This weekend I did the forest loop twice totally bare foot. "Totally" means that I do not even carry my trainers with me. I admit that it is still painful in places where the surface is rough but generally I am pleased with progress as, when I started this game, I did not believe I would ever be able to run the forest loop bare foot. This course is about 5 miles and starts and ends on the road, but once in the forest is mostly on forestry tracks, some on grass, some along a muddy trail. The dog thinks nothing of bare foot - either mine or hers.
These people that say that bare foot running is bad for you have, I suspect, never tried it. If you, my reader, have never tried it then I can assure you that the experience is very pleasurable - even after the run the tingling in the feet feels good. And without doubt running barefoot encourages one to land on your toes which, it stands to reason, is better for you. It also exercises different leg muscles which tell me this the morning after!
20120429
20120418
Waterworks
My title "Waterworks" could refer to a municipal division or to an older man's medical condition, but in this instance I am talking about my inherent interest in the flow of water between different levels. At the risk of loosing my anonymity I share two photos to prove my early interest:
Now I am "grown up" I have the following recent photographic evidence of my continued fascination: the dog expressed surprising interest when the dam was breached. Indeed my definition of a satisfactory seaside is one with sand that is good for building and a water course.
Somewhere in between and closer in period to the second of these four pictures I remember an enjoyable day emptying my father's garden water storage tank and using considerable amounts of mains water via a hose pipe. Regrettably no one was there with a camera. The location was a hopefully unused vegetable bed in my parents garden. I discovered, invented if you will, the venturi pump. In my life I have invented several novel machines, most of which I discovered later had already been invented. More of that in a later post maybe. In this instance I discovered that I could lift water from a large lower reservoir (filled from the tank) to a higher reservoir by directing the hose jet along an interconnecting water channel. I managed a few inches of lift and was exhilarated.
The venturi pump is an amazing invention. It has no moving parts (apart from the water itself). Correctly engineered it is strong enough to lift water from a reasonably deep well - where the advantage is that the mechanical parts can be at ground level. Because it has no moving parts it can be used to pump stones, sand or sludge out of a sump.
The diagram below shows the principle. The motive force is provided by high pressure water injected at (1) through the nozzle (2). The venturi effect occurs at the constriction (5). You can check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venturi_effect - the theory says the pressure at the constriction here will be lower than at (3) and thus suction is created. Or is it? Is it the constriction at (2) that does the job? - because we want the pressure at the inlet (3) to be low, not at (5). You will find the book explanations curiously hazy at this point..
Another wonderful hydraulic invention is the ram pump, more of this in a later post.
20120415
Running bare feet 2
The good Lord would not have given us bare feet if we were meant to wear shoes all the time. Now there is an internet presence for bare feet running it is no surprise to find the opposite viewpoint expressed, see http://www.runningbarefootisbad.com/ but their counter arguments do not convince me.
You can check out all the sites that advocate bare foot running. I did this when I was first considering it but now the only thing that matters to me is that I like to doing it. Here are some of my reasons:
1. Above all, it feels good. Once one's feet have hardened a bit. Your body will interact with the surface you are running on; your eye will seek out a path that avoids obstacles. Running on smooth grass is the best, but sand or mud is also pleasurable. It is good to be that bit closer to nature. Indeed I would choose to run entirely naked for the same reason if it were not social unacceptable.
2. Clearly it is not true that it is positively bad for you - there are many peoples in the world who go bare foot either out of necessity or choice;
3. Most people (and my intuition too) say that it is better for you. There are some good testimonials in http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-319--6728-0,00.html. My own experience confirms that I land on the heel when in shoes, whilst I tend to use the ball of the foot when bare foot which softens the blow which must be better on the knees;
4. My biggest expense in running is for shoes and socks. I gave up socks a long time ago, and now I use shoes much less I must be saving myself some money.
5. One of my courses involves swimming across a river. It is a good deal easier swimming without shoes on!
I have a couple of courses from my home that I can now manage without shoes at all - both are about 5 miles in length. In each case I have to tread slowly and carefully for short distances over the worse parts.
Do not expect to run a whole course bare foot from day one (unless you are blessed with golf links nearby) - it takes time for your soles to harden and time to adapt to the implied different gait. You will get the occasional cut or thorn, but you will not get blisters. At first you might stub your toe a few times. I have been running bare foot for at least 6 months now and my feet are only starting to adapt. There is no shame in carrying your shoes with you if you are in any doubt about the terrain and you certainly should to start with.
I personally think it is worth it. The shoe manufacturers have sold us a lie in making us believe that you need "good" running shoes!
You can check out all the sites that advocate bare foot running. I did this when I was first considering it but now the only thing that matters to me is that I like to doing it. Here are some of my reasons:
1. Above all, it feels good. Once one's feet have hardened a bit. Your body will interact with the surface you are running on; your eye will seek out a path that avoids obstacles. Running on smooth grass is the best, but sand or mud is also pleasurable. It is good to be that bit closer to nature. Indeed I would choose to run entirely naked for the same reason if it were not social unacceptable.
2. Clearly it is not true that it is positively bad for you - there are many peoples in the world who go bare foot either out of necessity or choice;
3. Most people (and my intuition too) say that it is better for you. There are some good testimonials in http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-319--6728-0,00.html. My own experience confirms that I land on the heel when in shoes, whilst I tend to use the ball of the foot when bare foot which softens the blow which must be better on the knees;
4. My biggest expense in running is for shoes and socks. I gave up socks a long time ago, and now I use shoes much less I must be saving myself some money.
5. One of my courses involves swimming across a river. It is a good deal easier swimming without shoes on!
I have a couple of courses from my home that I can now manage without shoes at all - both are about 5 miles in length. In each case I have to tread slowly and carefully for short distances over the worse parts.
Do not expect to run a whole course bare foot from day one (unless you are blessed with golf links nearby) - it takes time for your soles to harden and time to adapt to the implied different gait. You will get the occasional cut or thorn, but you will not get blisters. At first you might stub your toe a few times. I have been running bare foot for at least 6 months now and my feet are only starting to adapt. There is no shame in carrying your shoes with you if you are in any doubt about the terrain and you certainly should to start with.
I personally think it is worth it. The shoe manufacturers have sold us a lie in making us believe that you need "good" running shoes!
20120414
Running bare feet
Horrors - it is over a year since my last post! Perhaps this is typical of first time bloggers - they give up too easily. I will, however, blame it on pressure of work. When I was blogging regularly this country was in deep recession and I was out of work. Thankfully I now have work.
Back to the subject. I have already explained my love of running. For the past year I have been trying out running barefoot having checked out some web sites that promote it. With the passage of time there are now web sites that discredit it sponsored, no doubt, by the shoe manufacturers. Say what you like I am hooked. It has taken time to harden my feet to the point where I can now run a few courses completely bare foot. I hope to follow this post up with some specific experiences which encourage some of my readers to take the plunge. In the meantime Wikipedia has a fair summary of the subject:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barefoot_running
Back to the subject. I have already explained my love of running. For the past year I have been trying out running barefoot having checked out some web sites that promote it. With the passage of time there are now web sites that discredit it sponsored, no doubt, by the shoe manufacturers. Say what you like I am hooked. It has taken time to harden my feet to the point where I can now run a few courses completely bare foot. I hope to follow this post up with some specific experiences which encourage some of my readers to take the plunge. In the meantime Wikipedia has a fair summary of the subject:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barefoot_running
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