1000km in Vibram Five Fingers

Posted on June 6, 2011 by krisandro

It’s been 16 months since I first shared shared my experience in Vibram Five Fingers (VFFs) and since I just passed the 1,000km mark 2 weeks ago in these strange looking minimalist shoes (I refuse to call them “barefoot shoes”. You are either barefoot or in various kinds of footwear.), I’d like to share again on my journey thus far.

The two ailments I had in regular shoes prior to switching to VFFs were plantar fasciitis and knee aches/pains. Knee aches have been non-existent so far. As for plantar fasciitis, the only times when I will feel slight pain is when I haven’t been running for a period and I MIGHT feel a little pull under the left foot during the 1st to 2nd run. So I can safely say that I am rid of these two problems for good every since switching to VFFs

Besides the period of time last year when I went got top of the foot pain (suspected tendinitis), probably from switching to VFFs much too soon without a transition plan, I was completely free of any injuries. Apart from a good, progressive training plan, the most important thing for any runner is to be injury free. An injury can set you back for weeks, months & even years of progress in fitness and being free from that ensures that you can constantly improve even if you are just inching forward.

I wish I had found some way to measure my feet before switching to Vibram Five Fingers; especially the bridge of my feet because I can almost swear that the arches of my feet have risen slightly over time and they feel more muscular as well. I remember being identified by a “shoe specialist” that I am leaning towards being flat footed and I have not encountered any problems from “the lack of arch support”.

I have 3 pairs of Vibram Five Fingers now. One pair of Classics that I use to walk in on an almost daily basis and 2 pairs of Bikila that I rotate for runs. Note that I don’t rotate them because of cushioning; I rotate em so that they have time to be dry from sweat and wet weather.

How long do these thin shoes last? I run mostly on cement and tarmac and manage to clock 600km in my VFFs KSO. I could have continued to run in them but I don’t want holes in my socks when a section of my socks started showing through the bottom of my KSO. I read of others like this dude who clocked over 1,200km in a pair and still going strong!

I really don’t see myself running in anything else but minimalist shoes and will recommend it to anyone. But along my journey, I have also came to a bigger understanding that the saying of “If it ain’t broke, do not fix it!” applies to shoes as well. If you never had a problem running in shoes or even landing on your heels, I’d say that you are a lucky man/woman.

Else, if you are willing to forgo the concept of cushioning and structured shoes or have been getting injured, I will highly recommend you to give minimalist shoes a try and run like how we humans are engineered to. Remember to transition slowly!

Here’s a screen-shot of a recent barefooting article by My Paper where I gave a short blurb on running with minimalist shoes.

Lawrence Lin, the dude in the pic, plans to run the Sundown 2011 100km BAREFOOTED. I salute the man!

Link to article (Page A16)

Feel free to contact me to discuss about VFFs or running! I always love to make another friend who enjoys this misunderstood sport. I can be reached via my contact form, on Twitter and through Facebook.

Running Diary – Part I

Posted on June 3, 2011 by krisandro

I will start chronicling my training data and methods here from race to race. One reason for this is to serve as a running diary and the other is for anyone who might be interested to know how I train. I am only an amateur long distance runner and I definitely will not say this is the right way to train but I collect a lot of data and I am seeing good results from my training.

*Warning* This will be an extremely boring post for most, so do not read beyond this line if you are not interesting in running data.

Training period: 26 Jan 2011 – 28 May (Sundown 2011, 21.1 km)

Distance ran (Excluding racing distance): 473.25 km
No. of runs: 59
Highest Weekly Mileage: 48.55 km
Average running distance: 8.02 km
Time spent: 46 hrs 47 mins 31 secs
Max. distance ran: 20 km
Avg. speed: 10.1 km/h
Avg. heart rate: 157 bpm
Avg. cadence: 166 – 174 steps/min.
Calories burned: 32,233 kcal
Weight change: 67.8 kg (9 Feb) – 64.5 kg (28 May)
Lowest measured weight: 63.2 kg (29 May)
Resting heart rate change: 63 bpm (30 Jan) – 56 bpm (12 May)
Lowest measured resting heart rate: 52 bpm (24 Mar)

