Thursday, May 6, 2010

Not the best advice I've followed....

Here we go....try not to laugh.

When I started school in September, I had to give up my personal trainer and my gym membership in order to pay tuition. I've continued to watch what I eat, and get in as much exercise as possible via walking, swimming, the gym at school, zumba classes etc. Since September I have remained exactly the same weight, which is not my intention.

Sensing my frustration, my husband bought me a suprise treadmill for mother's day!!

After the guys got it installed, husband took kiddo to tutoring and I hopped on. The first 30 minutes I followed the 'fat burner' program. During the brisk walk, I was going over my Orthopedic Assessments notes for tommorrow. We have been focussing on gait, and learned that the best way to run is on the balls of your feet, not your heel. So, I started paying attention to my strides and stayed on the balls of my feet. My strides lengthened, and my pace increased, just as promised. Awsome.

Then I remembered the conversation I had with 2 avid runners in my class, one of whom is a running coach and teaches a barefoot running class. See where this is going?

Off came the socks and sneakers. I decreased the incline, increased the speed and began my running regime. Sprint 2 minutes, walk 1 minute, sprint 2 minutes etc. Again paying close attention to my strides, not letting my heels touch the deck. (I run at 6.5, walk at 3) For 30 minutes I did this, then I did a 10 minute cool down, still barefoot.

So 70 minutes on the treadmill, 40 barefoot. I felt great! Until, I realized that the pads of my feet are now swollen and blistered. OWWWW

Tomorrow I'm going to look for some non slip ballet shoe things to run in! If I can walk.

4 comments:

  1. Wow! How interesting to read! I'm just learning to run myself, and of course, am being taught on the "heel-toe" method. I have heard about the running on the balls of your feet thing though - my only concern would be the added strain on one's knees. I mean, I can run for over half an hour straight and be absolutely fine, yet ten minutes on a stationary bike, where the force has to be applied from the front of my foot rather than the heel, and I'm in utter agony. Hmm.

    Not gonna try the barefoot thing though. I like the extra traction my sneakers give me. I'm too much of a klutz to just rely on my own feet.

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  2. Kudos to you, I can't run and I don't walk nearly enough.

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  3. Oh ouch. I am a runner and barefoot on a treadmill is probably not a great idea the first time.

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  4. Ouch indeed. Why would you do that! As I was reading I wanted to go back in time and stop you before you tortured your feet!! *hugs*

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