faster......

Barefoot + Speed.

Tonight I gave it a push. 11km, cool night, very gentle start, winding up to a strong finish. Yahoo! 55 minutes exactly, which is by no means blistering (mind the pun), but the fastest I've gone barefoot by a long way.
I stretched out the usual barefoot shuffle and reached out with my toes a little more, finding that keeping the cadence way up to avoid bouncing allowed the stride to lengthen without scuffing, rotation or toe-off. When I got lazy and felt my heels make too-firm contact, I could concentrate on "pinging" my knees up on each stroke to quickly lift my feet clear and swing through to the next silent landing.

Apart from a stubbed toe, which didn't hurt at all at the time (but afterward - yikes!!) and looked a bunch nastier than it really was, I had no pain, no rubs and my legs felt a darn lot looser than last night. I still have some residual tightness in my calves, but that feels more like last night's leftovers than today.

I had to put it in - it's my first damage! Note the little bitty hanging off the end....

So it seems I am destined to alternate crap runs with exciting ones - lets hope this pattern synchronises when it's really needed. Today  like barefooting - all the evangelistic hype aside, it somehow feels bloody satisfying.

Onward!