Race Details:

Race Name: Sundown 2011
Distance: 21.1km
Time: 2 hr 02 min 13 sec
Avg. Pace: 5:48 min/km
Avg. Cadence: 164 steps/min

Training details:

I train mostly in heart rate zones. The zones are defined by assuming through calculation that my Maximum Heart Rate (HR^max) is 192 bpm and my Resting Heart Rate (HR^rest) is measured once every 3-5 days. I measure my HR^rest 1st thing in the morning before I get out of bed and it’s at least 24 hrs after the previous run.

These are my heart rate training zones with a HR^rest of 56 bpm:

The bulk of my training is of Long Slow Distances (LSDs) and the rest are Tempo Runs, Short Intervals & Long Intervals. I chose to adopt a 10-day training cycle instead of the more common 7-day cycle because I didn’t want to run 4-6 days straight with just 1 or 2 days of rest. The 10-day cycle also allowed me more flexibility in the event that I had to skip a session or two and was still able to keep to the important scheduled Long Run.

This is one real example of my 10-day cycle:

Day 1: Warm-Up Jog – 1.5 km, Short Intervals – 800 m x 6
Day 2: LSD – 8.8 km
Day 3: Rest
Day 4: Warm-Up Jog – 1.5 km, Long Intervals – 2.7 km x 2
Day 5: LSD – 8.8 km
Day 6: Rest
Day 7: Warm-Up Jog – 1 km, Tempo Run – 6.6 km
Day 8: LSD – 8.7 km
Day 9: LSD (Longest Run) – 20 km
Day 10: Rest
Total distance (including jogging laps during intervals): 71.79 km

Types of Runs:

LSDs: These are ran in Zone 3. I will divide the distance as equally as I can into 11 parts (Zone 2.7 to Zone 3.7) and slowly allow my heart’s bpm to rise as I jog the distance. Barring sections on routes with down and/or up-slopes, my speed will naturally increase as the effort of my heart increases which results in a overall negative split.

Tempo Runs: These are ran in Zone 4. I will divide the distance as equally as I can into 12 parts (Zone 3.7 to Zone 4.8) and slowly allow my heart’s bpm to rise as I run the distance. As with LSDs, the overall timing of each run is a negative split.

Short & Long Intervals: After reading about efficiency of interval training distances by Arthur Lydiard, I mainly do distances of short intervals (800 m) and long intervals (1.5 km & above). I run as fast as I can (entering Zone 5) with the last session’s timing as a guide for each lap. Upon hitting the end of a lap, I will slow jog until my heart rate hits Zone 2.9 before I start my next lap.

Race Comparison:

krisandro sundown 2011 vs sbr 2009 490x277

(Click to enlarge)

Race to race comparison will show a very skewed improvement this time because the races are so far apart (almost 2 years).

Fitness comparison:

As my LSDs are done with the same effort (heart rate zones), I shall compare LSDs of similar distances over a time period.

As you can see, there is marked improvement in speed even with a decrease in effort (avg. heart rate).

Summary:

Seeing that I manage to finally complete a training period and run a good race, I’ll be adopting the same concept in my build-up to Singapore Bay Run & Army Half Marathon (21.1km). However, my planned mileages are in preparation for my 1st full marathon in Dec for Standard Chartered Marathon Singapore.

Feel free to ask me or discuss about my training plans and running. I can be easily contacted via email through my contact page, on Twitter or through Facebook.

Getting There And Out Was A Bitch But Completing Sundown 2011 Was Awesome

Posted on May 29, 2011 by krisandro

My last race was at Singapore Bay Run (SBR) in Sep 2009 for the 21km run and since then, there was this running curse that plagued me since then. Getting to the starting line of Sundown 2011 proved to be an obstacle itself with the insane traffic jam leading up to Changi Exhibition Centre (CEC).

From my observations, the only people who got to the starting line in time were those who planned to arrive insanely early and those who travelled via motorcycles that can weave through the snail-paced vehicular jam.

