I set a road personal record (PR) in the Memorial Day 10 Kato (10K) on Monday. My average pace per mile worked out to be about 6:10 with the following splits: 6:02, 6:11, 6:20, 5:45, 6:24, 6:27. The fourth mile was straight downhill. And the last two miles were back up–an excellent test of strength.

Do my lower leg muscles feel stronger as a result of having trained in minimal footwear? Absolutely. Every step felt far more solid than in past races. I noticed I felt particularly comfortable on the downhill portion of the race. Steep downhills sometimes cause me to feel slightly out of control. This was not the case on Monday.

I did notice in the last mile that my form started to fall apart, which is a result of a weak upper body. My goal this summer is to do a little more strength training: core work and some upper body work. Recently I’ve read a few articles that stress the importance of doing deadlifts. One of my favorite books, “Healthy Intelligent Training” by Keith Livingstone, argues that a runner can address up to 90% of his running muscles using the deadlift. Low repetitions with heavy weight. Who would have guessed?