I am surprisingly not hungover this morning. I say “surprisingly” because the Orange Bowl was last night, and my beloved Mountaineers were up against Clemson, and I got this great idea from a sign outside a local restaurant that we would do touchdown shots when West Virginia scored. (One part Jäger, three parts Rumchata. You’re welcome.) Well, how was I supposed to know that the Mounties would choose last night to go absolutely nuts on the other team? As Eric put it, “It’s like they tried to have an Orange Bowl, and a basketball score broke out.” I got some foreshadowing when one of our guys was all, “Oh, hey, I’ll just take your fumble and RUN 99 YARDS TO SCORE.” Yeah, it was that kind of game. Final score, 70-33. We kicked the bottle of Rumchata before the fourth quarter even began.
But the only thing sore this morning are my calves, which is completely unfair. I broke out my Newton running shoes again yesterday for another try at adjusting my form (I got them in June but quickly decided I didn’t have time to deal with a slow adjustment period before gearing up for JFK), and I did exactly what was suggested in Natural Running, right down to only a “slow, ten-minute jog to warm up.” Well, ouch. Darn it.
Side note: I did the workout in my “prison gym,” which is the dismal, run-down basement of the Y where they keep the indoor track. I wanted to jump rope and do the form drills, so it seemed the best place, but it was hilariously awful; I half expected to hear wardens yelling at inmates around me. Also, when’s the last time you jumped rope? I hadn’t since perhaps middle school, so that, too, was hysterical. I think I made it up to 45 jumps once before my wrists and feet got off-track from each other. Perhaps that lack of coordination, plus the balance problems revealed sharply as I was doing the form drills, explain why I fall down so much? 
Anyway, going to be a slow run today, and in my regular shoes. Baby steps, y’all. On the plus side, my shoulder feels much better; I think I’m almost getting to the point where I could consider swimming again! Not now, but maybe in another week or two…
I’m doing this race as my first 50K/ultra in July 2012. I’m so tardy to the party but...
The thing with barefoot running shoes is that unless you use them consistently, you are going to have sore calves. Even a two mile run after being in ‘normal’ running shoes for a while will give you sore calves. I have to run in my VFFs a few times a week to avoid the post run hobble being around for a few days. If you want to baby-step your way up, they will have to become your primary running shoes, and you have to start with using them for about half a mile of your run. Do that for a few days, then step it up to a mile, etc. I never have the discipline to do that(who wants to run while carrying a pair of shoes?), so I tend to just limp around on sore calves after I slack off or forget my five fingers somewhere. That being said, when I do use them consistently, I don’t get the usually chronic shin splints.
Hmmmmmmm. I can do that, though, while I’m on a treadmill. Only place that won’t work would be for my long run with the club. When I get back to primarily outdoors, I could always do a loop around the block, too, to warm up…
On the other hand, I think I put a finger on why my calves are absolutely destroyed right now. Did you know that they aren’t kidding when they say to only jump rope every other day, and only for fifteen seconds at a time? Really, they aren’t. Really.
ouch! I do know that the first time I used my fivefingers, I was hugely mistaken about how far I could run in them. My normal runs ranged from 5-10 miles, so I figured a route that was just shy of two would be fine. I was actually crippled for over a week. I couldn’t even drive without pain and walking around was humorous to say the least. After that though, I quickly worked up to five miles.