First real VFF run

Wednesday last week I actually tried a real run w/ my VFF. I aimed for about 3 miles, w/ a stretch along the railroad tracks because I wanted to see if I could actually handle trails w/ them.

It was a mistake. :P A minor one, thankfully.

I could run in the dirt along the railroad tracks fine. The small jagged rocks right by the tracks don't work though. Walking in them is barely tolerable and the footing is too loose to run in.

The real mistake was trying to run 3 miles off the bat. My calves were tired after about 1 mile, and threatened to cramp up towards the end whenever I stopped at a light. I think I'm not running toe-first correctly yet. I suspect I wasn't landing on my heels at all for the first 1/2 to 1 mile, which stressed out my calves. I also probably ran too fast at the beginning. The pacing and timing are different. It also took quite a bit of concentration to keep the form.

Next time, shorter distance w/ the VFF. ^_^

ため。。。

ため。剣道によるとどんな意味かな。僕ができるかな。。。

Monterey and Carmel

This Fourth of July weekend I went down to Monterey and Carmel with Hsin-tien. We were aiming for a nice leisurely and relaxing trip. And the thing dictating our itinerary... food. ^_^

On the way down, we stopped at Phil's Fish Market in Moss Landing for an early lunch. Unfortunately that also meant we weren't very hungry so we passed on the cioppino. Instead we had some sauteed oysters, which were one of the day's specials, a bowl of clam chowder, and steamed clams. I was not impressed by the sauteed oysters, but the clam chowder and steamed clams were good. I would definitely have to try the cioppino next time. Maybe when it's crab season.




We had to spend some time driving around Cannery Row to find parking for our visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. All of the lots were full, but the aquarium didn't feel too packed after we got in. We took our time walking to the aquarium before entering quickly (and for free) thanks to my parents' aquarium membership. :) The current special exhibit, "The Secret Lives of Seahorses," was interesting. And my dreaded nemesis the Sunfish was missing. :D

There was a bit of traffic between Monterey and Carmel. Upon arriving in Carmel, we checked into our bed and breakfast, the Colonial Terrace. Then we walked down to the beach and had a nice stroll. The sand was very fine and comfortable, and there were many people starting up fires on the beach. Unfortunately it had become cloudy so no sunset for us. :p

We cleaned up and went to dinner at Anton and Michel. Unfortunately we forgot to take pictures of the food. :p The food was good, but nothing too exotic or different. The atmosphere is very nice though.


The next day we slept in before heading to Carmel Belle for lunch. We found the place w/ relatively little difficulty. It is a nice quaint place, and the food was pretty good. The prociutto was a nice reminder of Spain. Hsin-tien and I have trouble remembering to photograph our food before digging in. :p

After a little shopping along Ocean Ave we decided to head back. For dinner we tried Tanto on Saratoga Ave. We got there early, around 6 o'clock, and they were hesitant to seat us w/o reservations. Guess they're really popular and crowded. O_o They seated us anyways, ahead of a reservations I assume, and somewhat pushed us to order quickly. They were nice about it though. We had kakuni (stewed pork), asari ramen (clam ramen), and kaki ika (grilled squid). Hsin-tien also had an order of egg nigiri. All of it was really good. Again, we forgot to take pictures of the food. :p

VFF and stairs: Feels like cheating

Did a lot of stairs this past Saturday w/ Shannon and Kaori. Of course I wore my VFF. ^_^ I swear it feels like cheating given how light they are and the ability to use your toes. My calves are like dead still though. :p

VFF 1st workout: Exhilarating!!!

So after wearing my Vibram Five Fingers (VFF) off and on this week, I finally took them out for a workout this Sunday morning. I decided to do a short jog, about 1 mile, to the De Anza College track to do some core workouts, since I didn't think I was ready for a long run yet. (I haven't run since my marathon in January. :p) The jog there was ok. Felt a little odd, and stepping on a joint between pavement hurt a little bit, but it was fine. Slight detour on gravel was fine, as was grass and mulch under trees. I realized that there are places you can't step in/on though, such as grates with wider holes. I think your ankles also get more of a workout, since the VFF allows and forces you to use your ankles more, for both stabilizing and pushing.

I always disliked stair works, but it was a lot more tolerable with the VFF. Being able to bend and use your toes more made the stairs much more tolerable, both going up and down. Lunges were also interesting being able to use my toes more, but my left toes were not too happy due to a tough and tense kendo practice on Friday. It was also easier to stay on my toes and stabilize during burpees.

But the real surprise came on the jog back. It had felt like the one thing that feels off w/ the VFF is actually running fast, or sprinting. I don't have a good sprinting form. I'm not used to running only on the balls of my feet and my toes. Rather, I lengthen my stride and power faster. But then landing on the thinner heel of the VFF kind of hurts. On the jog back I tried to jog in the toe/ball first form, which is landing on the balls of your feet and not your heels. It's supposed to be how you do barefoot running and how the Kenyans run. It was not easy, but easier in the VFF than regular shoes. It was more of a strain on my calf and ankles, but I kept going. On the last stretch of my block, I started to up the speed and start sprinting. And I could actually sprint on the balls of my feet! And I kept going faster and faster, and soon it felt like all that was touching the ground were my toes!! It was exhilarating!! So it was a great fun first training w/ the VFF and we'll see how we go from here. ^_^