With Charlotte, Wild Board run course

 Pacing John S to a new 10k pb

 2 days after Ironbourne Full distance tri

Long, slow, boring, but not difficult

With Ste, after 20 mile bike

With Ste

Couldn't keep up with Scott

Along the beach, in merrel gtx shoes

Aong the beach, a bit slippery near the water. In Merrel gtx shoes

Just a quick one down the road to get a sub 8 minute daily mile in (I did run 1.5 miles by the river but so many people and gates etc it was too slow)

Good run! Some bloody steep hills in this route. Didn't east or drink anything before setting off, bit silly really, but felt good for the whole run

Ran even slower this morning

Tried to run slowly

Warm up for tomorrows triathlon

 Yikes - getting slower! Very wet and windy too

Hard!

 Several seconds slower than last time! (wearing new pair of Type A6's for the first time

An attempt to see how fast I could run this route - not great today

Easy run before Outlaw on Sunday - all good

A tougher than expected run along a damp but hard packed beach. Over half was on that wobbly wavey sand so not too comfortable to run on, but otherwise an ok run.

Barefoot - harder than I expected - into the wind coming back. Toes are raw afterwards

Frst proper openwater swim. I did a 56 mile bike ride at 6am, so had spent the rest of the day lounging about at the beach. The sea at Barry Island was literally dead clam, barely a ripple at the beach. I wanted to be dressed similar to how I will be at the Llanelli tri in 2 weeks (no gloves or shoes allowed) so I put on my jammers, the tri-wetsuit, a silicon hat, big wide goggles and that was it (gps watch under hat to track swim). The water was cold on my feet, and hands, but otherwise OK. 

Took a moment or two to properly get my head underwater, so I did breastroke for a little while, then finally got going with crawl but had to breath every other stroke as it was so cold I was gasping. After a few minutes I managed to start breathing every three strokes like I do in the pool and it was OK after that.

The biggest problem was direction! I tried keeping the beach to my left as I breathed on that side, but every now and then hit the bottom with my arm (so silty couldnt see beyond  my elbow, if that)  - too close to the beach. Every now and then I stopped crawl and did a little breaststoke, just to get my head out of the water (though dont recall having a particularly cold head). Got to the other end of gthe beach quicker than I expected, touched the rocks and turned around... and nearly stopped! There was quite a current swirling around at that end, but nothing serious. I soon got over near the beach again and headed back. Took my rests going back.

When I got out my hands were purple, but didnt feel too bad. Showers there are great, but very very cold without a wetsuit on.

Anyway, onto the run. I did it an hour or so after the swim, and it was mainly to try out the inov8 evoskins I got cheap. They're very good, by far the closed feel to barefoot I've tried, without the direct sensations of the tiny stones etc into the sole of feet. I ran into the water, got them full of sand etc and no problems (even wore them to walk back to the car and drive home). The run was fine.

At Lawrence's wedding. Couldn't find my Garmin watch so logged the run on the phone using Alpine Quest. Wore my swimming hr strap and watch so got the hr average and max from that. Just did a run, not fast, not slow... very nice area!

Just a short barefoot run to warm up after a 35 minute surf. Feet and legs weren't too bad really considering I ran a marathon yesterday morning, no specific problems. A strong wind behind me heading up the beach, into my face coming back.

I ran this a few minutes after messing about 'swimming' in the 8 foot waves for about 30 minutes. Feet were freezing from the swim, and running barefoot they were a bit numb and bright red. I was tired, and shivering cold,  from the swim, so the first mile was quite slow, but I managed to warm up and pick the pace up (though nowhere near the park run pace this morning). My fastest barefoot run so far.

After the run the front of each big toe, just where it touches the ground when walking, is sore, very sensitive when I walk around - the skin has been rubbed off. I've noticed from my K2's that I must toe off quite strongly, as the rubber at the front of the sole wher it curls up to protect the toe is quote worn and ripped, and this soreness from beach running (I had the same pain after the 4 mile Woolacombe beach run in the summer) confirms it.

