"I've had no problems with this design, but the laminate strips near the big toe do wrinkle up a bit during plantar flexion (when you roll up onto your toes). A friend of mine picked up a pair and had some painful rubbing issues there as the "wrinkle" pushed down painfully on her big toe. I've had other shoes that do this at the flexpoint, and I can feel where it happens here but have no issue with it."
But I've had the same thing happen in the VG when worn sockless, so I don't know if this is the dreaded rubbing issue that plagued the early VB shoes...
And when I mentioned niche barefoot-style shoe producers, I forgot to mention VivoBarefoot. I'm wearing a pair of their loafers today. Love 'em.
"The perfect running shoe should be
something like a heavy-duty ballet slipper - simply an extra layer of protective material
around the foot, like a glove." — Gordon Pirie
Originally this was going to be a "first impressions" post, but I didn't get around to it. At this point, from the time the shoe fairy dropped this off at my house to now, I've spent enough time in them to feel that I've got a solid opinion.
Fresh from the Shoe Fairy...
We in the minimalist (barefoot) shoe community have oft noted how silly shoe companies are to offer their wares at the end of the winter, for the spring and summer running season. We need these for the winter! When it's warm out, who needs shoes? Happily, there's still some winter left, and so to differentiate my review, I used these for some winter runs and activities.
Tough Glove on left, Vapor Glove on right
The first thing you note when you hold these shoes is how light they are. The first thing you notice when you put them on is how little effect they have on your foot. In the picture to the right, you can see the difference in the toe between my old pair of Tough Gloves (like the Trail Glove, but in leather: one of the shoes I regularly wear to the office), and the Vapor Glove. The older shoe has a more tapered toe, this is especially evident in the line from the ball of the foot to the big toe. But there's also a lot more room on the outside of the shoe for your toes to spread out. Room for your toes to splay is one of the required features for a proper barefoot-style shoe, in my opinion.
The upper material is a light mesh, which breathes well enough that you can can feel the draft as you're walking around the house. The lacing system is also excellent, and an improvement over the Trail Glove, as it's wider, making them easier to get on. In fact, I've found that once I've laced them up I can slip them on and off my sock-covered foot like a slipper, while still having my foot located well enough that I can run up and down hills without slipping around. This might not appeal to everyone, but I think it's terrific.
After a run. Those are my footprints from the run...
My first run in them was the morning after they arrived. Happily, we'd just gotten a few inches of snow over night, so the conditions were perfect, with temps in the high twenties. So I donned my favorite summer-weight socks, and off I went. My feet were a bit chilly at first, but after a few minutes they warmed up nicely. The thin sole combined with the light wool sock offers just enough insulation to insulate the foot from the cold ground, and once I'd warmed up, my feet were toasty, while being well-ventilated from the mesh. Perfect for a winter running shoe, in other words.
Vibram Newporter ice-compound sole
And suprisingly, they have excellent traction in the snow. The first real minimalist shoe that I got was the Russell Mocassin protoype. I used (and still use) those for running in really cold, snowy conditions, and one of the things that made those shoes excellent was the sole, which was made originally for people working on slippery kitchen floors. Russell made my shoe with a softer ice-compound version, and those have been my favorite winter shoe when I'm not wearing ski boots ever since. I'm wearing them now, in fact.
Vapor Glove sole
And now along comes the Vapor Glove. While I probably won't be wearing these to run up and down snow-covered mountains in Vermont (I'd use the Russells or Merrell's excellent Sonic Glove soft-shell sneaker), these did just fine, and as you can see, the sole is quite similar, sort of a Newporter-lite.
I've done several more runs in these, up to 10 miles, both with and without socks. Mostly not in the snow. While I think the idea of a sockless shoe that won't cause any chafing or blistering is a bit of a chimera, so far I've not had any problems. Knock on wood.
8 inches, he's ready to go - and barefoot!
The sole is thin enough that you can feel pebbles through it, but offers enough protection that the pebbles don't hurt. On this morning's run in 8 inches of snow (the roads were mostly plowed) I could feel the salt crystals as I ran down the road. Needless to say, my feet were a bit chilly while running through the deep snow, but were fine once I got to the plowed bits. (I wore this sock for this morning's run.) I decided to run one of the hilliest routes around my house. Traction was excellent. My feet slipped a few times, but it was never anything that made me feel like I might fall. They are outstanding in the snow!
