One day I was out running Town Lake and I saw a guy wearing some strange camo print footwear, then as I got closer I saw that the shoe he was wearing looked more like a thick sock with a rubber sole.  Since I never saw or heard of anything like this before I went home and began my research on the internet.  After searching I quickly found that the shoes I saw were called Vibram Five Fingers (VFF) and they are the best alternative to barefoot running.

The Science

Now why would you ever want to run barefoot?  Isn’t it bad for my feet?  Well, the idea behind barefoot running is that it actually strengthens our feet and may prevent many injuries of the feet and joints.  When running barefoot you are forced to land on the ball of your foot then the heel touches down gently.  This is the way your body evolved to run.  When you land on the heel as shoes allow you to do, the shock is sent up your legs through your whole body which can lead to injury (shin splints anyone?).  Basically modern shoes have caused us to use poor running form with long, inefficient strides.

Think of your feet as a bow (like bow and arrow), the arch is formed by bones that articulate as we move.  Just like a bow has a string to keep it from going flat, we have a ligament called the plantar fascia which connects the heel to the front of the foot.  With traditional shoes our arch is supported so the plantar fascia doesn’t need to do its job; therefore, it can get weak and lead to plantar fasciitis.  Many doctors will give you custom orthotics to better support your arch which may weaken the plantar fascia even more!

My Review

First of all if you are even considering buying a pair of VFF go to www.vibramfivefingers.com and get as much info as you can about fitting them.  There is a video on the products page about how to size them.   I purchased my VFF at REI (right at 6^th and Lamar).  I recommend trying them on in the store so you can get the best possible fit.  Next, there are different models to choose from, I have the Sprint which are open top with a strap over the foot.  They also have the KSO which have a closed mesh top with a strap as well.  The KSO is said to be the best fitting of all the models, they didn’t have it in my size and I was anxious to wear them so I went with the Sprint.

As soon as I got home I put them on and went for a run, needless to say I was out for about 3 minutes and my achilles tendon had enough.  Needless to say I was disappointed that my run ended so quickly but it is normal so don’t worry if the same happens to you.  I continued working up my distance allowing plenty of rest between runs to fully recover.  My calves were extremely sore at first and my arches were a little tender as well.  Also, as I was able to go on longer runs I began to get blisters at the base of my big toes.  If you feel like you are getting a blister during a run stop immediately, this will allow the skin to toughen up much faster.  Another way to help prevent this is picking up a pair of Injinji toe socks which you can also purchase at REI.  The key is to ease into these shoes, pushing too hard too fast is not a good idea.  If you run a lot, alternate between these and your normal shoes until you feel comfortable in them.

After 2 months of running I notice that my normal running pace has increased and it seems to require much less effort than before.  The shoes show virtually no signs of wear which I didn’t expect since the sole is so thin.  The one problem is that they tend to smell bad which I decided to soak them in soapy water for 10 minutes and air dry every couple days.  Overall I am very happy with the VFF and I would recommend them to everyone.  If you have any questions feel free to post it here or email me.

The restaurant itself is pretty small, located right next to Bella Salon on West Sixth Street. I think there were less than 10 tables and about half were two-tops. The staff was very friendly and welcoming. The food prep area was open and in the middle of the restaurant so that you could see your dish being prepared. You place your order at the cash register and you then choose your own seat.

Since the chef tries to prepare dishes with locally available produce the menu changes daily. There were three entrée items available for lunch: spaghetti and meatballs (zucchini curls with nut meatballs in marinara), lasagna and cabbage leaf fajitas (peppers and mushrooms in red cabbage leaves). I chose the lasagna ($11) and my friend chose the fajitas ($10). The lasagna was made with thin, long sliced zucchini as “noodles” and was layered along with marinated mushrooms and eggplant (I think), a nutty basil pesto, ricotta cheese and a fresh tomato marinara.

The taste of the lasagna was great for raw vegetables but I must say the portion was fairly small. I love vegetables but I need a lot of them to sustain me as a meal. I am very active and exercise a lot. So, I was disappointed an hour or so later when I was hungry again and wanting something more substantial. At $11 I expected a larger portion.

Overall I liked the concept of the restaurant and my entrée was tasty. While I don’t think I will be adopting the raw food diet as a lifestyle for myself, I think it is an excellent choice if someone is trying to make a healthy dining out choice.

Next healthy restaurant review… Beets.

Borboleta
1221 West Sixth Street
Austin, TX
512.828.7404
Open daily for lunch & dinner (closed Sunday)
www.borboletagourmet.com

Late Breaking news…..yesterday Work It Training attended the Austin Marathon Expo at the Palmer Event Center.  Work It Training ran into the Strands people.  Strands (strands.com) is another iPhone app that is similar to TrailGuru and RunKeeper.  After a quick demo of the Strands app, it looks interesting enough to add to our experiment.  So a 3rd horse has entered the race. 