The awesome KuKuNehNeh drove me to Expo where we parked and we took a cab down to CEC. A drive from Expo to CEC on any other day that will take 20mins, took almost 1hr that day. And that was only to the junction leading to Aviation Park Road. We got off the cab and away from the clearly pissed cab driver who most likely regretted picking us up even when I gave him 4 extra dollars as compensation. We then walked at a fast pace towards the starting line which took us another 25-30mins. Scores of runners and supporters lined the streets on route to the starting line as well.

My personal best (PB) was 2:43:32 at the SBR in 2009 and I aimed to do a 1:59:00 and set off at a good average pace of 5:36/km for the 1st 10km. The pace was tough to maintain not because of the speed but for the waves and waves of human traffic that I had to weave through because I started 30mins past the official starting time. Walkers hogged both the left and right extremes and sometimes even the centre. There are also groups of runners that probably know each other and thus formed various formations that I had to circumnavigate.

Most of the time I had to silently find opportunities to overtake as I didn’t want to say “To your right!” for the whole of 21km and ended up bumping into a few elbows and arms while overtaking. I did say my “Sorries” though.

The water/100plus stations were overcrowded and I only managed to grab a cup of 100plus at the 4km mark and another 2 cups of water along the way to the 17km mark. My mind and body broke down at that point and I walked to the 100plus station and took a cup and walked. It was tasty life going down my throat and I actually walked back after 5 metres just to grab another cup and walked for another 300 metres.

Upon checking my watch and remembering what I set out to do, my mind rebooted and I ran my way to finish in 2:02:13 with an average pace of 5:30/km for the last 3.65km. I was really spent, pushing myself through the last 500m and my right calf cramped up. The photographers at the last stretch probably have all pictures of my face in various states of agony.

I didn’t achieve what I set out to do but I am still extremely pleased at breaking my race curse and shaving off 40+mins off to set a new PB.

This is only my 2nd race since starting long-distance running in 2009 and there’s a wealth of lessons learnt. I can’t wait to start training for my next race!

A poor location to organise a running event of such scale but kudos to the Sundown 2011 volunteers that lined the route and the water stations who were extremely cheerful while saying/shouting words of encouragement as I ran my heart out. I can’t imagine the amount of work involved in cleaning up the event site and route which was littered with cups and other rubbish as well.

A big THANK YOU to you volunteers! (and also to KKNN for driving and accompanying me there. Though she said it will be the last time she is gonna do that due to the horrible traffic. LOL)

Update: The official results are out at Runpix! http://www.runpix.info/wrace2/00/sun11/ge.php?ln=

Here’s my comparison between Sundown 2011 & SBR 2009

(Click to enlarge)

Learning From Failure

Posted on May 25, 2011 by krisandro

I had 3 out of 63 runs in this training cycle that failed to meet my expectations and on hindsight, I’m pleased to have had them because the lessons learnt are priceless.

There was this failed attempt to go for a long jog in the evening after spending a tiring morning at Sentosa’s MegaZip. The other 2 failed attempts was because of my choice at an overzealous pace at a recent 10km and 12km run. These 2 fast paced runs were the most enlightening because it emulated race conditions.

Looking at the data from the 2 runs, I know that I will fail to keep the pace when my heart starts to beat above 175-177 which is about 91-92% of my MHR (Maximum Heart Rate). After I hit that threshold, I will only be able to keep the same pace for about 2-3km before my body and mind tells me to give up.

I did the 12km run in 1:05:53 and it sounds like a respectable timing at a pace of 5:29/km but it was an extremely crappy run. The initial 7.6km was ran at a pretty constant pace of 5:08/km and I couldn’t keep it up after that. The rest of the run was at paces ranging from 5:41/km to 6:27/km. It felt so bad that I really wanted to just give up.

So for races beyond 3km, I know that I need to keep a watch on my heart rate (pun not intended) and adjust my speed accordingly to leave enough fuel to finish the run at a constant pace and a strong finish.