To really test the Vapor Glove as a winter minimalist shoe, I decided to continue wearing them when I got back from my run to clear the driveway. I used my barely-adequate push snowblower which tested the traction of my Vapor Gloves far more than my run did. I tried to keep my feet out of the deepest snow, but didn't entirely succeed, and the entire enterprise wound up taking over an hour, in temps in the high 20s. The Vapor Glove did surprisingly well: while my fingers got cold, my feet remained reasonably warm, although the socks did get pretty well soaked. Yes, I have excellent circulation in my feet. No, these will not be my snow-blowing shoes in the future, but it was an excellent experiment.
I've also worn these to work on Friday, and to the gym a number of times. They were fine in both situations, and unlike Vibrams, do not draw any attention, while offering a similar level of protection and feel.
Needless to say, while close-fitting, they have no arch support; barely any structure at all, in fact, and hardly any cushion underfoot.
The shoe that the Vapor Glove most reminds me of is the VivoBarefoot Ultra, without the quirks that make that shoe less-than-perfect. And while these shoes did yeoman's work in the snow, practically speaking, they're not a winter shoe. They will give my beloved Vibram Speeds tough competition when I start doing some road races this spring. That's going to be a really tough choice, as I think the Vapor Gloves could be worn sockless in a race, while the Vibrams are a little too scratchy...
I've come to realize that this is Pirie's dream shoe, without requiring his caveat: "Unfortunately, the ideal running shoe is not offered by most major manufacturers." It is now, and Merrell's a class act as companies, and shoe companies, go. If Merrell's somewhat narrow last fits your foot, this shoe is a real winner.
P.S.: Here's an excellent Merrell promotional video for the Vapor Glove, featuring a cut-away shoe, which really gives you an idea of how radically minimal this shoe actually is.
P.P.S. Thanks to Patrick's comment, a note on sizing. In my experience the Vapor Glove has sizing that is similar to the Road Glove, but about 1/2 size off the Trail Glove. So I wear a 9.5 in the Trail Glove, but a 9 in the Road Glove and the Vapor Glove. Unlike the Road Glove, the Vapor Glove does not have anything under your arch, so there is not the same amount of arch support that you find in the Road Glove.
P.P.P.S. 2013-03-16. So, joke's on me. I went out for a nice, long run with my dog today, without checking the weather. 15 miles, 1/2 rocky, gnarly trail, the other road. Half-way through the temperature drops, and it starts snowing. Did I mention I did not check the weather?
I was wearing the Vapor Gloves with no socks (I had a pair in my pocket, just in case) shorts, an IceBreaker wool T, and a wind-breaker. Happily I had a fleece headband/ear-warmer.
By the time I got home, my hands were so cold they had trouble moving. But my feet were fine! And I never needed to put the socks on. It didn't occur to me until I got home that I should have put the socks on my hands...
They passed the trail-run test with flying colors. Enough feedback to make you watch your step, but enough protection so that you can keep up the pace, and obviously they kept my feet off the cold, wet ground.
These are magnificent shoes.
Oh, and 15 miles; no socks; no blisters or abrasions. I find that you want to tie them loose toward the bottom, and snug toward the top. Did Merrell find the chimera?
P.P.P.P.S. OK, I did another 15 mile run. Got an abrasion on top of the first metatarsal head on each foot. So much for the perfect, sock-free shoe. Although this has been the best sock-free shoe I've ever experienced. So kudos to Merrell, even if they've not found the Chimera.
Last year I missed the opportunity to attend the first AHS, in Los Angeles. I have a certain visceral opposition to LA, for no good reason (I once spent a night there when I missed a connecting flight, and that's my entire exposure to the place). I spent the rest of the year regretting that, especially after hearing what a great event it was.
AHS 2012
So this year I rectified my error, made easier by the fact that they held it at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, 140 miles from my house.
I was a little apprehensive heading up there as I was unsure how valuable this event would turn out to be, as I do spend a fair bit of time reading about all this stuff. What would I learn? Where would I eat dinner? All sorts of concerns...
All of which were totally unfounded. What a terrific event, what a terrific bunch of people. The event reminded me very much of the early meetings of the World Wide Web Artists' Consortium in 1994 and '95 in New York. The WWWAC helped to creat the Internet that we all take for granted today, as it was the focus of early web development in NYC. Just like then, at AHS you got the feeling that you were in on a Great Truth, and that all that remained was to let the world in on it, and thereby change everything. I don't doubt for a minute that AHS will help this to happen, just as the WWWAC did. It's a great feeling to be at the early stage of a revolution like this.
