A Fast week!

This week was filled with many things other than running. I started recording my new album . It's being recorded analog and is going to be sick!

I also did almost two days of water fasting. I was not feeling well the days leading up to my recording date and felt like crap the following day so I decided to not eat anything at all and drink a bunch of water. I even ran a bit during the fast. I got a bit hungry but I dealt with it no problem and I could tell that my system was actually quite happy to no have to digest anything for once. The body got a break and a chance to get rid of and metabolize some garbage. I eat a pretty awesome vegan diet these days but nonetheless the body cannot be cleansed without fasting. I made it through the first day no problem and I actually slept great through the night except for my cat Arthur Dive bombing me. I woke up in the morning feeling pretty rough. I still had a cold of sorts and alot of crap in toxins in my body but atleast I got some rest. I knew I wasn't going to push the fast longer than I felt comfortable with. I was just going to go on "gut" feeling. I managed a light 25 mins or Run/Walk on a local trail (barefoot of course..do I need to even say this anymore?? No I don't) and I felt quite spacey and my legs felt like lead. This might be good preparation for what one might feel like during a 100 mile race. So I made it through a good portion of the day and I decided to have some food. I fasted for 40 hours, it was my first and not my last. I will say that I woke up feeling great today and the fast really help reset my clock. Good stuff. Albeit the was a very short fast but still seemed to have some merit. The benefits really grow once you have gone into the 5-7 day mark and continues exponentially. You have to kind of have the right calendar for this undertaking though. Anyways....until next time.

Adios, Barefoot Burt

Great Reads

I have been reading quite a bit as of late. Here are some standouts that I encourage anyone to check out.

1.The China Study

by Dr. T. Colin Campbell

One of the most life changing reads has been the China Study. After being a vegetarian for 6 months I read the China Study and immediately went Vegan. In doing so, I have become a more happy person in general and my body feels much better. I enjoy the food as well! It's a win win. Anyone interested in improving their health should check it out.

2.Run Barefoot Run Healthy: Less Pain More Gain For Runners Over 30

by Ashish Mukharji

Run Barefoot Run Healthy is a great book for the beginner and even the experienced barefoot runner. I make an appearance in the book as well as a few of my fellow barefoot buddies like Julian Romero, Efrem Rensi, Angie Bee etc...

Best Training Ever.

I have to report that my current training is going better than ever before. I am barefoot for all runs and I have a complete menu of workouts. I'm currently around 50 miles a week which isn't huge for me but I am getting in alot of quality runs and I am not in marathon training right now. A typical week will be be a day of 1200 meter intervals, a tempo run, a long run of 90 mins. and some easy runs spread throughout. Pretty normal stuff. I would say that around 80% of my running is on trails now which makes it so easy to run the roads on tempo days and intervals.

Looking forward to the Santa Monica 5000 in Oct.

Been a long time~

Dear Web Dwellers,

So over the last 31/2 months I have been eating a Vegan diet...I had been vegetarian for about 6 months beforehand. I love it. I have discovered so many wonderful foods! I eat alot of fresh fruit! As far as running goes, I haven't had any thing on my paws in a long time, running pretty much 7days a week and primarily been running on trails. It's amazing how much I can do on rough trails now in comparison to a year ago. My feet are monsters! Anyhow, I hope all of you are enjoying your running as much as I am! Summer time rules!

Adios, Burt

The Naked Tour!

Chris McDougall's Naked Tour came to Town on Sunday. There was a fun run for the event which Ken Bob, Bob Saxe, Cliffiord and I planned the route the previous weekend.

I walked to my car to head out to A runners Crircle which was the start point of the run (great store BTW..) and my car was dead! What the hell am I gonna do?It's 12:18 and the run starts at 1pm and I am 20 miles from the start point. I was freaked! I had no ride so I called my buddy Barefoot Bob Saxe, who was going to be attending but lives on the opposite side of the start. He says "i can pick you up, we might be a bit late but we'll get there". Bob, you rule man. So we got there just in time for the run and we shared some running stories on the ride over and Bob tells me he used to run marathons and he's hoping to do another one, this time barefoot.

