worked it's usual "meh" magic on my weight-lifting. I want to lift, but I think it would be better if I do this in the evening after dinner. It's not like I'm doing anything that I can't work around between 6 pm and 9 pm (when I go to bed). I seem to need a somewhat rigid schedule in the morning 30 minutes on the treadmill provides - I don't really like having to think much about what I am doing at 6 am.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Minimalist / barefoot work shoes for women
What the heck are minimalist shoes?
Or, more realistically, what does Round Runner mean by the phrase minimalist shoes? It's pretty simple in concept, but hard to get to in practice:
Terra Plana has an awesome collection of casual shoes that fit the definition above to a T in their vivobarefoot line. One of the best things about vivobarefoot shoes is that in style and quality they look like regular shoes and won't draw any unwanted attention to your footwear. They are pretty awesome (I have the Lucy and Kali styles), but price out between $110 - $160 a pair. You can often find good coupon codes for vivobarefoot shoes by searching the net.
Softstar shoes are a well-regarded minimalist shoe company. Their product has a rougher quality to it than the vivobarefoot shoes, but some people swear by them. Each pair is custom made, and the prices run around $75-$90.
Merrell is starting a barefoot line due out February 2011. Since they are a large shoe manufacturer I assume that the shoes will conform to their usual quality standards. I have no idea what the price range will be.
Camper has a line out called Peu that seems to be a minimalist/barefoot line. The shoes look great and I'd love to try them, or hear from anyone who has. The price range seems to be around $130 - $150.
Keen has the Roatan water shoes that look great, and may work well as a minimalist shoe. I've notice that a lot of water shoes might be able to make the jump to minimalist work wear. I have some questions about neoprene for comfort during the summer, but in the winter I bet it would be grand.
Nike has the Sneakerboat II, which is another aqua sock style shoe, but it looks great and would be totally wearable in a casual work environment.
Sockwa has several lines of aqua socks and yoga shoes that could work for some in the workplace. As I get older I am getting bolder in my footwear sensibility.
Feelmax produces minimalist shoes with a very European sensibility, and are sold online but only out of the EU. Some of the styles are quite cute, in my opinion.
Kigo is another aqua sock vendor who shoes work well for minimalist purposes. Unlike some of the other aqua sock companies, Kigo seems focused on style as much as function. They have some uber-cute Mary Jane style shoes as well as some nicely funky yoga-shoe looking styles.
SodHoppers is a fairly high end custom moccasin manufacturer. I lust after these shoes. I think it's possible to get a pair that doesn't make you look like a refugee from a Renaissance fair, but why would you want to? They are on the priciest end of the shoes listed here, easily into the $200 - $500 territory. But how cool would they be to wear to work? And I bet they are the most comfortable shoes you will ever own.
Dance shoes
Dance and gymnastic shoes are the original minimalist shoes because those athletes need great freedom to move their feet in performances. Here are a few shoes that may work in the workplace.
Capezio Freedom
Capezio Breeze
Gymnastic Shoe
German gymnastic shoes
Ballet flats from various companies that seem like they might be good for minimalist work shoes (assuming that they don't crunch your toes too much)
French Sole
Born
EMU Australia
Blowfish (some of their boots and booties also look like likely candidates for minimalist shoes)
Or, more realistically, what does Round Runner mean by the phrase minimalist shoes? It's pretty simple in concept, but hard to get to in practice:
- No lift at all in the heel of the shoe
- Very flexible sole
- Thinnest shoe sole you can get
- Shoe design that allows for full range of motion in your forefoot and ankle
Terra Plana has an awesome collection of casual shoes that fit the definition above to a T in their vivobarefoot line. One of the best things about vivobarefoot shoes is that in style and quality they look like regular shoes and won't draw any unwanted attention to your footwear. They are pretty awesome (I have the Lucy and Kali styles), but price out between $110 - $160 a pair. You can often find good coupon codes for vivobarefoot shoes by searching the net.
Softstar shoes are a well-regarded minimalist shoe company. Their product has a rougher quality to it than the vivobarefoot shoes, but some people swear by them. Each pair is custom made, and the prices run around $75-$90.
Merrell is starting a barefoot line due out February 2011. Since they are a large shoe manufacturer I assume that the shoes will conform to their usual quality standards. I have no idea what the price range will be.
Camper has a line out called Peu that seems to be a minimalist/barefoot line. The shoes look great and I'd love to try them, or hear from anyone who has. The price range seems to be around $130 - $150.
