Not Fake News. Urban LegendsI’m attempting to find something open which will give me a morning coffee fix.
But no chance of that. The only signs of life are sleeping dogs. And they can barely rouse themselves to acknowledge my presence.
Ach well. Grab it is.
Grab being the ubiquitous taxi service and general delivery shopping app over here in Indonesia. Much like ‘Nam.
Beautiful. A decent coffee delivered to my door for about 3 USD.
A barefoot ramble through a grassy park, and my thoughts on grass as a running surface.
Sure, ‘touch grass’, but best not to race or train on, especially barefoot.
Hard uniform surfaces like concrete, smooth asphalt, or tracks work better cos they offer something to bounce off.
And they can’t hide barefoot enemies like broken glass, sharp sticks, thorns etc.
I also compare Peter Snell’s running records to John Walker’s.
In 1962, Snell ran an 800m world record of 1m44.3s on Grass. A few days earlier he ran a world record 3m54.4s mile, also on Grass. Snell’s 800m New Zealand record stood for 62 years.
In 1975, Walker ran 3m49.4s over a mile, on a synthetic ‘high performance’ all-weather track.
Is Walker’s mile mark superior to Snell’s? Let me know in the comments.
https://urbanlegend.co.nz/projects
I rescued a stray orange & transported some Macadamia nuts in this morning’s barefoot exercise.
This year hasn’t been a great season for nuts, but they can still be found. If you know where to look.
Weather-wise, Whangarei is back to its usual form – either it HAS rained, or it’s gonna rain shortly.
I get a bit of a soaking today – all part of the fun… for now.
Barefoot bursts spread out over a morning walk is my default ‘training’ these days.
A cool autumn morning, hence the red toes, but I put in 8 short bursts ( sub 6m00s / km pace ) of about 30 strides a time.
Of those 8, only two breached my MAF* ceiling heartrate of ~ 124 bpm.
Best two were top paces of 5:19/km & 5:16/km at peak HR of 107 both times.
*MAF = Maximum Aerobic Function.
See my health / fitness dashboard demo linked at https://urbanlegend.co.nz/projects/
This new Whangarei Parkrun starts on grass, so I warmed up in socks, and ran barefoot.
A bit nasty on the short grass stretch in the cold, but the rest of the 5km course is on concrete, so no problemo barefoot.
I started super conservative, nose-breathing through to 1.5 km, but managed to get in around 29m15s.
Warmup was cut a little short by general confusion, so a slow start’s best for injury prevention.
Overall, a really nice course along the stream, and without the challenging rough cobblestones of the other Whangarei Parkrun.
It’s cold enough, but wet footpaths and socks don’t play well together.
So barefoot and purple toes it is through this morning’s exercise walk.
Views from Old Onerahi looking over town to the Western Hills.
This mobile home gem graced the hood with its presence, & is the first thing I saw on my barefoot morning walk.
Walking barefoot is itself a kind of hack, because I’m strengthening my ankles, tendons, & of course my soles.
I’m also using some breathing hacks. A small example – breathe OUT, counting steps under your breath. Most mornings I can manage 60 steps in one spell. It’s very mild altitude training.
More on breathing below ( NOT associate links ). James Nestor’s audiobook is in my all-time top 5.
The other hack featured in this video is mobile living.
This is a particularly good example of ‘van living’, which is taking off in New Zealand as house prices continue to claim more ( most, sometimes ) of a weekly budget.
Misty but not so cold ( 11 deg C ), & easy enough on the bare feet.
My burb is hilly, so Autumn & winter mists are common. Here’s a view South-west across to the airport.
I did some short bursts this morning. I’m slowly extending their length from a base of 25 strides to now 30, and sometimes 40-50.
The idea is to run without stress. Which I’m measuring by staying below a MAF* of 124. I overdid the last burst today, resulting in 19 seconds above MAF. No big deal, but a good yardstick.
* MAF = Maximum Aerobic Function. see philmaffetone.comfor more.
Also see health & performance dashboard I’m building.