The symposium was organized into sessions, held in what seemed to be rapid-fire order. The first day only contained one track, but the second and third had dual tracks, which got annoying when you wanted to attend two simultaneously, or even worse, when you started chatting with someone and then realized you'd missed the first 10 minutes of your next session.
Dan Lieberman of Harvard was the keynote speaker, opening the symposium with a terrifically funny (as usual: he's wasted on Harvard, he should do stand-up comedy) overview of human evolution and evolutionary adaptation, setting the stage for all the sessions to follow. I understand the sessions are all to be posted on the 'net, I highly recommend watching them: access will be free. Some of them were breathtaking, some left me with tears in my eyes, like Joel Salatin's ringing cry to take back our freedom to feed ourselves, and Terry Wahls' account of her recovery from multiple sclerosis. A few annoyed me, like Dr. James O'Keefe's misconceived but well-meaning account of the cardiovascular dangers of marathon running, but all that I attended were very informative and led by intelligent and well-spoken presenters.
When Robb Wolf describes John Welbourn as large, he's wrong. The dude's enormous, and he gave a fascinating discussion of how some athletes he's working with have become world record holders while eating a low-carb paleo diet. Carbohydrates appear to be seriously over-rated...
Joel Salatin closed the first day. What a speaker! It felt like a revival meeting, and he was the preacher of real food and the good life. He also explained how much more productive his holistic approach to farming is, and touched on how impossible it is to do with government meddling. He got a resounding standing ovation.
Prof. Lieberman led a barefoot run along the Charles River the morning of the second day, which offered a rare opportunity to have a guided tour through Cambridge by a leading scientist. Lieberman's a fast runner! The easy, conversational portion of the run was at a quick pace, and at the end he announced that we were going to to "strides", "at the end, when they have the most benefit!" I kept up for a bit, but my poor aerobic fitness allowed the professor to leave me in the dust. Happily Ben Greenfield, a Maffetone disciple and triathlete, completely understood, and promised he'd never tell Phil that I exceeded my MAF HR. (I had to stop at the beginning of the run and turn off the audible alert on the Garmin.) Too funny.
The only negative thing about barefoot running is that the range of adaptation is narrow: the fact that I can run 6 miles around my roads didn't mean that I could run 6 miles on the rougher roads and paved trails of Cambridge, and my feet were tingling for the next two days.
Professor Lieberman was kind enough to offer me a tour of the Mecca of barefoot-running science: his lab at Harvard. I got to see the famous treadmill, some of his new gadgets for measuring runners, and an interesting explanation of how difficult it is to measure many of the things that may lead to running injury. Mathematical correction of jiggling is a major undertaking, it turns out. We also went looking for Eskimo teeth, but only found a few cavemen.
A few scientists and doctors recounted their research testing ketogenic diets on cancer progression (very promising) and epilepsy (the best treatment approach by far). Nevertheless, institutions are very reluctant to fund or even allow these studies; insurance companies are reluctant to pay for them, despite being more effective and less expensive; and one doctor described the need to refer to these diets as "therapies" to get them through the morass of bureaucracy...
Outside the sessions...
P.S.
Oh, and God, I got to meet Stephan Guyenet and thank him for probably saving my life. I wouldn't be typing this, or enjoying a symptom-free existance right now, if it wasn't for his incredibly level-headed and well-reasoned blog, and for all the hard work he's done. Thanks again, Stephan. I had the additional pleasure of standing around with drinks in our hands talking with him and Prof. Lieberman about teeth. Moments like that made this whole thing worthwhile. And I'm really looking forward to what he produces in his professional career.
End P.S.
I met too many other people to recount here, but have a few thoughts in general. It was an incredibly healthy-looking crowd. But the game I played was to ask the people I met how they'd gotten into the paleo/ancestral health scene. Most recounted some story of health issues that the medical establishment had been unable to resolve, which abated once a healthy diet (meaning one in opposition to the government regulations) had been adopted. Terry Wahls is the most extreme, but many of the rest of us had similar experiences. Considering how many of these people have intractable, incurable conditions of one sort or another, they're looking terrific and acting like they're the happiest people on the planet. Oh, and a couple of years after getting out of her wheelchair poor Dr. Wahls showed up to AHS with her arm in a sling. She broke it falling off her bicycle.
