COMMENTS
I love the idea of vblogging. You're a natural. First two are great. The video quality was very good. You're speech rate is not too slow not too fast. Great job of minimizing ums & pauses; very tough with one take. Good use of hand gestures. Obviously, you need to write some words for SEO. And there was some background noise. I couldn't open the YouTube channel from my iPad or I'd leave comments there.
I, too, am a runner and competed in college. What was your best event and PR? I've always been a toe-striker and have never significant injury. I definitely agree with his logic although I've never tried barefoot running.
Thanks so much Mike! The back ground noise was my two kittens playing. I'll have to make my next one while they sleep!
I was a distance runner for the most part. I ran the 5k in XC, went sub 18 for my personal PR. In track I loved the 800, I think my PR was 2:14.
I'm a heel striker but am super anal retentive about shoes, stretching and listening to my body - so I have been pretty lucky about not getting injured. I still run 4 miles 5-6 times a week and love it.
Where did you run and what distances did you do?
In HS I ran 400m and 800m. My PRs were 52.1 and 1:57.6. They moved me up to mile at EKU, but I can't remember my PR. I think it was between 4:15 & 4:20. I had to run XC and ran 8k in 27:30. I've started over with my 'adult' PRs. My best 5k is now 21:05. Thanks for asking!
I run 3-4 days and about 12 miles a week. I'm addicted. I'm anal about my training log and love the charts and graphs on RunningAHEAD.com.
Sub 18 is awesome. Thanks for sharing.
excellent idea to do a video blog, you are a natural, well done.
I too read that book recently and have been seriously barefooting it since January. A runner of many years, I could have discovered this on my own about 5 years ago. I had been trying to recover from a bad knee by running slow laps on a soccer field and switched to an old pair of racing flats because the wet field made shoes soggy and heavy. I then tried them that summer in a local 5K and was amazed to run well with no pain. The five fingers things work real well on asphalt roads or other places where there are issues.
Not only do your feet feel great, they even bulk up a bit as you do more and they get a real workout. I've been doing some longer 6-10 milers lately up in the northeast kingdom on mostly dirt roads where I can go barefoot. It's awesome! Keep running, and best of luck with the video blog.
Hi Bob - thanks so much.
Congrats on the move to barefoot running. I have been nervous to go all out and run on pavement barefoot. I had serious stress fractures in high school and thought it sounded like a bad idea. Did you make the transition slowly? Any tips?
I started last January, 5 fingers on asphalt roads, barefoot on dirt roads and grass, woods, etc.
Slow is definitely the way to go, it's a radical change in stride. I've gone from 20 minutes or so to 1-1.5 hours but a very slow pace. When it's not too hot I'm probably doing 8-9 minute miles tops.
Be cautious though, I've had a couple of stress fractures also years ago (fibula) and they happen quickly and I never noticed them until the pain started from the calcium deposits.
I'll give you one pro tip my wife gave me. Find a nice stone for rubbing your soles in the shower. It's the easiest and coolest way to get the dirt off, and it feels good.
Keep running!
p.s. the 5 fingers are also great in airports, haven't been asked to take them off yet :)
Great videos Karen, the 2nd one with the camera at eye level is definitely the more flattering look. You do have a great natural sense of animation and gesticulation which is conducive to the medium.
I think a video blog, or a vlog, is simply a blog where the blogger uses video as the medium, and a podcast is a series of media recordings (audio, video) where the user uses a feed podcast reader to autodownload all of the media. Not sure there is really a difference but that is how I understand it.
Re LinkedIn, I don't really see the harm in accepting everyone who requests me. My view of it is that it is generally not all that useful, but may one day prove useful - it has in the past - so I just accept everyone with a smile, personalized intro or not. What downside do you see to just accepting everyone?
I also read Born to Run this summer and loved it. I've got the virbams now, and have been told that one should gradually work into them over the cvourse of a year or so before making the full transition because of the risk of stress fracture. I still like running in my Saucony rides, too, and while I buy what McDougall is saying in BTR, there is a counter argument. I have a tough time telling someone who runs 20 miles per week n running shoes that they should switch to barefooting if they are having no issues.
Hi Justin,
The reason I don't accept everyone any more (I used to,) is that I found when I wanted to do searches looking for people to reach out to, many of the people who I am connected with weren't real connections for me. If we only "know" each other because we are a member of the same linked in group, I am probably not going to feel comfortable enough reaching out to you for an introduction to one of your contacts.
If someone tells me how we know each other (we met here, we interacted there, etc) at least I feel a bit more of a personal connection to them. It's probably silly, I know, but it's the only way I have found to actually have a useful Linked In network.
I completely agree that you can't switch to barefoot running cold turkey. I think it's a sure fire way to get stress fractures. Working it up gradually is the way to go. Also, I don't really want to run on city streets barefoot, seems dangerous to me. I generally run to a field, then do a mile around the grass. Works great.