Weight: 222.0 (-9.2)
Fat: 33.7% (-5.6%)
Meals: Dinner, Fast 2 end 7pm
Exercise: Cardio (Treadmill 33:00 WL4 - 365 calories, 2.19 miles)
Pictures: Front/Side/Back/Flex
So I cheated a bit by posting a placeholder. I feel a bit guilty about this but not too much. I've stuck to my diet and worked out, weighed and took pictures. Posting my update a bit late isn't too bad, but it's important that I don't make a habit of it. Not to mention the further you fall behind the harder it is to catch up. That being said, when a good opportunity like last night comes along I'm not going to pass it up to post to my blog.
Fasted Workout
Annoying coincidence that my second weight lifting session fell on the end of my second fast, given that the same thing happened for my first session/fast. But once again, it wasn't an issue and I made it through just fine. Monday, I'll be slinging dumbbells on a full belly. Well, at least I won't be in a fasted state until well after I'm done.
I decided to switch things up a bit today. Rather than running on the treadmill first, I decided to get my lifting out of the way before I did my running. My reasoning is that I'm fresh and rested and able to work my muscles more intensely instead of being exhausted. And since I'm running to build endurance, being a little tired from strength training means I might get a bit more out of it.
Vibram FiveFingers
The big news though is the arrival of my Vibram FiveFingers! They're very odd. It's very different than being barefoot of course, slipping my toes into the little pockets feels strange but not entirely uncomfortable. But they're definitely not shoes either, there's no padding, the rubber soles are thin, flex with your feet, and allow you to feel some differences in surfaces you're on. The closest analogy really is "gloves for your feet". They dull the senses a bit, they protect your extremities and for the most part, they move with you.
Putting them on is the worst part of them. You have to slip your toes into the pockets which can take a few tries to get right, then pull up the heel before pulling the strap tight. My left foot felt a bit odd and didn't quite sit right, and I felt like I had a second skin that was tugging at me. It wasn't a serious problem, and in line with what I might experience wearing any new pair of shoes.
Running on the treadmill was a bit odd as well. There is some extra thickness in the heel and the ball of the foot so it was different than running barefoot. But the twisting I would get when running with socks completely disappeared. I didn't feel like I was sliding around at all.
I did get a bit of a sore spot on my right foot, on the inner edge of my left foot, by the ball. After I finished running, I took the shoes off and felt around inside and sure enough there's a seam right by that spot. I was a bit tender, but no signs of a blister yet. We'll see if that continues.
My stride felt good and surprisingly the other calf pain I was noticing in my lower calves was greatly reduced as well. I'm not sure if that was helped by the shoes, or if it's just a further adjustment to barefoot running. Either way, I've been running now for 3.5 weeks and while my calves have always, always bothered me, the pain has completely gone away. I feel some strain in my lower calves while running, but it's minimal and disappears shortly after I'm done running. My old pain just got worse and worse and I spent a ridiculous amount of time stretching. That's now in the past.
I'm not suggesting that you take the plunge like I did, but if you're considering barefoot running, I highly, highly recommend it. And if you're uncomortable going completely barefoot, I definitely recommend the Vibram FiveFingers. It's got all the benefits of running barefoot, and very few issues of wearing shoes. My only serious issues (and they're not that serious) are the oddness of having the toes separated like that, and the time it takes putting them on. Slipping them on will get faster and the toes I'll probably adjust to.
The only thing I might change is going for a Japanese, tabi-style configuration, where the big toe is separated out but the other toes are together. But toe articulation is supposed to be important so I'm not sure that would be a completely positive alteration. I have no issues wearing the shoes in public (I think they're a conversation starter personally), but I think maybe finding some kind of mocassin might be something I'm interested in.
