A new era in training... Using rather old technology..

So, with my penchance for injuring my calves - leading to down times of running of several weeks - I have decided I need a bicycle.  So doing the wise thing I posted on Facebook and Craigslist that I was looking for a bike!  Surprisingly I got some great offers of people being willing to lend me a bike.. As long as I traveled to Australia or halfway across the country to pick them up.  It seems my friends are comedians...

I found one I was interested in on Craigslist - but the person hasn't responded after I have pestered them for several days via phone and email.  As It kind of reminded me of trying to find a date in highschool - I knew to move on.  On a good note, one of my friends let me know he had found a bicycle in his garage when he moved, and if I wanted it he would happily let me have it.

[caption id="attachment_751" align="alignright" width="640" caption="My New (to me) Ralegh Capri bicycle from the 80's!"][/caption]

Talk about old-school!  I am very excited - it's the sort of bike I wanted as a kid (yes, that was in pre-mountain bike days.. 10/12 speeds were "all that" back in the day..)

Now the bad news.. Tires? Dry rotted.  Cables? Not all are hooked up to where they are supposed to be.  Brakes? Need to "Shoes"  Chain? TBD.

Decisions on Vibram Five Fingers - The Cure for all that ails you? or a plan for injury?

 So, I went for a run last night in my Asics, after only using my Vibram Five Fingers (VFFs) as my primary running shoe for a while.  I found the run in general less enjoyable, especially the shoes. It seems that I really enjoy the range of motion granted by the VFFs, as well as the added ground feel that comes with the thinner soles.  In my reading however, I have found that there may be one major issue with using VFFs as my only running shoe.

[caption id="attachment_376" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Keith Olbermann's Foot on the David Letterman show."][/caption]

It seems they may cause stress fractures.   Keith Olbermann appeared on the David Letterman shoe wearing a "boot" due to a stress fracture in the VFFs.  There is an ongoing discussion on a podiatry forum I found online.  In regards to stress fractures and VFFs, the podiatrists were not the least bit surprised that people were reporting injuries from running in the VFFs.  Though to be fair on this one, they sounded as bad as the "church of the barefoot runner" folk do when talking about it.  They are hostile, non-helpful to people who might have inquiries about them - and just plain mean at times.  They actually search the internet (like my google search earlier) looking for people reporting foot breaks in VFFs, and then they mock them. So I take them with a grain of salt, just as I do the "VFFs/barefoot running will cure all your problems!"  Plus, add in the fact that if VFFs really do cure alot of foot problems - it will seriously cut in to a Podiatrists' bottom-line.