Keen has the Roatan water shoes that look great, and may work well as a minimalist shoe. I've notice that a lot of water shoes might be able to make the jump to minimalist work wear. I have some questions about neoprene for comfort during the summer, but in the winter I bet it would be grand.
Nike has the Sneakerboat II, which is another aqua sock style shoe, but it looks great and would be totally wearable in a casual work environment.
Sockwa has several lines of aqua socks and yoga shoes that could work for some in the workplace. As I get older I am getting bolder in my footwear sensibility.
Feelmax produces minimalist shoes with a very European sensibility, and are sold online but only out of the EU. Some of the styles are quite cute, in my opinion.
Kigo is another aqua sock vendor who shoes work well for minimalist purposes. Unlike some of the other aqua sock companies, Kigo seems focused on style as much as function. They have some uber-cute Mary Jane style shoes as well as some nicely funky yoga-shoe looking styles.
SodHoppers is a fairly high end custom moccasin manufacturer. I lust after these shoes. I think it's possible to get a pair that doesn't make you look like a refugee from a Renaissance fair, but why would you want to? They are on the priciest end of the shoes listed here, easily into the $200 - $500 territory. But how cool would they be to wear to work? And I bet they are the most comfortable shoes you will ever own.
Dance shoes
Dance and gymnastic shoes are the original minimalist shoes because those athletes need great freedom to move their feet in performances. Here are a few shoes that may work in the workplace.
Capezio Freedom
Capezio Breeze
Gymnastic Shoe
German gymnastic shoes
Ballet flats from various companies that seem like they might be good for minimalist work shoes (assuming that they don't crunch your toes too much)
French Sole
Born
EMU Australia
Blowfish (some of their boots and booties also look like likely candidates for minimalist shoes)
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Can you make regular shoes work as minimalist shoes?
The Tale of Woe (you can skip this bit if you don't like consumerist whining)
I tend to be a bit obsessive. Once I decided I wanted to wear minimalist shoes to work I went online an bought a pair of Terra Plana's vivobarefoot Lucy shoes, and even paid the extra $10 for 2 day shipping. Too bad the shoe size conversion between US and EU shoe sizes was way off. I'm a 9.5 in US sizes, so I bought the US 10/EU 40 size. My left big toe touched the end of the shoe. I had to ship them back and wait for them to ship another pair to me via 6-10 day shipping. The next pair was an EU 41 (still too small) and the wrong style. Apparently I originally ordered a pair of Lucy Black Nappa, and they sent me a pair of Lucy Black Eco back. I snail mailed them back and ordered a replacement pair of Lucy Black Nappy in size 42. The total time it took me to get the final pair was: +2 days, +4 days back, +6 days to me, + 6 days back, + 7 days to me, for a total of 25 days to get the correct pair of shoes in the correct size. This is the reason why people don't like to buy shoes online, but I was willing to do it to sort out my correct shoe size since there were no local retailers who carried the shoes I wanted.
The Experiment using a pair of flats
Regardless of how long sorting out my vivobarefoot order was going to take I wanted to get started on my new shoe odyssey. I decided to see if I could find a really flexible pair of flats to wear in the meantime. I went to the local DSW shoe store and bought a pair of Born flats on clearance. They were the best (affordable) pair of shoes I thought I could make work. The heel seemed only slightly higher than the forefoot.
The Good
With the approximately 1/4 inch insert taken out the shoes seemed really flat. They were fairly flexible in the forefoot and definitely lower than any other pair of shoes I had. I noticed an improvement in the ease of my barefoot walking after several weeks of wearing the flats at work. I didn't wear them out of work due to cold winter temperatures and the open structure of the flats. I did experience general foot fatigue in the first week or so of wearing the flats, but over time that went away. My fitness goal is to take 11,000 steps a day, and during the experiment phase I was averaging 9-12,000 steps a work day.
The Bad
With the insert taken out the top of the heel hit much higher on my Achilles tendon than usual. This new position on the back of my foot had the tendency to push my toes farther forward into the front of my shoe than normal. Since my toes were father forward they did not have as much room to splay when I walked as I would have liked. While it was okay to deal with for a few weeks, it wasn't comfortable enough to wear all the time, or for more than the experimental period while I waited for my shoes to arrive in the mail.
