Merrel Bare Access - A short review after 2 months

Over Christmas I tried on a pair of Merrel barefoot Road Glove shoes and whilst I liked the tread and the fit, I already had a pair or zero drop shoes with zero cushioning. After Christmas whilst perusing the sales I came across the Bare Access shoe reduced by 50%. This is the same upper, built on the same last but with 8mm of cushioning.

During the wet winter months my usual trail section of my park run had become un-navigable and so my runs became exclusively on tarmac. The longer weekend runs were less painful on my legs as they got stronger (and perhaps in no small part to the wearing of compression socks to recover), but the balls of my feet felt it. I took the plunge and purchased the Bare Access Merrells in lemon  and blue.

The first couple of runs left my left ankle sore and so I started to grow concerned that I would forever more be consigned to running in slippers. The first run had been at lunchtime whilst I was working from home and I did wonder whether the time of day had anything to do with it. I reverted to the Saucony Hattoris for a couple of runs.

I noticed in the Hattoris that I was heavier on my feet after just a couple of runs in the slightly more padded trainers. I tried the Bare Access again. They were narrower and slightly stiffer under the arch than  the Hattoris and I had reverted to a flat footed strike that bordered on heel-strike at times.

With careful attention to my running gait and lowering the angle of my forefoot strike I was able to compensate for the additional stiffness and be as light on my feet as in the Hattoris. I vary what I wear now and use the Bare Access for the more roady runs. In fact as they grip better in the wet and on downhill runs I am wearing them more and more. I just need to not  lose sight of how I was able to run again. Light. Easy. Fast will come.

I accidentally ran over 5km this morning

Ok so it was 5.2 km and it was down to me not checking on the GPS but guessing how far I'd run before I stopped.

Even so I ran 5.2km in 36:31 minutes... or 7 mins per km. I realise that this is no speed record or anything, but you have to remember (actually you don't have to at all) that I never got this far last year. In fact I may have caused myself more problems than I solved last year trying to even get here.

I'm just chuffed as I only have to learn to:

a)swim properly,
b) cycle in a different position,
c) stay fit,
d) learn to do all these things back to back,

...and I'll be ready to do a triathlon!!

Hell yeah.

Morning run

We had Miss S's sister staying (I see a tongue twister forming in my mind) last night. What that means on a practical level is that not only is the spare room full, where I normally breakfast... go figure, but also that somebody is up before me in the morning. Sophie's sister needed to leave at 07:00

I set my alarm for 06:30 figuring that as Sophie and I both needed to be out by 08:00 I could go for a run and the shower would be free when I got back. Who says it's difficult to plan training around a job eh?

It was pitch black as I set off in the drizzle, not quite sure where I was going to run to today. I knew I wanted to be gone for about 35 minutes. After 5 minutes I stopped and stretched by the park. As it was shut (what you don’t want us charging round the park in the dark??) I decided to head up to the pub on the corner of the park and do a lap on the road around the back. This route is roughly equivalent to 2 laps around the park.

Within a few minutes (leaping out of the way of an unlit cyclist on the pavement excepted… really) I was in a little world of my own. This consists of an acute awareness of what my body is doing, that cycles into vague day-dreaming and back into awareness. I used to find that I stayed mostly in the dreamy/vague stage once I’d got there, but it is too easy to forget to think about form and niggles.

Interestingly I was reading the other day that the perfect state of mind for endurance events is a balance between the ability to ignore suffering (and continue) and the total body awareness of form and injury potential from surface and surroundings.

I need feedback on how my feet are making contact with the floor. Whether I have traction or not? Is one foot form better than the other (Yes the right foot flows better)? Ignoring, or even worse not receiving in the first place, this feedback leads to problems. I need this onformation, it helps me to plan my next step. I found myself injured last year running on very wobbly high Saucony Triumph  running shoes, but am working better with their Hattori minimal shoe. I have changed my “foot strike” from a heel strike that ended up as a flat footed step flopping from the ankle to a forefoot strike that is more of a gentle step that quickly drops the heel then rolls through the foot to spring off the toes.

So far so good