I've made a mental commitment to give Boston '10 the best shot I can.
As part of that, I decided to give the whole Newton running shoe thing a try. For the few of my readers who don't know, these are running shoes that have very little heel and a built up forefoot. They are designed to force you to be a forefoot/midfoot striker, and they (and others) have a full argument on why this is a better/faster way to run. But it requires a break-in period for most people as it's a change. Thus, there was no way I was going to do it during the IM buildup.
This easy recovery time seemed like a good time to give it a go. Got myself a pair, and gave them a first 3-mile run yesterday. (They suggest as short as 1 mile!)
The first mile was carried by just the novelty. Mile 2 felt odd and a little awkward while I tried to figure it out. Mile 3 felt a lot more natural.
If you asked me before, I would tell you that I midfoot strike when I'm enthusiastic, and heel strike when I'm tired or slow. That appeared to be confirmed by my experience yesterday. By the end, all was good.
However, today, the lower halves of my calves are sore. Not ridiculous, but definitely sore. We'll see how it goes. Going to go for another 3 mi today.
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2 comments:
You know I'm an advocate here. And since you are still recovering from IM, I would think shorter miles might be better for you right now (wrt adapting to the new shoes). Your form may be off purely from fatigue. Just my .02
Yes, I think you're right that both form and fatigue were issues. As I remarked in a subsequent post, you're probably right about being a bit aggressive on the transition. I misjudged how different it was from what I have been doing. I have been one of those not-quite-forefoot-but-certainly-not-overstriding types, so there's no question that this was a change in form. (hence form being "off") I am still adjusting, but it's coming along.
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