Upon arrival one of the first people I see is Patrick Sweeney (aka Bourbonfeet)! I have been wanting to meet Pat ever since he first started posting on the RunnersWorld forums. Pat is really fast, he's got a 2:27 marathon PR and. He is a fun loving guy who's trainign methods are very unorthodox but are really effective. He trains solely barefoot (pardon the pun) and runs almost all of his mileage in dep sand by the ocean.I think he ran 133miles the previous week barefoot. I am pysched to finally meet the man, he is taller in real life and looks younger too!
I continue to take in the sights, there must be almost a hundred runners but only a handul of us barefooters, maybe 10.

Bang...Ken Bob heads out and we are off running. I start off with Pat and a few others life is good. The course seems much harder this time around, the uphill seems never ending. I haven't been running much after the marathon. so I am huffing a little bit. Up from behind I am about to be passed and it's Chris McDougall! I introduce myself and tell him " great book man" and he responds "well thank you very much"a totally cool, genuine character I can tell. He passes me by he is running in Vibrams and the tough technical mountain trail in Griffith Park is Challenging me. Pat is gone at this point I don't know what or where he went but this freakn hill is killing me! We reach the summit and Chris Mcdougall is standing on top and givs me a high five and says everybody remember to give Ken Bob the finger for picking this course! Now the fun part! The downhill section. Downhills on rough trails barefoot are one of my favorite new challenges! I flew past everybody except one other speedy barefooter up ahead and then out of nowhere Clifford pulls along side o me! Cool! Clifford is darn good on thr trails barefoot so we scream cannonball and float and fly down the hill. When running barefoot on downhills( trails escpecially ) you can't fight gravity or you destroy your feet. You have to just lift your feet and freefall, pick your feet up very quickly! It's great practice for the understanding the perception of freefalling. Ran pretty hard to the finish. I think it was about 5 or 6 miles I didn't have a gps on.

Now everybody is milling about and getting their copy of "Born To Run" signed, myself included. Scott Jurek is aslo there and I got to meet him get his John Hancock as well. We all hung and talked, heck, Pat and I were there until everybody had gone. What a great day. Well done.

Trail Running with the master(Barefoot Ken Bob)

Griffith Park
Barefoot Ken Bob, Bob Saxe, Clifford Childers and myself set out on a barefoot trail run on some challenging terrain to practice our technique and map the course for the Naked Tour Fun Run with Ken Bob, Chris McDougall and Scott Jurek and the rest of us fruitcakes! There is some video or our goofing right here!

LA Marathon Barefoot 2011 A two part story of pain and glory.

Part one: Lessons

A bit of a backstory,

I have had many strange setbacks since my last update. Mostly All non-BF running related stuff. I blew out my back moving a recording studio etc. soon after the thanksgiving ½ mary. I came back from that and after doing a 16 miler barefoot in the rain with no problems I talked with some folks about running barefoot in the rain and I became nervous about the soles of my feet. So I broke my cardinal rule and pulled out the only shoes left and during a single run in Ascis stability shoes during massive non-stop rains in late Dec. I blew my Achilles. This incident could have been easily avoided but my desperate attempt to maintain high mileage instead of just waiting until the weather changed got the best of me. It hurt bad. I decided I would punish myself some more and followed that up with a shit-ton of abusive drinking as I was so pissed at myself.. Dumb. Yes. After almost three weeks of sulking around and limping around I concluded I had to get my gimpy body and mind in order! That meant no booze (which is not a normal part of my life anyway) and eating healthy. I went vegetarian as directed by my Yoga teacher Guru Singh. Bang. I had been doing Kundalini yoga for almost two years but I wasn’t living the lifestyle. I decided to change that….I gave up caffeine, Alchol, meat, warm showers. Felt great.

(I did later learn that running barefoot in rain presents no real problems as long as you run proper. I should have trusted my experieince with the rainy 16 miler. This lesson would prove to be a very valuable lesson for this impending marathon).

So due to all these strange setbacks I had to modify my training. This meant I could no longer do my obsessive mile counting shit. No more running twice a day/ 7 days a week. This was a blessing. I figured I’d do only some long runs to get me through the marathon but stupidly the night before my first long run after my layoff I went to the gym. I hadn’t been there in eight months but I proceeded to knock out a pretty intense workout including deep back squats. The next morning I went for the long run and my quads felt like they had been beat with a seal club. The next week I am afraid to admit I did the same exact thing except I increased both the run and the weights! This resulted in my quads to imploding and inflaming my tendon in the quad, This was bad. This prevented me from doing any cross training as even swimming aggravated it! The marathon was starting to look like a pipe dream.