I've also never seen so many people with minimalist, or no, shoes on. Lunas were a popular option (Prof. Lieberman and John Durant wore them for part of our run, as did I, Ben ran the whole thing in his bare feet.), Vibrams, VivoBarefoot, New Balance Minimi (suitable, since their HQ is in Boston), Skora, Merrel and again, too many others to recount, including some I didn't recognize. It's hard to believe that two years ago it was hard to find a minimalist option. Now I couldn't keep track of them all.
Happily, there were many doctors in attendence. While one cardiologist did explain the many difficulties in changing the "standard of care" in our bureaucratic, sclerotic medical system, one hopes that a grass root effort like this one can upend the medical establishment's understanding of the relationship between diet and chronic illness, and offer help to the many people who are ill-served by the current regime.
Tower of low-carb power
Of course the closing ceremony was the Barefoot Banquet, held at the Charles Hotel just down the street from the law school. As with all the rest of the sessions, all the food was paleo, so folks like Dr. Wahls and me could eat without concern, and enjoy the famed NorCal Margarita. Some of us seemed to enjoy them a bit too much. ;) The funniest moment of the evening was when they brought out the grass-fed, gluten-free sliders. So many buns were left over that some enterprising folk built a fort out of them. What a terrific time.
And then, to top it off, I gave John Durant a ride back toward NYC to save him from a long bus ride, and got to hear all about the book he's working on. It sounds terrific, I'm quite excited to read the whole thing.
I think this alliance of scientists, doctors, patients, and athletes have a real chance to change the world. What exciting times.
And a side note: the conference was organized by volunteers. I've been to expensive, professional conferences that weren't this well organized, and certainly not this cheerful or thoughtful. Bravo to all involved.
My new favorite barefoot-friendly podiatrist. And she's in NYC... Her nickname is "Dr. Legs", and you'll see why:
"“We actually have an innate natural shock absorption system in our foot that has become lazy. Our foot is designed to absorb shock. Fancy shoes with all fancy technology throw off your stability, so you work twice as hard to counter that instability,” Splichal said.
"On the other hand, Splichal said shoes like the “sock-like” Vibram Five Finger Shoes and similar-style brands are great transition shoes to barefoot running. Many of her patients with chronic knee, back or foot pain have found relief with these types of shoes. Sporting these shoes requires you to use your natural foot support and strengthen your feet.
"“I always push barefoot balance training because our foot is our foundation,” Splichal said. “I think everyone should be integrating barefoot exercises into their routines. Whether it’s someone with lower back pain, flat feet, women wearing high heels or athletes.”"
As I'm learning with my daughters, girls are going to wear heels. But they can at least balance wearing heels with going barefoot, to minimalize the damage heels to do the feet.
As Galahad Clark, founder of Vivo Barefoot put it:
"We are not against women wearing high heels from time to time parading their
best bits.... Just if they spend as
much time barefoot between the heels – the better!"
As I detailed in this post, I had a bout with Runner's Knee (patellofemoral syndrome, to address it formally) a couple of years ago. I attributed it in part to the shoes I was wearing at the time. What I've since come to realize is that those overly-cushioned shoes merely exaggerated poor form.
Well, RK is back. This time, however, I've been doing most of my miles in minimalist shoes like the Vibram FiveFingers Speeds, or barefoot. I've had many successful miles in the Speeds, in the VivoBarefoot Ultra, and barefoot this summer. I've increased my mileage, as I did the last time RK appeared, and this time I think it's safe to say that while the shoes, even minimalist shoes, accentuate the conditions that lead to RK, they're not the cause. RK re-appeared on a 10k run in the Speeds, by the way.
When RK first appeared switching to Vibrams from the NB MT100s was enough to make it go away. That's clearly not going to work this time. So what could it be?
It's got to be form. Today I went for a 10 mile Maffetone run, 5 on road, and 5 on trail. I wore the Speeds, as it was in the low 30s F at the beginning of the run. RK appeared almost immediately on the road stretch, but went away when I got on the rougher trail sections, only to reappear on the flat parts of the trail.
As I've posted before, I've been working on form issues on my weaker right leg. While that leg is not 100%, it's much improved, and running on the trails I ran today is where those issues first appeared. The right leg was good to go today. One of the key suggestions Lee Saxby gave me was to press down on the big toe while running. This resolved the metatarsal-cuboid joint pain I was having almost immediately.
So once I got back to the road section (after stubbing my second toe on my right foot nicely on the trail: blood from the nail, but no break: thank Heavens for shoes sometimes...), I took off my shoes for the 2.7 mile run home. RK continued to bother me, even barefoot. So finally what I decided to do, as an experiment, was to exaggerate the toe-press. Basically, I was running on my big toes. This forced my left foot inward. My right big toe and foot have straightened much more than my left, and I have much more trouble flexing the left big toe down, so this seemed like a pretty good approach to take. My hypothesis is that the feet should be doing pretty much the same thing, so if one leg hurts and is working differently from the other, try to make it the same.
