I was out running today for the second time in my FiveFingers. I ran the same distance as last time, however I set out intending to run a full kilometer. I'll return to this in a minute. First I'd like to go over the skipping I've been doing for the last period of time. This morning was rather special; it was the first morning, since I began skipping, that I wasn't sore the next morning. In particular my calves have been screaming at me, but not this morning. I actually got out of bed, walked a few steps before realising, then exclaimed: "Hey, I'm not sore! I can walk!" Needless to say, I was rather satisfied and felt like giving it an extra kick today. Our flat-mate then gave me a piece of advice. She'd heard that when doing interval training, when you in the interval just keeping steadily jogging in the same position the heart rate stays about the same, meaning if I did 10 × 1 minute of skipping, keeping intervals at about a minute as well, I'd end with ~20 minutes of exercise, _half_ of which I'd be skipping, the other half "resting." But apparently it should boost your energy burning quite a bit (or at least keep your heart rate elevated for the entire duration). What I did was a slight modification: The first five minutes were just basic skipping to get warm. Then I switched to interval skipping, and did 5 × 1 minute with one minute intervals. It felt great, there was no pain, only physical exhaustion. It's amazing what one can do with twenty minutes of skipping rope. I also noticed that I was skipping faster, something which I'm very pleased about. The technique must be improving slightly, because I felt much more in control and more like I knew where the rope was all the time. Then I went running. As mentioned earlier, I did the same distance as last time, 700m, which is no great distance, but I really don't want to push further than I think necessary or possible. I did however start out at a brisker tempo than initially intended, and little over halfway through my calves got really tight, especially on the left leg. I shifted tempo and tried to focus on landing properly, because I figured I had been running with the wrong form (bashing my heels or something). But on afterthought I think not, because I found a website advising on barefoot runners for beginners that directly answers a question about sore calves. I think this is my body telling me it's not used to this, the calves are weak, unaccostumed to such strain, but perseverance is the key here, I'm certain of that. Incidentally, I also settled on a fixed workout plan, including skipping, running and pushups (one has to start somewhere). The workout is for the moment restricted to the five working days: I do (at least) ten minutes of skipping all days (good cardio); Monday, Wednesday and Friday I do pushups (works well with the program) and Tuesday and Thursday I run. As a beginning I think this should do nicely without wearing either me nor my patience or motivation out. For once I'm not setting myself goals, but rather trying to do what I want to do. So I'm perfectly aware that this workout is underperforming and not very well rounded, but if I don't want to feel like I'm forcing myself, so until I do more stuff just because it's fun, this is where it's at. I _do_ set myself long-term goals though -- for instance; I want to be able to run perfectly well without shoes -- but I'm not going to try to plan out how this should come about. I'd rather start out somewhere with an insufficient plan, and add on as we go along. *List of Barefoot Running resources* for beginners: * "How To Run Barefoot":http://rowdykittens.com/2010/03/barefoot-running/ * "7 Tips on How to Start Barefoot Running":http://www.wikihow.com/Start-Barefoot-Running * "The Complete Beginner's Guide to Barefoot Running":http://zenhabits.net/barefoot-running/ * "How to Start Barefoot Running":http://barefootrunninguniversity.com/howtostart.html