I now am left with only running Long once every 7 to 10 days all at a very easy pace and that’s it. My marathon training consisted of only a handful of runs, two of which were 20 milers. I said” hell with It I am doing this” and I registered.

Part two. The barefoot marathon

Anxiety had begun to set in due to only running once in a blue moon, knowing that my cardio is crap and my quad still hurting leading up to the race. I barely slept the days leading up to the Marathon. The night before the race I slept like 40 mins. at best and heard that he forecast was for massive RAIN and boy they were right! Ok, no problem ,right? I did numerous long runs in the rain and I am not worried. My alarm going off at 5:30 almost gave me a heart attack causing my entire face to pulsate in rhythm to my heart. I was really tired and felt like throwing up. Not kidding. I grabbed some toast and Amy and I were out the door headed for Dodger Stadium, which was the starting point. When we arrived and it was really cold, the wind is whipping me in the face and I am already exhausted from lack of sleep. I am starting to think I should just call it a day and go home. I decide to stay and wait for the start with my teeth chattering away.

I was supposed to meet up with Julian Romero, Ken Bob and the Gang but I couldn’t find them and I didn’t have a phone. So after standing around freezing for an hour we are off! I am glad to be moving and I begin to feel ok! Before I reach the first mile I hear somebody yell “hey barefoot”! Next thing I knew a fellow barefooter is beside me. I am stoked! His name was John and it turned out we had about the same time goal although had run a few Ultras and a marathon within the last year while my cardio was crap due to running so little. I was determined to gut it out and post a respectable time anyhow. In the first few miles Legs feel a little crappy but as we continued on they warmed up and started to feel pretty good. John and I were joking and running together having a good ole time. We got lots of love from fellow shod runners and the crow for barefootn it. It was nice! The rain was really coming down, the wind was whipping us in the face and we joked that it’s amazing that at mile 13 we are still cold! You just couldn’t get warm, I was dressed in a singlet, a pair of racing shorts, compression calf sleeves and a ball cap with a skullcap underneath. All the way to mile 16 we hung together and at that point John took off and I couldn’t hang on to him. I was now on my own., quiet and in my own mind, running a nice steady pace. I focused on my breath and movement and mediated. As I approach mile19, I see my buddy walking! I come upon him and yell “hey barefoot”! I asked him if he was ok as I ran past and he responded “my legs feel like 100lbs” I had to run on as I didn’t want to stop but he didn’t look good. I’m pretty happy at this point and I am thankful to my body for cooperating.

I hit mile 20 and I am feeling fine and my pace has been very smart and even. I pretty much just go into a void for the last 10 k and I think I slowed between mile 21 and 24 but at 24 I hammered to make up for it and mile 25 I was running all out and I as I turned on to Ocean ave. in Santa Monica. Now the Ocean is in view and the wind was howling and the rain was slapping me but I ripped the last mile with all I had and bang I made it! My time was 4:19! Not bad for only running 4 times leading up to the race and in sever thunderstorms barefoot on trashed ass streets. Joy! I almost felt like hypothermia as we were forced into a standstill in the rain and wind after the marathon. There were almost 20.000 finishers. I eventually borrowed someone’s phone to find Amy, I had to walk in the rain barefoot for another freakn mile. This seemed harder than the race itself! Ha. All in all it was an experience I would not trade and the difficult weather made it special. I can’t wait for next year. I think I’ll run more than once a week for that one.

I wanted to give special thanks to a few important folks.

Thank you to Julian Romero whose tutelage has been invaluable and he remains a massive inspiration. He finished the day in 2:45 barefoot. Mind Blowing.

Also to Ken Bob for helping us barefooters find our way and for teaching us how to run. And being the host with the most!

And to Mom and Amy for standing behind me!

