Doing the Maroubra Beach 'fun run' this weekend. Should be interesting. All the cross training Ive been doing should get me through relatively comfortable. Depends on the heat too I guess..
the words 'fun' and 'run' should never be used in the same sentence let alone next to each other....
running a great sport, basic as and man to man (or women to woman). Hardly ever an excuse, and no rules about technique, besides sprinters needing to stay in lanes.
One of the hardest sports of all to be good at, as all countries do it and good facilities mean jack shit.
good luck with it.
my best for 5km, long time ago, was 18 minutes on Flemington grass track.
Now I would doubt I could do much better than 25 minutes. Ah, the sadness of declining personal athletic prowess.
Just did my first timed 5k at Sydney Park (St Peters) www.parkrun.com.au wearing my Vibram SeeYa LS toe shoes.
Official time to be confirmed but I think it was around the 28 min mark.
Fairly slow, but it's a start and there was a nasty hill in the middle of it (I need to work on hills).
I took out the start too hard, so my 3rd km (after the hill) was slow and my knee was a little sore which I can attribute to muscle fatigue making my barefoot form get sloppy.
The final km I improved and had enough energy at the end for a 200m sprint with a 12 year old.
Had a few chats with people before and after, everyone was really friendly!
I highly recommend going to these events; they are run all over Australia and the world.
Fewer injuries in barefoot runners?
Really good read on barefoot running.
@bigruff I have the same sorts of issues; my treatment is barefoot running, Physio, Foam rolling, and some physio recommended bodyweight exercises/stretches.
Most recommend starting on soft grass or on the beach.
I started on the pavement in Vibrams.
Just take the first few runs easy (1-2km).
Use the feedback from the road to land with a softer foot strike.