On front foot running and new trainers.

I an going to start with a scream. AGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

There, I feel much better now thank you. the reason for the scream is that I have just purchased a new pair of running shoes. And my word what a faff that was.

Firstly I am a size 12 (UK). Sometimes an 11 and for trail shoes I was looking for a 13 - to allow my feet to swell when running. Secondly I had researched and had an idea of the shoes I was looking for. The frustration came from either the shops not having my size in - which is annoying to start with, and secondly for the same patter from the sales assistants. No I don't want to try the brand you are pushing I know which ones I want thank you.

Blugh. In the end I bought myself a very lightweight pair of HighTechs. The are comfy and neoprene and have decent grip. Not purpose built trail shoes but should serve what I want them to.

Which brings me kind of to the next point. Part of the issue I had buying trainers is that I have worn my shoes to destruction. Actually I might get a bit more life out of one pair of them, but they are slick in terms of grip and have no padding in them anymore. Which is fine by me as I am used to them. However when people in the shops started talking about 'gel boost', 'double padding', 'blah blah blah' it meant that I shut off. I wanted very low profile shoes which would keep my running in a similar vein to what I had been used to so far.

Which all fits with the book I have been reading since Christmas Day, the very excellent Born to Run . Once again it highlights the benefits that front foot - or at least mid point striking - can have on running health and performance.

Which has lead to an interesting situation. I decided to give it another go, this time starting very very low on the mileage. Once again the speed was greater, even though I did my best to be controlled and mindful of footfalls. Fitness wise I felt fine, as you might expect being a little bit fitter and better than when I was trying this before. However, and it is a big however, I still got the same pains up my calf muscles.

Maybe its just not for me?

Or maybe I am not using my brain when I consider my injuries. If you think about the position of the foot on mid/front foot striking it raised the heel off the ground. This means the heel hardly impacts on the ground as it would with heel striking. Now a lot of data/papers/books/articles state that heel striking is bad for knees and hips as it transfers the impact straight up through the long bones to these areas. Front foot striking minimizes this by bringing into play all of the archway, ligaments and support network that the foot has evolved to have. OK so what I can hear you wondering, does this have to do with my straining of my calf muscles.

Well what if it isn't muscle strain? What if it is actually pain caused by using a tendon more than it is used to being used? Physiologically this would make sense, after all I still ran further in one continual plod than I would if I was sprinting in short bursts about a 5-a-side pitch (the other main time when I am forefront striking).

If it is an awakening of the tendon/ligament and it is due to standing on the ball of the foot more than what it is used to, or at least more continually, then surely I need to keep the mileage low to start with but just keep working on it in order to strengthen and improve that stamina.

I have no idea, if I am honest what the answer is. After all I don't really get injured so why am I once again considering changing how I run? Is it based on the ravings of a few books, or because it means I can still run in completely beat up trainers.

Or is it because I am not getting injured yet. I met with my cousins and uncles for a post Christmas drink recently and the majority of them (including my dad) are all suffering with knee injuries from running. In fact of all of them at least 4 have said (out of 6) that they won't run anymore due to knee pains.

Add to that the fact I am the second oldest in that group and a worrying trend opens up. Maybe I am looking to rebuild how I run not to go faster and further, but to stave off the need to be rebuilt myself!

This becomes especially salient in the light of my aim to run ultra events.

Like any sport the training will be fairly intense and I am expecting to need have to spend some time recovering before I am where I need to be. However my low profile trainers - very little heel - and a conscious effort to land on the front of my foot should see me right. Providing of course I can rein in my enthusiasm and keep the distances low enough to start with.

A few points to finish on. Firstly a quick flick through a load of running magazines show the majority of runners clearly landing with a heel strike. This added to the adverts for high heeled running shoes gives the impression that a more minimalist approach is still not seen to be the normal way to run, despite the evidence to the contrary. It also seems that even though the magazines always cover diet, core strength, stamina and equipment then never seem to have articles focusing on what should be the most important part of running, how you strike the floor.

Secondly I am by hook or crook starting to get more interested in human evolution and adaptation again - it never really went away just went quiet for a while - the evolution of the foot and the relationship between our gross anatomy and the mechanics behind the foot I am finding more and more interesting. Maybe I have finally found something that could hold my interest to study at PhD level?

Who knows? I am sure I will blog about it when I do though.

Happy New Year

Chris

Back, never went away, honestly!

Hello one and all (all 4 of you).

I haven't written in a while (as documented here) but I have kept running. I haven't managed to increase my distances as much as I had originally planned but I have improved my times and my general fitness and stamina are much, much better. Which is always a good thing.

Plus I have entered a few races.

I have also made it through 4-5 months without an injury (if you exclude a few bruised toenails). I have however destroyed two pairs of trainers. By destroyed I mean the grip has been well and truly eroded and now they are a lot similar to running on the plimsolls when I gave that ago.

Which kind of, sort of, brings me to what this post is about.

I have been running, and getting better and refining how I strike the ground. I know that my back is much straighter now - less collapsing as I get tired - and my feet are kept below my body more.

I am also consciously trying to keep my number of steps high and my stride length low. This is very useful for trail running and also seems to help me go further without feeling completely shattered.

So all is looking rosey in the running world of Chris.

So what is bugging me. Surely all I have to do now is work on speed and increase the distances I cover so my body gets more used to it (same as going from 1 - 8 miles as going from 26 - 50).

In short I have plateaued.

In the last two weeks I have also injured my knee.

This occurred on a lovely sunny day up Bluebell Hill in Kent. I went for a nice run with Geoff and Nick the Meerkat. Unfortunately little did Geoff and I know but the hills up that area were slick mud from the rains. This made the initial pad out from the car park pretty treacherous underfoot. Unfortunately this culminated a few miles into the run with my slipping and - for once - actually falling over. In the process I managed to twist and land heavily on my knee. Although at the start it didn't hurt by the end of the run it was shooting pain into me and causing my great discomfort.

Awesome. The first few days following walking was sore but eventually my knee eased up and by the end of the week I was back running about.

Nothing major. I went for a run Christmas Eve Eve with Geoff, Dave and Nick the Meerkat. 8 miles nothing major, bit of fun trail and it wasn't until the end of the run that the knee began to hurt. OK so maybe a little more damaged than I originally thought but within a day (again) the pain had mostly subsided and movement was fully restored.

Which lead me to my boxing day run. I decided to go for a longer run than I have in a while. In fact I wandered 25 km in total. A distance I haven't covered since the trail marathon in September.

Here is the crux of it. I could have run further, fitness wise and slotting into my running I could have run much more.

However my knee began to ache towards the 20 km total. However instead of the sharp pangs of pain I was expecting my right hamstring began to tighten up. This I felt slowed me considerably towards home, however a later inspection of 1 km splits showed that the slowing down occurred long before the tightening of the hamstring.

Yesterday evening and today a secondary pain has been playing itself out. My Achilles feel like they have been stretched so much that now they are 'whipping' and 'popping' back in place every time I flex my foot with weight on it.

Which leads me to the dilemma I am looking to solve. Fitness wise I know that I can do more, but can my joints do it?

This is something that I think I need to work on. I may even lace up the old plimsolls and try running on a more minimalist sole to achieve this...