Barefoot run along the beach. A strong wind was blowing from north to south so it was pretty tough running the first mile into that, but the return was much easier. About 7 degrees.

The beach was hard sand, mostly with a mm or two of water on it, and the water was cold, my feet were numb after the first mile or so. I was wearing zip-off trousers and cotton t-shirt and jumper, and wasnt too cold or warm really.

Right big toe is sore after the run, from friction? Other than that no probs - did a 7 mile run in Merrel Bare Access two days ago so my calves are a bit tight still from that but felt fine running.

Its been a year since I did this (or close to) run before - back then it was my longest run to date, and I remember it being hard! Todays run was 27 secs/mile quicker, with a average hr 12 lower, so clearly I'm much fitter / better at running a year on. It wasnt as quick as I'd hoped though, but straight away I knew it wasn't going to meet my 'sub 7' 'standard' pace now. I'd run 18 miles 4 days earlier but felt 100% recovered. I did run today in merrel bare access which are usually quick being so light, but after the run my calves are sore a day later... A good run all the same.

Stayed in Dartford for a work meeting so went for a run in the drizzle this morning. Couldnt find my intended route so made it up, had to stop twice to tie shoe laces, and had to stop at a train crossing (it was slow run even without all the stops). Legs still felt a bit sore after Sundays 16 miler, but not painful, just a bit achey.

Had to pick the car up from a garage (wheel balance & alignment) so ran from the train station. Very windy, some rain. I didnt know where I was going and went down some wrong paths to get across roads, and over bridges etc, so true running pace was quite a few seconds quicker than recorded (maybe 7:25?). Also wore my blue Vaude rucsac with some clothes in, which felt fine. Left foot had some discomfort but nothing like the pain over a few weeks ago, it really seems like its fixed...

 Longest run yet.  Tough - highest average hr too. I planned the route on the web and followed it on my phone, so in a couple of places I had to slow down while I worked out where to go. The zigzags down to the beach were very slow, and trying to get out of jp morgans car park at the end of the run was a mess, so my real run speed was probably a few seconds per mile faster than shown. A good speed which If I can keep up I'll be happy. I was tired at the end of the run, but could quite easily have carried on running, I also tried eating a banana after 3 miles or so, but was breathing so hard that it wook quite a while and I threw some of it away. Need to practice eating more...

I took two ibuprofen shortly before setting off. My left foot hurt while running, but not as bad as last week with Ste, and strangely after the run I have almost no pain at all - it appears to be almost fixed! One day later I can walk perfectly on the foot with very little discomfort. My left calf is tight (expected really after doing my longest run yet), and my right knee is twinging (probably more from the ~700 mile of driving this week around the grandparents). Quite sore nipples after the run.

With Ste - we set off at a quick pace and after a mile or so the route was downhill into Royton, hence the very quick second mile. We then headed past Shaw and around Dunwood park but found the path was under consruction there and we had go cross country, very slippy wet mud on a steep bank, so that explains the much slower 6th mile (up until that point the average pace for 5.3 miles was 7:15, so very quick for me). Note that we finished before the sharp climb up Trent rd which would have returned us to our starting elevation, so this has to considered a downhill run.

I took two ibuprofen shortly before setting off. My left foot hurt all the way round, and it was very painful to walk afterwards, but a few days later the pain seems to come and go - sometimes I stand up from a chair and the pain in the foot is very bad, but other times I can walk almost normally - trapped nerve? Very sore nipples after the run.

20111228 - The pain in my left foot has been on and off the last few days. When I've been sitting down for a while and stand up it hurts a lot, but after a couple of tentative stepsits possible to walk almost normally, though I can still feel pain. So I went for another 1.4 mile walk at work, slightly slower than last time (though much lower average hr) and now an hour afterwards my left foot is very painful again!