I love going barefoot. I never wear shoes at home, even in the winter. But it’s never been very practical when I go out. Now, it is. These are one of my new pairs of Vibram FiveFingers. They have very thin vibram soles on them so they feel like you’re barefoot, but you still have some protection. I have a second pair with mesh uppers that I plan on wearing when I hike. I’m also considering wearing these when I run.

I had a little bit of discomfort when I first started wearing these. My little toe likes to curl under its neighbor (probably a side effect of having to wear shoes), but was forced out by the material between the toes of these "shoes’. After wearing them a while, my little toe on both feet would start to ache. But, now that I’ve been wearing them on and off for a few days, that discomfort seems to be disappearing. I wore them for 4-5 hours today with only minimal discomfort near the end.

They do look a little weird, though.

I’ve decide not to log my workouts on this site any more.  Instead, I’m using another site named FitLink to log my workouts.  I was using FitLink for a while last summer, but eventually just stopped using it.  I don’t remember why…probably just lazy.  Anyway, I’ll be tracking all my workouts there again.  It’s much easier and faster than trying to record them in normal blog post.  I can update it in matter of minutes each day when I get back from my lunch workout.  You can view my profile and workouts by clicking on the FitLink link in the sidebar.

FitLink is nice because it lets you define your workouts and save them for future use.  Then, when you want to record a workout for a particular day, you just select the saved workout and fill in any additional information is required (such as the weight you used, number of reps, distance ran, etc).  It also lets you define and save routes for you runners out there.  It uses an embedded Google Map to let you plot your route and calculate the actual distance.  Like the workouts, you just select the route you ran and enter your time or any other details you wish to record.

Membership for FitLink is free, too.

I’ve started running regularly again.  Nothing too far yet.  Generally, around two miles.   I run on the treadmill at the local YMCA.  I currently set the time for 20 minutes and my pace to 6.7 mph (9 min/mile).  Then, I set the workout to rolling hills so it varies the incline from 1-4% over the 20 minutes.  It doesn’t really work me too hard, but I have to let my body get used to running again.  The plan is to keep the overall time the same for a while and just bump up the speed until I’m running around 8 minute miles or less.  Once that happens, I’ll start increasing the overall time to increase my mileage further.

I’ve been running on and off for the last couple of years.  I think the main problem I have with sticking with it is that I don’t really have any motivation.  The few races I’ve run in the past don’t require much training to prepare for so it’s easy to skip the workouts.  Therefore, this time, I’m setting a loftier goal.  There are a couple of half-marathons in the area this May and I’m going to run in at least one of them.  There is one in Green Bay in mid-May and one in Madison on Memorial Day weekend.  I’m not sure which I will shoot for yet.  The Madison one might be too close to when I leave for Missoula so I might have to do the Green Bay one.  In either case, a half-marathon is long enough that I can’t just wait until the month before the race to start training and expect to do well.  After all, I have to beat my Dad, brothers, and sister-in-law’s best times. :)  Bragging rights are important!