Running on the big toes was kind of an odd feeling, and a bit of a strain on the calves, including a nasty pull in my left calf I suffered a few weeks ago while mountain biking. I probably ran about 1.2 miles on my big toes, until I got home.
RK is completely gone in the left knee. It feels great.
Your mileage may vary. :)
P.S. I forgot to mention one of the key hints: I've been getting pain in the tendon under the second toe on the left foot during runs. Lee had said that people often put too much pressure down on the second toe, which is why pressing down on the big toe makes a difference. You're shifting the pressure to where it ought to be.
"...I have watched my own children dramatically change their movement patterns after discarding all cushioned and inflexible shoes and getting them into minimalist shoes.They are six and eight years old. They will not put anything else on their feet now when they need to have shoes. At my store, Two Rivers Treads, we gave away 150 pairs of Vivo Barefoot kids shoes a couple weeks ago thanks to a generous contribution from VivoBarefoot and supplemented from our own inventory stock..."
I was privileged to meet Mark last weekend at the NYC Barefoot Run. He's the real deal.
I've also added a permanent link to his Natural Running Center to the "Links" section on the right of this blog. It's a great resource for people looking to learn about barefoot-style running.
The Fungi Fest comprises a talk by Sugarbush employee John Atkinson, then a walk through the woods at the resort looking for mushrooms, a discussion of the various mushrooms found, and then a dinner featuring mushrooms John found in the woods around the resort.
It was really a terrific event, enjoyed by all attendees, including my 8 and 12-year-old daughters. It was a pretty good event for both of the topics of this blog, healthy diets and barefoot-style running.
One of the most important things one can do to get your feet ready for barefoot running is barefoot hiking, IMHO. Both Barefoot Ted and Ken Bob were big barefoot hikers before they tried running. Barefoot hiking is a much more difficult activity for the muscles of the feet than barefoot running is: I've gotten cramps on three-mile barefoot hikes that I'd run in Vibrams with no problem at all.
On this short hike we showed up in Vibrams, Merrells, VivoBarefoots, and me in my bare feet.
No one batted an eye when we were standing around during John's talk and I was not wearing shoes. When we walked off to go to the hike, one woman asked me if I was going to do the hike barefoot. "I am," I replied. "Are you a barefoot runner?" "I am", I said again. She seemed quite excited, as if she'd seen a rare species of bird. It was very funny. John turned to me and asked me if I was planning on hiking in my bare feet, and he seemed somewhat skeptical. I told him I'd brought along a pair of shoes, just in case, and he seemed satisfied with that answer.
So we tromped around near a stream, mostly off the trail. Stream crossings are, of course, easy when you're not wearing shoes. Happily my feet have gotten to the point where walking around in a forest was not a problem. I even spotted some broken glass, which I carefully stepped around. It was much more pleasant walking around the forest floor than on the rocky trail, but the smooth asphalt while walking back across the parking lot was of course the easiest surface of all.
Everyone else was wearing either trail running sneakers or hiking boots. Several people came up afterward and mentioned how impressive they thought it was that I had done the whole thing barefoot. It's pretty amusing, as they one thing that always surprises me about these barefoot hikes is how well my feet handle them, and how uneventful they are.
We found enough mushrooms to completely cover a large table, and John pointed out the few that he thought were definitively non-toxic. Some folks took those mushrooms home in doggie-bags. Most of the mushrooms were classed as toxic, which is a good reminder of how difficult being a hunter-gatherer was, and a good indication of the importance of a conservative attitude when gathering mushrooms. John's attitude was not to eat anything that he couldn't confidently ID, and no one argued the point.
Dinner was delicious, at Sugarbush's Timbers restaraunt. The woman I sat next to at dinner was gluten-free and on the paleo diet. She and her husband were reformed pesce-vegetarians who'd now adopted the paleo diet, and he is a neurologist, so we had quite a bit to discuss. Dinner was gluten-free, happily, and the restaraunt (where we've eaten before), was willing to swap out the beer that was included in the menu for a nice Cabernet Franc.
All in all a great little paleo-friendly event.
Oh, and I did put the Vibram FiveFingers Treks that I'd brought along as fall-back shoes on for dinner. I didn't want to cause a stir, and certainly after walking around in the woods for a bit my feet were pretty dirty, although no more so than any of the shoes everyone else was wearing.