Much Love, Barefoot Burt

4th Annual Thanksgiving Day Ultra/Marathon

I had the most amazing running experience of my life today. Julian and Alex Romero orgainize this guerilla style marathon running the LA marathon course every year at Thanksgiving. The one and only Ken Bob was the mobile Aid station in the car and sometimes running with us as his wife took the wheel. Those guys actually ran to the starting line!

I joined the group near my house..I figured I'd jump in and run a few miles until I couldnt keep up. Alex's marathon PR is 2:40 and Julian's is 2:47. There were 9 total people including the Ken Bob aid wagon in our clan. The only barefooters were Alex,Julian, Ken Bob and myself. I was in hog heaven! These are all the guys I have read about and looked up to and here I am running shoulder to shoulder with them!

I couldnt believe how light Julian, Alex and Ken were on their feet. Very gentle, yet fast and effortless. We got kinda lost at one point and I was having a blast so I didnt care. We ran some gnarly terrain and had some good hills in there too. When we make it the Beach, its a beautiful day, I am running with Ken Bob on my right shoulder and Julian is directly in front of us... as we hit the beach I am at mile 12 and the pace keeps getting faster it's sitting at 7min pace at that point. As we get to the boardwalk and hit mile 13 for me its mile 35 for them!! We decide to race the last mile back to the pier...we pick a starting point and we hit it and we are off and flying! Alex is immediately like....gone...Julian right behind. I am pushing at a 6 min pace and watching them disappear towards the pier. I am huffing and puffing and choking on my own spit at 6 min pace at mile 13 ... I finish, we all finish, joy!

I end up with 14 miles and Julian and Alex end up with 36 and the others 37! Those guys actually ran to the starting line!

Everybody there was so talented I felt so lucky and happy to be around such talent and such interesting folks!

The bonus was at the end Ken Bob gave us all Running Barefoot tye dyes!

Happy Thanksgiving!

52 miles

I am late entering last weeks miles as I have been crazy busy at work. I decided to cut miles as I was getting kinda grumpy and insane. 52 is easy at this point.

74 mile week

My biggest week to date, 74 miles. I was supposed to be tapering but I got bored and I am still not sure if I am gonna do the mountain race. I did manage to get in my first barefoot Interval workout at the track, which is my first track session since my transition. I noticed while doing the intervals that my posture felt so much better than it used to in shoes when running hard (5:45 pace). I didn't feel like the space shuttle re-entering the atmosphere! It will take awhile to get used that crappy, spongy, textured surface on the track but I do like not having to worry about cars. I also got in a hard farltek session on some trails in my Luna Sandals, a mini-long run of 10.5 mi. barefoot through the streets and a bunch of other miles! This week will be less. I hope. ;)

Quality control

Hola,
This past week had a lot of quality hard running in it. I reduced mileage to 43.2 but put the pedal down.

The week's speedwork was all done barefoot:
I did two 5 mile Tempo runs in the 7:28 range on the streets. I did an interval/fartlek session which consisted of 10x100 meter on a grass infield and 6x 2min. hard 2 min. easy on a concrete loop.

I was starting to taper this week for the trail mountain race but I dont think I am going to do it. I dont want to wear anything on my feet and the terrain is just gnarly and I will get blown away by guys I know I could beat if I either A. Had something on my feet or B. Ran on another surface.
I think I will shoot for a 5k on the streets in January.

I dunno...my buddy Shack is gonna be there.. I guess I'll barefoot the biatch!

Adios,BURT

70 miles of pure fun

Hola Compadres,
I managed to get in another 70 miles of running this week for a total of 244 for the month of October. The mileage felt quite easy even though I did much more HARD running which was mostly done on trails. Easy until I decided to double on my speedwork day with a hard paced Mountain run...which was like running up and down a wall for 7.5 miles after a hard 6 mi. fartlek workout in the morning. I was whipped after this and didn't even have the ability to mutter much of anything and laid lifeless facedown on the floor at home. It seems I could run forever at an easy pace, so I figure it's time to raise the bar.

I am now gonna cut miles and start hitting the track. Time to get some speed in these legs. Gonna work on my mile time. Rest this week and then I gotta do a barefoot mile time trial next week. Happy Halloween!