Comparison to the vivobarefoot shoes
It is possible that I could have dealt with the minor discomforts of the flats without their inserts if I had not finally gotten the EU 42 Lucys. The instant I put them on my feet said YES. My toes had plenty of room to move about and I now have about a scant 1/2" between the tip of my big toe and the inside of the front of the shoe. This is a huge improvement over the regular flats. The first time I walked in them I noticed a definite difference in how my heel felt. First of all, it felt the ground. I had some minimal ground feel in my forefoot in the flats, but no ground sensation in my heel at all, beyond the pressure of planting my foot when I stepped. While the flats were the lowest shoes I owned prior to the tpvbs, the heel was probably still 1/4 - 3/8" thick, preventing me from walking with a barefoot gait and feel.
Compared to my other shoes the flats had great flexibility in the forefoot, but compared to the tpvbs they were stiff, which affected how my foot rolls through a walking step. I've noticed that I seem to land on the outer edge of my foot and roll onwards toward my big toe as I step down. That motion was muted in the flats but very evident in the Lucys. I also seem to step softer/lighter in the tpvbs than in the flats or in any other pair of shoes that I own. The Lucys have a much lower heel back placement than the flats, and have a notch cut out to allow full ankle movement without causing any friction on the Achilles tendon.
As with the flats, I have noticed increased foot fatigue in my arch and forefoot during the first week of wearing the tpvbs, but that is fading as the days go on. I have no problems wearing them outside - the lace up area keeps the top of my foot comfortable in the cold wind, and I use the very thin inserts that came with the shoes to insulate my sock clad feet from whatever cold would seep up through the 4mm soles of the shoes. The inserts do seem a little cushy, but they don't seem to be marring my road feel very much. Without a doubt, the Terra Plana vivobarefoot Lucy shoes are the most comfortable shoes I can remember wearing.
Conclusion
Terra Plana shoes are great, but they are also expensive, and may be prohibitively so for many people who would like to try wearing minimalist shoes in the office workplace. Removing the inserts from very flat shoes can bring them closer to a barefoot style shoe, but may also shift how your foot rides in the shoe to an unacceptable degree. The fewer degree difference between your heel height and your forefoot height, the more flexible the shoe is overall, and the more room your toes have to move naturally the better. I will follow up this post with one on potential minimalist shoes for women in the workplace.
I tend to be a bit obsessive. Once I decided I wanted to wear minimalist shoes to work I went online an bought a pair of Terra Plana's vivobarefoot Lucy shoes, and even paid the extra $10 for 2 day shipping. Too bad the shoe size conversion between US and EU shoe sizes was way off. I'm a 9.5 in US sizes, so I bought the US 10/EU 40 size. My left big toe touched the end of the shoe. I had to ship them back and wait for them to ship another pair to me via 6-10 day shipping. The next pair was an EU 41 (still too small) and the wrong style. Apparently I originally ordered a pair of Lucy Black Nappa, and they sent me a pair of Lucy Black Eco back. I snail mailed them back and ordered a replacement pair of Lucy Black Nappy in size 42. The total time it took me to get the final pair was: +2 days, +4 days back, +6 days to me, + 6 days back, + 7 days to me, for a total of 25 days to get the correct pair of shoes in the correct size. This is the reason why people don't like to buy shoes online, but I was willing to do it to sort out my correct shoe size since there were no local retailers who carried the shoes I wanted.
 |
| Lucy Black Nappa |
 |
| Lucy Black Eco |
The Experiment using a pair of flats
Regardless of how long sorting out my vivobarefoot order was going to take I wanted to get started on my new shoe odyssey. I decided to see if I could find a really flexible pair of flats to wear in the meantime. I went to the local DSW shoe store and bought a pair of Born flats on clearance. They were the best (affordable) pair of shoes I thought I could make work. The heel seemed only slightly higher than the forefoot.
The Bad
With the insert taken out the top of the heel hit much higher on my Achilles tendon than usual. This new position on the back of my foot had the tendency to push my toes farther forward into the front of my shoe than normal. Since my toes were father forward they did not have as much room to splay when I walked as I would have liked. While it was okay to deal with for a few weeks, it wasn't comfortable enough to wear all the time, or for more than the experimental period while I waited for my shoes to arrive in the mail.
Comparison to the vivobarefoot shoes
It is possible that I could have dealt with the minor discomforts of the flats without their inserts if I had not finally gotten the EU 42 Lucys. The instant I put them on my feet said YES. My toes had plenty of room to move about and I now have about a scant 1/2" between the tip of my big toe and the inside of the front of the shoe. This is a huge improvement over the regular flats. The first time I walked in them I noticed a definite difference in how my heel felt. First of all, it felt the ground. I had some minimal ground feel in my forefoot in the flats, but no ground sensation in my heel at all, beyond the pressure of planting my foot when I stepped. While the flats were the lowest shoes I owned prior to the tpvbs, the heel was probably still 1/4 - 3/8" thick, preventing me from walking with a barefoot gait and feel.
