(almost) barefoot running - getting faster

Monday and Saturday seem to be my cardio days for now. It fits in well with the rest of what I do - Krav Maga on Tuesdays and Thursdays, weightlifting on Fridays and Sundays, training-free on Wednesday...

Anyway, I started working on faster intervals on Monday. I did a 10 minute walk/jog warm-up, followed by intervals of 4 minutes fast jogging/running and 1 minute walking. I started my 4 minutes at 9.5 km/h and worked up to 11 km/h before my right calf started cramping up. And yeah, the toe blisters were starting to form again. Ugh...

Today I did a steady state, slightly faster (than last week) run. I started with a 5 minute walk/jog warm-up, followed by 5 minutes at 9.5 km/h, 20 minutes at 10 km/h, and 10 minutes at 10.5 km/h. At the start of the run, my left ankle started bugging me, and I made a few short stops just to work out the kinks. After a little while, everything was OK and it stopped bugging me for the rest of the workout. But then my right calf started cramping up again, after around 15 minutes into the run. After a few stops to rub/shake the darn thing, everything seemed to be OK. But then, after 30 minutes into the run, the calf started cramping up again. Not good. So I had to stop. I don't want to provoke a long injury...

I'll have to look into changing how I do my warm-up. Perhaps something where I walk/jog, and then stop and do light stretches, and then walk/jog again? Hmm. This is the first time I'm dealing with this kind of issue when running. Before it was the darn knees; they feel quite fine now. The annoying thing about all of this is that the cramping is the only thing now that is stopping me. I've managed to deal with the blisters by wrapping my affected toes with silk tape. That really helped out a lot. I don't get tired otherwise; in fact I feel I could run much faster for much longer...

And regarding the cramps, hydration and mineral intake are not issues. It's just a matter of adjusting to the running style. (Almost) barefoot running is hard on the calves. That's just the way it is. They just have to toughen up a bit. Sooner than later, I hope...