Adios,BURT

Santa Monica Mountains Sunday, 21 November 2010 9k

My next race is a real mother! It's in the Santa Monica Mountains 5.3 miles with a 1,300 ft elevation change. I got to get back to running in the Mountains like I did over the summer or I am a dead man. This weeks long run will be in the Mountains. My buddy Shacky is running the 50k which is just insane.

http://www.pctrailruns.com/Santa_Monica_Mountains.htm

Happy trails

This week I managed 54 miles. I actually started doing some formal speed work. My Speed or lack there of has come up quite a bit in discussions lately. Speed hasn't been a real concern since learning to run barefoot. My focus has really been on running as much as possible (base training) and running lightly and gently in a way that causes minimal carnage. In the Last 4 weeks I have run 235 miles! This is monumental in my training.

A few points high points from the week included my first interval session in ages. I did them on a .25 trail loop in Luna Sandals. My long run was 13.5 miles in barefeet on the streets, 2 miles of the run on the local track at a comfortably hard pace...the rest was a very easy pace.

70 MILE WEEK

This week I ran 70 miles barefoot on the streets of LA! The brilliance of the human body is really humbling. What a total hoot! This last 3 weeks have been my biggest cycle of weeks which was 61,50,70! I am gonna fall back and actually take a few days off this week. I didn't take any days off over the last 3 weeks. My next milestone is 80 mpw! Balls out!

I'm down to like 159lbs.

The Weekly News Report

Hola Amigos and Amigas,
I got 50 miles in this week, all barefoot, all on streets and my favorite old concrete loop around our local park. I call the loop Cherry Lane, it's really a beautiful path shaded by trees, the park is in the middle which also has a dirt trail (which I am staying off for now).

I managed a few fast-ish 6 mile runs in amongst the easy runs, one of them in the rain. I got some giggles, smart ass remarks and odd stares as I burned down Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills sans shirt and shoes in the rain.

Last weeks PR for miles left me pretty tired, I need to eat and sleep better, or just toughen up. I'm still in base building phase so no real "fast" running at all. The speed phase will come. I am debating which race to do at the end of the month. I am leaning towards the 10k road race in West LA.

Adios 4 now

Mileage Milestone for me!

Hola Amigos,
This week I ran the most miles I have ever run. I ran 61 miles! All miles were barefoot minus 3 which were done in luna sandals on a trail. It was pretty amazing week for me. I'd like to say it was really easy but it was a lot of running for me. I managed to get in a 3 mi. tempo run while the rest of the miles were at a farily easy pace. I ran on a big mixture of surfaces but the majority was concrete/ashpalt but a good amount of trails too!

I have lost almost 10lbs since my 10k like 3 weeks ago so I had to up the calories as I started getting really woozy feeling. Down to like 165 at 6'1''

I'm hoping to get to 100 miles per week in the next 6 months or so. I want to fist get real comfortable at the 60-70 zone and then jump up to 80-100.

I am gonna try to do one race per month from here on out. I am still not completely decided which race for Oct. but I will do some kind of 10k I am sure.

Adios, BURT

On the road again....

Hola Comrades,

I'm back to daily barefootn' after 12 days of letting my cut close up. The cut toe is still a p.i.t.a. and still unhappy, but it's ok to run on. I'm looking forward to logging some big miles and hitting some races!

I am now readying myself for the 10k trail races coming up.. but still no speedwork while healing. SO the goal will to be just go out and have fun on race day and get a trail race under the belt while bf.

My diet is going well...down to 167lbs @ 6 1/2 ft. getting stronger and lighter is good.

the barefoot 10k

This week I let up a bit on the miles as I decided to do the Santa Monica 10k barefoot. On race day I woke up at 6:30am without an alarm which is shocking to me. So I had some toast with some jam on it and some green tea and a banana and was off. We got at the race site with only 15 mins. to race time and I hadn't registered yet! So Amy let me out of the car and I ran to the starting line. I got there and apparently registraion wasnt at the start, there are a ton of people I am wading through. I am getting nervous about not making it in time. So as I am scanning for the registration I walk straight into a tire spike strip and totally SLASH and gash my left foot between the big and 2nd toe!! It hurt and was bleeding quite profusely. I finally find the registration stand and I am off to the starting line with blood foot. How the hell am I gonna run 6.2 miles in barefeet? But no way did I come here to cut my toe off and go home to the ER. I came to run and run I shall! I am lined up at the back of the pack at this point. I don't have a time goal anyhow, I have done exactly zero speed training.

