I was talking to GP after this evenings run session and it got my reflecting on how the transition to front foot striking & the use of minimal shoes is coming along.
The recap.
I pronate. I was a mid foot striker. I had ITB problems. On coach's recommendation I upped my cadence, which put me more to a front foot strike, relieving much of the problems with my ITBs. I ran a half marathon in my old shoes at Aberfeldy and got a massive blister on the arch of my right foot. Went to get fitted at Run-4-It and after several hours trying on assorted shoes and discussing running styles with Don, I got the Innov8 Road 255s. I use them for club sessions and shorter runs. For my 10Ks, I've been using my old old trainers (with pronating support).
We're now up to date.
During the process, my calves have been taking a bit of a beating, as is to be expected. Stretching and yoga classes are helping counter this. There is a noticeable change to my calves through this however - before the front foot striking, the outsides of my calves were doing all the work, so they were firming up, whereas the insides were quite frankly quite floppy. Now, with the more up down nature of my running for my feet & legs (rather than my foot crossing over too far & sliding about in the shoe), the work is being spread more evenly throughout the calf, and the inner part is starting to firm up. My stability feels better, as I'm using muscles round the ankles better, particularly for my left leg that I never rehabbed properly after the dislocation. I'm faster and feel like I can go faster still (or at least begin to stretch the time I can go at around top speed for)
The downsides include however that on uneven surfaces I can feel quite exposed - the support is gone and if I hit a divot I worry about spraining an ankle, particularly my dodgy left one. The flip of that however is that with the high cadence and fast turn over of my feet, I'm not applying the same force through them, so when I do hit an uneven patch I sometimes feel like I'm skimming over it, add in less lateral movement & I can end up feeling more stable. I just feel that if I do catch it wrong, its going to hurt.
I'm under no illusions that I'm going to be running in these shoes at Roth (or if I've progressed to an even more minimal pair those). So why persevere with them if I should be basing everything around Roth preparation? Well, I feel like I'm moving towards a more efficient style, which is being carried back over when I run in other shoes. The muscles I'm using are strengthening and will improve my stability at the ankles further which can only be a good thing. Add in that I really enjoy running in them, the feeling of speed and control they give me is like no other shoe I've worn.
My current plan is to run the Bellahouston 10k in mid November, to see how close to 40 minutes I can get, then put thoughts of a sub 40 minute 10k behind me until after Roth. Then they will be used for club sessions and shorter solo session until it starts getting icy (as there is almost zero grip on them, it'd be insane).
Anyways, enough of my rambling. Go forth an listen to Taboo by Tim Minchin, dedicated to the Prince
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