P.S. One of the reasons I went around on this hike was to try and open my older daughter's horizons. She may well be allergic to all vegetables, and is mycophobic. Up until Saturday. She decided she liked the chantarelles, so it was a huge win.
Also, apparently the connective tissue in mushrooms in chitin, not cellulose. Humans can digest chitin, but cannot digest cellulose. It's an interesting factoid, although I don't know how useful it is.
"THIS NAVADMIN AUTHORIZES THE WEARING OF MINIMALIST FOOTWEAR WITH THE NAVY PHYSICAL TRAINING UNIFORM (PTU) DURING COMMAND/UNIT DIRECTED PHYSICAL TRAINING (PT), INDIVIDUAL PT, AND ACTIVITIES TO INCLUDE THE SEMI-ANNUAL PHYSICAL READINESS TEST (PRT).
"2. MINIMALIST FOOTWEAR IS DEFINED AS SHOES THAT ALLOW THE FOOT TO FUNCTION NATURALLY WITHOUT PROVIDING ADDITIONAL SUPPORT OR CUSHIONING. ANY SHOE THAT IS MARKETED AS MINIMALIST OR BAREFOOT-LIKE FOOTWEAR (CURRENT TYPES SUCH AS THE - VIBRAM FIVE FINGERS, NIKE FREE SHOES, VIVO BAREFOOT SHOES, INOV-8 SHOE, AND FEELMAX) ARE AUTHORIZED FOR WEAR WITH THE PTU."
Original from the Navy here. Prior Military-related posts here.
A couple of observations: we had a pretty decent turnout for what was basically a last-minute event. McDougall has a book-signing scheduled today, which is part of his Naked Tour, and this was an add-on to that. It was organized in conjunction with John Durant, whose sister Maggie wound up taking the lead, as John is trying to finish his book.
Folks were wearing a variety of shoes for the run, including Vibrams, VivoBarefoot Evos, Merrell Trail Gloves, and regular sneakers. A number of very accomplished barefooters turned up. I wore my Ultras, which I took off for about 2.5 miles of the run down the West Side. My feet are not as well-adapted as they would be if I'd been getting more running in... The Ultras did terrific. Sweating was not a problem, they're a touch over-cushioned for my taste, but well within the bounds of barefoot-style, and switching back and forth from barefoot to Ultra-shod was effortless. Literally. With the elastic lacing, you just pull them off and pull them on. These may be the perfect minimalist triathalon shoe... I wore them sockless until the end, and did not use the liner or the tongue. They kept my feet well exposed to the breezes.
Lots of folks brought packs, as did I, as the forecast was hot and humid. It turned out to be quite pleasant, however, with a nice breeze off the river. But I was glad for the extra water in the pack.
We wound up running 8.8 very flat miles. Despite my complete lack of training, this was probably the easiest run I've ever done. Part of it, to be sure, was being able to chat with a very nice bunch of folks, and part of it was a neat route through Manhattan.
As we arrived at the bar, one of the guys mentioned to me that he was starting to get hypoglycemic. I laughed. I had eaten a 3-egg omelet with peppers and onions cooked in butter with bacon on the side for breakfast that morning. I bought lunch, a salad, and then forgot to eat it. I had coffee with some grass-fed cream in the afternoon before leaving work, but basically ran the run in a fasted, no-carb state. It hadn't occurred to me that I hadn't eating since the morning until this fellow mentioned food. And I still wasn't hungry, had a hard cider and a tequila, and some milk when I got home, and never did eat anything for dinner. Felt great the whole time. Still do feel great writing this the morning after, and still haven't eaten anything. Although I'm due for some coffee. ;)
I'm beginning to think fasted training and running is definitely the way to go.
Unfortunately McDougall's Naked Tour ends today, but he's a terrific, generous, funny individual, so if you have the chance to run with him or attend one of his events, do it. It will be well worth your time. And it's pretty remarkable that he makes the effort to remember everyone's name. Is he running for office?
(No pictures, hopefully I'll get the group shot from the Durants and post it here later.)
P.S. Forgot to mention that Tyler, a podiatry student, was along running barefoot. Looks like we may have a changing of the guard in that business, as he mentioned that a number of the students are into the barefoot movement, while the professors tend to be skeptical. Kudos to Tyler.
to run from Columbus Circle to 4th Avenue in Brooklyn. (Route below, I hope).