More Barefoot Time and Coaching Update

I've probably spent more time barefoot in the last two months than I have any other time in my life. The increased barefoot time is absolutely due to the increased time I've spent coaching. It's been a very busy couple of months for coaching events. Natural Running Coaching is sponsoring the 5 Peaks Trail Running Series in Alberta this year so I attended a promo table at the first two races. I've held 4 Introduction to Natural Running - Large Group Clinics in the last two months. I've personally coached dozens of people through One-on-One or Small Group Coaching and transformed them into Natural Runners. And most recently, attended the Footstock 2012 Race Expo where I shared Natural Running with countless people.

Coaching really has become my passion job and I am grateful every time I get to share Natural Running with anybody willing to learn. And the increased time being barefoot is an extra special added bonus. During Natural Running Coaching, we use being barefoot as a tool to better listen to your body and feel good running form. It's all about form, however, and not footwear. Once you understand what good running form feels like, it doesn't matter what you wear on your feet, although shoes that provide as much proprioception as possible definitely help to maintain good form.

Here are some pics from my recent coaching endeavours:

Me at the 5 Peaks Northern Alberta Series Terwillegar Race

Walking practice at a Small Group Coaching Session in Canmore, Alberta

Squatting practice in Canmore

Jumping practice in Canmore

A coaching client's BEFORE picture

And AFTER picture

Me at the Footstock 2012 Race Expo (with the NRC TV Extraordinaire)

In case my blogging frequency decreases further, don't worry, I'm still here. I'm just enjoying coaching! You can keep updated with NRC adventures at NaturalRunningCoaching.com.

Running Data

I haven't run with any kind of running technology for a LONG time. I stopped wearing a heart-rate monitor, timer, watch, etc. because I found they got in the way of having fun while running. I wasn't training for any races and didn't have any running goals in mind other than to practice good form all the time and to have as much fun as possible. Today, I think I found that running with tech can help maintain good form and be fun, too.

I ran today with a Garmin FR60 for the first time. While running, I had the display show heart rate (just to see where my fitness is at), timer (to establish a baseline for one of my most common short run routes), and cadence (for an accurate assessment of where my rhythm skill is at). I decided to run today with no walk breaks to see how my heart reacted and how long this run takes me now, which I'll compare to later in the season.

I discovered that my heart rate slowly creeps up during my run. I think intermittent walk breaks might help keep it lower throughout my run but I can test that now to see if that is actually the case.

I also discovered that my cadence is around 88-90 BPM (one foot) on flat and uphill, which is pretty good. The optimum cadence would be 90 so I'm happy at 88-90 for a first time out. My cadence goes up (to 103) going downhill, which is exactly what I would expect to see.

Overall, I'm happy with the results of my first run with running data. I do have some goals in mind for this summer of running longer and slightly faster while maintaining good form and being injury-free. Maybe the FR60 can be an added tool for me to accomplish those goals. I don't plan on running with it every time but seeing the results of my run was pretty cool and fun for me.

If you're interested, I downloaded the data and saved an image of the summary (you can click on it to view it larger).

Running Data for May 3, 2012

Patience Pays Off

I went for a short test run today and it was fantastic! I don't know if it's because I haven't run in four days (when I have been running every two or three days) or because I decided to go for a road run instead my usual trail run but running today felt FAST and EASY! If only every run could feel like that!

I decided my right foot was in good enough shape to test it out. I'm really glad I waited. I'm fairly certain that had I run on it on the days that it was feeling sore, I probably would have done additional damage. Listening to your body can be hard. Patience can be hard, too. In this case, patience definitely paid off.

Listening to Your Body

Sometimes, it's hard for me to have patience. Sometimes, I want to run but some part of my body is telling me not to run. It can be hard to listen to that body part when your brain says you should go for a run and your heart says it really wants to go for a run. This week, that body part telling me NOT to run is my foot, which I'm thinking, in this case, supercedes my brain and my heart.

In an effort to get my whole body stronger, and most especially my core stronger, I started going to TRX classes. TRX is suspension training that uses your body weight and your core in every exercise. I find that it has done wonders for my core and back strength (which was pretty limited due to my past back injuries). It took 4 months but I have finally just increased to 3 1-hour classes per week.

I've also been trying to increase how many times I run in a week from 2 to 3 times per week.

Probably unwisely, I'm also trying to increase the distance that I run for. Not a lot. Just a couple hundred metres more once per week.

I'm starting to think that the added TRX and the added running time and distance was a little too much for me and my right foot is telling me so. It doesn't hurt a lot but it is definitely uncomfortable with some steps more than others. So, although I REALLY wanted to run two days ago, I didn't and took a rest day instead.

Why would I write about NOT running? Because I know that sometimes it's hard to be patient and to listen to that body part that says maybe you shouldn't run. I also know how important it is to listen to said body part to avoid a worse injury. I thought I'd share this in case others are experiencing (or have experienced) a similar situation.

Hopefully my foot feels all better tomorrow and I'll go for a short test run. If it doesn't, I'll probably ride my bike and keep letting it heal. :)

Run Barefoot Girl Podcast Interview with Yours Truly

I recently had a lovely chat with my friend and fellow podcast host, Caity McCardell. The scary part was the interview for her wonderful podcast, Run Barefoot Girl, where we talked mostly about Natural Running Coaching. Even though the interview portion lasted maybe 30 minutes, Caity and I ended up chatting for 2 hours in total. How time flies when you're having fun.

Anyway, Caity recently posted the interview and it can be found as Episode #39 of RBG. I posted a little more about it on the NRC website as well. I haven't found the courage to listen to it yet so, if you do, let me know what you think. I was more than a little nervous being on the receiving end of interview questions instead of my usual giving end.