• Version: 2.0
• App size: 293 KB
• Free / Paid: only available as free app
• Ads: the google maps view shows banner ads

Here are screens shots of the iPhone app interface:

• Main window (Fig 1)
  

• • Very intuitive.  You start/stop/clear just like you would on a standard stopwatch. The main window also contains a lot of good data to keep you posted on your progress.
  • So far, we have only used TrailGuru to track our daily runs. We listen to music while running, so we have to go to the ipod app first and select the songs/playlist before running the TrailGuru app.  This is OK unless you decide in the middle of your activity that you want to switch playlists, which means that when you switch to the ipod app to change your music, you have to switch back to the TrailGuru app and then press Start again to continue the tracking.  This is not a flaw with TrailGuru, but rather a “feature” (ahem…limitation of the iPhone environment). Hopefully, one day soon Apple fixes this limitation as it will prevent many apps from truly mashing together.
  • There is a lock feature on the main menu that is handy to lock the display to prevent accidental touching while you are moving.
  • The camera feature is simple and straigth-forward, nothing special about it.
• Map window (Fig 2)
  • Displays google maps pretty fast
  • The GPS tracker will track exactly what you are doing until you hit the Stop button on the Main window.  This makes perfect sense and the way it should be.  However, remember when you are finished with your activity to press the Stop button otherwise you will end up with a rather crazy looking mapping when you realize hours later that you never press the Stop button.  
  • The Map window shows a banner ad at the top, minor inconvenience for a free app.
• Posting window (Fig 3)
  • You can post your activity as Private, Public, or have a “Friends group” set up.  You can create the “Friends group” on the TrailGuru web site.  It would be cool if the app could connect to services like Facebook, Twitter, Gyminee, Nike+, etc  so your Friends or the Public could see your postings.  This would be very helpful for my group activities.
  • You can tag your activity using the Description field to further keep track of your postings.
  • You can select from about 19 categories plus an Other category to tag your activity.  Although I am curious to know who would risk taking their iPhone out kayaking with them.
  • Posting is super simple, just press “Post Tracks.”
• Profile Settings window (Fig 4)
  
  • As with the rest of the app, this window is clean looking and very intuitive.  Once you have your TrailGuru account set up, your activities get posted to the TrailGuru site and you receive an email confirmation.  You will also receive periodic (i.e. weekly, monthly, etc) email updates from TrailGuru showing your recent activities.
  • I got a chuckle out of the setting for the distance measurement.  Most people know what the Metric system is, but I wonder how many people know that the US uses the “Imperial system” for measurement.
  • You can set tune the accuracy of the GPS logging by adjusting the Units and Record Every options.  However, remember the more granular you set the tracking, the faster it sucks out of the iphone battery.
  • Although I have the Audible Cues option set, I do not know what it does.  I have yet to receive any kind of TrailGuru “voice from above”.   I was hoping that this option would work like the Nike+ audible cues option which tells me how far I have run or how long I have run.
• Web site (trailguru.com)
  • have not reviewed yet.  This will be coming shortly
• Overall
  • The main strength to the TrailGuru app is the inuitive design of the interface.  It does what it advertises, and its FREE!!.
  • The GPS tracking is decent.  When two of us start at the same point and run the same distance, we have seen differences in the distance tracked that range from 0.03 – 0.33.  Hopefully the accuracy of the tracking will improve over time.

The art and photography in this book are awesome!  Personally, I was most taken back by the before and after pictures of the Trail during the renovation in the 1960’s.  The inside cover is a copy of the original 1964 Town Lake Trail Master Plan designed with the great influence of the late Lady Bird Johnson.  The brilliant photos really capture the beauty of this Austin gem.

Pick up a copy at your local independent bookstore or online at Amazon.

I was very happy to come across TrailGuru and RunKeeper. I had downloaded TrailGuru a few weeks ago and have been using it regularly to track my runs.  I recently came across the RunKeeper app.  Say what you will about social media advertising/viral marketing (i.e Twitter, Facebook) but that is how I discovered Runkeeper (kudos to you Jason .

I am going to conduct an informal experiment on my user experiences with TrailGuru versus Runkeeper.  Stay tuned for my updates….and good luck to both apps.

There were the typical central Texas foliage of mountain juniper, live oaks, grasses and succulents.  I recommend wearing long pants because the trail was very narrow and I was frequently  brushed by the foliage.  The trail was not friendly for running; it was quite rocky most of the time with a few sections of smooth dirt.  It was VERY clean, I didn’t see any evidence of trash or vandalism (YAY!).  Personally, I am not a skilled enough mountain biker for the  trail I chose, but if you do bike it please take a buddy, this trail was rough, very narrow, and there were plenty of points where you could fall right of the side of the hill to the creek area.  I did see bike tread imprints along the way so bikers ride it.

There were a couple of sections where the trees cleared and I could see awesome, sweeping views of the hills and the creek.  See some of my pictures below.  I hiked until the trail segment ended at a street backing to an apartment complex.  I then turned around and headed back.  I tracked my path using Trailguru on my iPhone and in all I hiked almost 3 kilometers in 40 minutes and burned 330 calories according to my Polar monitor.

I had a great time out at the greenbelt and there are plenty of other trails within, so I will definitely return to report on another trail in the Barton Creek Greenbelt.