Compared to my other shoes the flats had great flexibility in the forefoot, but compared to the tpvbs they were stiff, which affected how my foot rolls through a walking step. I've noticed that I seem to land on the outer edge of my foot and roll onwards toward my big toe as I step down. That motion was muted in the flats but very evident in the Lucys. I also seem to step softer/lighter in the tpvbs than in the flats or in any other pair of shoes that I own. The Lucys have a much lower heel back placement than the flats, and have a notch cut out to allow full ankle movement without causing any friction on the Achilles tendon.
As with the flats, I have noticed increased foot fatigue in my arch and forefoot during the first week of wearing the tpvbs, but that is fading as the days go on. I have no problems wearing them outside - the lace up area keeps the top of my foot comfortable in the cold wind, and I use the very thin inserts that came with the shoes to insulate my sock clad feet from whatever cold would seep up through the 4mm soles of the shoes. The inserts do seem a little cushy, but they don't seem to be marring my road feel very much. Without a doubt, the Terra Plana vivobarefoot Lucy shoes are the most comfortable shoes I can remember wearing.
Conclusion
Terra Plana shoes are great, but they are also expensive, and may be prohibitively so for many people who would like to try wearing minimalist shoes in the office workplace. Removing the inserts from very flat shoes can bring them closer to a barefoot style shoe, but may also shift how your foot rides in the shoe to an unacceptable degree. The fewer degree difference between your heel height and your forefoot height, the more flexible the shoe is overall, and the more room your toes have to move naturally the better. I will follow up this post with one on potential minimalist shoes for women in the workplace.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
It's the little things in life
Making yogurt fun to eat
I actually like yogurt, except for one thing. Most yogurts sold in the US are too damn sweet! They taste like weird candy rather than a sweet/tart treat. I've been pretty happy eating plain Dannon Greek yogurt with some local honey in it, but I've been getting bored lately. So now I put a tablespoon of grape-nuts cereal in it, and it's fun to eat again. All smooth and crunchy. Plus the strong blandness of grape-nuts (the only thing that recommends it is the crunch) helps tame the over-sweetness of the flavored Greek yogurt, so I can eat the strawberry kind too. In an attempt to make our meals more nutritious Round Hiker and I have been playing around with Chia seed, which happens to taste pretty good mixed in with yogurt too. So all in all, I've been having a revitalization of yogurt lately.
I actually like yogurt, except for one thing. Most yogurts sold in the US are too damn sweet! They taste like weird candy rather than a sweet/tart treat. I've been pretty happy eating plain Dannon Greek yogurt with some local honey in it, but I've been getting bored lately. So now I put a tablespoon of grape-nuts cereal in it, and it's fun to eat again. All smooth and crunchy. Plus the strong blandness of grape-nuts (the only thing that recommends it is the crunch) helps tame the over-sweetness of the flavored Greek yogurt, so I can eat the strawberry kind too. In an attempt to make our meals more nutritious Round Hiker and I have been playing around with Chia seed, which happens to taste pretty good mixed in with yogurt too. So all in all, I've been having a revitalization of yogurt lately.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Back in the Saddle
Weight Update
Two large trips in November and some looming stuff in December have done a number on my workout schedule, my diet adherence, and my general calm. All told I am about 3 lbs. up total from my low of 197.8. Which is annoying, but in some respects, a total miracle. Did I mention that I ate a deep fried avocado in Harlingen, TX? I haven't been food journaling at all, so I guess I can take a 3 lb. gain as a minor victory. This is called re-framing. It helps when the voices whisper in the dark...
Victory!
For the first time since August I ran this morning. My feet feel great and everything seemed fine while I was doing it. Sadly, I found that my running pace is about 4 MPH - a brisk walking pace for Round Hiker. I was on my treadmill (best large purchase I've probably ever made!) and at a 2% incline. I set it on 2.5 mph for the show portion of the Daily Show, and on 4.0 for the commercials. I was pleased to see that I could run for the entire commercial periods as well. This is good news. I am not stuck starting back at the very beginning by running for 30 second sprints at a time. I guestimate that the commercials are about 1.75 - 2.0 minutes long. I did use my metronome during the running periods. I forgot that I can't seem to stay on beat listing to the beeps at 180 bps, but by the second commercial break I shifted back to my 60 bps. If I get my breathing controlled my feet follow. Next time I will time the commercials to see how long each break is.
Victory!
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