BAM! We are off and I am happy to be moving, albeit at a turtle like pace. The first mile was a circus like sea of waddling folks. It must have been a 10 minute pace at best. I said ok I'm having fun and happy my body feels ok. Mile 2 comes and I see another barefooter, I give him a hollar as I pass him by. Mile 3 comes and At this point I decide it's time to get up and go. Body is feeling surprisingly good, I can't feel any pain in the blood foot. I start cranking up the pace and I am passing people left and right, one good thing about starting in the back, I never got passed once! I see Sammy Kosgei running straight at me at around mile 3.5 as he has made the turn around and is running like a deer! I screamed for him as he flew by in his Nike Free's. mile 4 is just after the turnaround and I am now running faster than I have in like 6 months. The surface of the streets were surprisingly nice on the feet and I am really enjoying the awareness of my body in my first barefoot race! Mile 5 comes and I up it one more time, down ocean ave. I let fly! This mile has to make up for the horrendously slow 1st mile. And it does. I am running all out from this point to the end. I don't think I have ever un this fast barefoot. Mile 6 I can see the finish and I now enter my sprint to the finish. I finish happy in 50:21. This was my first official 10k ever. I have run faster than this in training in shoes but never ran 6.26 miles this fast in barefeet. I am ok with this time, though it will undoubtedly be improved upon next time. I also will not start at the back and cut my foot off before the next race. Now as I wait to find out my time my foot started to really rebel. The gash was not happy and it started some gross inflammation and puffiness. This is gonna take awhile to heal as it looks like someone tried to amputate my toe with a hand saw. God willing I plan to run the malibu canyon trail 10k barefoot in Oct.!

















Mon. -1:10 Easy in Lunas and bf on the trails next to the tracks in the desert. ALso some laps on the concrete loop bf.
Thurs.- 1:00 Easy barefoot in da hood. The homies said "yo that is good for your organs!" and " yo that is hardcore" in response to my barefeet.
Fri.-1:00 Hills barefoot felt great...my technique is really coming together. I weighed myself today..I am at 171lbs...I started a bit of a diet to get down to 160lbs. We'll see how that goes. I am hungry!
Sun.- RACE 1st barefoot race and 1st 10k ever.

Miles a plenty and Luna Love

I did 52 miles this week! I cant believe I have gotten up here running in nothing but barefeet and sandals. Amazing. I sometimes have to remind myself that I'm running this many miles as it feels so much easier than it used to.

I want to get up to the 70 mpw before this possible Ultra race in October... we shall see. I suppose 60 would suffice. I ran alot of these miles in the Mojave Desert.

The week Looked like this:

Monday- EASY 1:03 barefoot..sidewalks into the Hood South LA. They Homey's said "That's good for your organs" and "That's harcore right there" I love the hood

Tuesday-TEMPO 1:05 in Luna Sandals on the trails. warmed up easy and ran 3 mile-ish hard.

Weds.-EASY 1:06 barefoot on the streets of Bev. Hills.. I started to really feel light on my feet..form is getting better.

Thurs.-MEDIUM 1:00 barefoot on streets,sidewalks. After warming up I did some strides down the middle of the road. Working on running fast with no tension.

Fri.-EASY barefoot 1:00 on the concrete loop at freedom park in Palm desert. The white concrete loop was amazingly cool despite the 95 degree temp.

Sat. LONG RUN 2:00 Luna Sandals and barefeet along the train tracks in the middle of the Mojave desert..I eventually veered off into the sand and found some hard pack that was so hard and smooth I had to kick off the sandals and barefoot it. Felt great...I carry the sandals in my waist strap of my back pack like BF Ted. That way I can quicly slip the sandals on and off. I used the Hemp laces on the Luna Sandals without socks and they performed perfectly. No blisters and they felt very clos to barefoot excepth that they allowed me to run a long section of hardcore gravel without much discomfort. I also wore my Zensah calf sleeves. It was freakn hot.

Sun.- EASY 1:10 in Lunas and Barefeet... I went back to the same setting as yesterday and repeated the same performace but shorter.