It's Gotta Be the Shoes, Part 2

            Back in April I wrote a piece about how the shoes you wear are the single most important part of any runner’s world.  I had switched from Brooks to Mizuno and been repeatedly dealing with nagging injuries.  Only when I switched back to Brooks at the beginning of April did I begin to see improvement in how I ran and how I felt.  From April to now I have run six races including my first marathon.  That was all well and good but I was still dealing with nagging pains in my feet that seemed to hold me back.  But I had switched to the correct shoes, right?  Wrong.

            My friend Emily had mentioned a running store in Plymouth, Bayside Runner, which had a unique way of fitting you for shoes.  They actually recorded you running on a treadmill and assessed what type of shoe you needed from what they saw.  I knew I had to at least give this place a shot.

            I wore my current pair of Brooks Adrenaline to the store as a reference for the employees.  Since it was my first time there they needed to measure my feet.  I mentioned I was a 9 1/2.  I was shocked when they measured me and suggested a 10.  The man told me it’s wiser for running shoes to be a little larger than too tight.  It seemed like a really simple concept.  Suddenly I was remembering how many times my feet, toes, and heels hurt during and after running.  Could my shoes being too tight have been the reason?

            I remembered nearly everytime I ran I would have some pain on top of my feet followed by red skin near where the shoes would be tied.  I also remembered during one of my marathon training runs my entire right foot lost feeling because of pressure on one of the blood vessels.  I guess in the moment I believed that it must have just been from overtraining.  Like I said in April, it’s all about the shoes.

            So I had been running in tight shoes for nearly 2 years which blew my mind.  Next I had to get on the treadmill and run.  They set the camera up behind me and started recording once I had been in my stride for a minute or so.  Once I was done they put my running film on a television screen.  Frame by frame the man helping me showed me what my feet did and explained just what each movement meant.  I was in for another surprise when it came to my shoes.

            I had been running in, and enjoying, my Brooks Adrenaline.  The man explained that they are stability shoes and that judging by my stride and gait I did not need stability shoes.  He said I needed a neutral shoe to 'let your feet do what they do.'  So I had been running in shoes that were too tight and gave the wrong support for my stride?  How was I even able to run at all?  I started thinking that this was probably the major cause of all my aches and pains I had been dealing with.

            I tried on several pairs of shoes but stuck with my preferred brand, Brooks.  I switched from the Adrenaline to the Defyance, a neutral shoe in the proper size.  I had felt really good and proud of all I had done running in the past 20 months.  Now I am full of excitement wondering what I might be able to do with the right shoes in my arsenal.  It all starts tomorrow with my first run in my new shoes.  

           Have any of you been fitted for shoes in this manner?  Having your stride filmed?  Maybe this is common and I’m new to the game.  Have any of you run in tight shoes?  What effect did they have on you?   

Bayside Runner.com

The True Meaning of Motivation and Inspiration

The Harwich Half Marathon this past October became my third ‘defining’ moment of my running life.  The first was my first real mile in March 2011, the second was my first actual race, the CapeAbilities 5K in May 2011.  The half marathon was the natural next step for me.  I had strictly followed a ‘beginner’ training plan from CoolRunning.com.  This made it a pretty simple process, all I had to do was run the proper distances on the proper days and I’d be prepared for success.

Now in life there are always sidetracks.  Mine was the local running club which both my Uncle Steve and best friend Emily belonged to.  They had been imploring me to give it a try for a while and I finally relented a few weeks prior to the half marathon.  Before attempting the running club, which consisted of a lot of speed work on a high school track, I needed a new pair of shoes.

Rather than sticking with the Brooks Adrenaline that I was accustomed to I decided to switch it up to Mizuno’s Wave Rider.  Those of you who have read my other postings know how my change in shoes went.  For those who have not the gist of the story is that I switched to Mizuno’s for 6 months and endured 6 months of running in pain.  The pain began that night at the running club.

I admit I was jazzed to try something new and I think that my excitement cost me that night.  We did sets of Yasso 800 sprints.  I had never heard of them before but it was twice around the track which was easy enough for me.  Despite trying the distance running sprinting is what is in my blood as my grandfather was a World Class sprinter but WWII kept him from the Olympics.

I ran the Yasso’s as hard as I could, trying to push myself at something new.  I didn’t notice the aches in my right hip until the next day when it was obvious I overdid it.  With the race so close I dialed back my running to save my hip from further injury.  Even if I had been hurt I was still going to run the race as I had more motivation than just it being my first half.

The Harwich Half fell in the first week of October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  I had decided I would wear the pink ribbon on my black shirt and run the race in honor of my Aunt Christine who had passed away from breast cancer in 2004.  It was that higher purpose that kept my mind focused on the race.

Race day was a warm autumn day, I got a great parking spot directly across the street from Harwich High School where the race began and ended.  I was able to begin my stretching there as my hip was still tight but I was undeterred.  I pinned the pink Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon to my shirt and walked slowly and deliberately across a field into the school to get my bib number and pack of goodies.

As you runners know at the starting line they have minute markers posted so that you can run with the group according to your speed.  With my hip hurting I was going to jump back to the 9 min. crowd, but I spotted my Uncle Steve and he was at the 8’s.  I wanted to at least experience some of my first Half with him so I stepped in and said I’d try to keep up as long as I could.

The gun sounded and we were off.  Things began alright, I was side by side with my uncle, of course I believe he was holding back.  About 2 miles in I felt it, a sharp pain and burn in my right groin.  I knew from the burning that it was either a tear or a severe sprain.  Early in the race still I was not trying to diagnose myself, I was just trying to keep going.

Not long after I told my uncle of my pain and said there was no way I could keep up his pace.  I told him that I would not quit though.  I patted my pink ribbon to remind myself why I was not going to quit.  He told me to shout down the pain and tell it that it was not in control.  I said I would try and he slowly pulled away and out of sight.  I was left with nearly 11 miles left to run and a hip/groin that was badly injured.

As the miles dragged on I began to find ways to use ‘mind over matter’ to manage my pain.  It started with my breathing, concentrating on it, as a sort of meditation while my feet kept moving.  My steps were very deliberate as I noticed that if my legs moved perfectly straight ahead the pain was less than if my right leg shifted a little to the left.  Does that make sense? 

Each mile marker became a beacon of hope.  Once I passed 10 I knew there was no way I could stop.  Every step hurt but that little pink ribbon was like an angel on my shoulder.  I had not told anyone but my mother that I was planning on running for Auntie Chris.  I did not want it to be a ‘look at me’ type of thing.  I still don't want it to be like that, but it would be so much more disrespectful to leave this important fact out of my story.  

That ribbon was like a pacifier during those last few miles.  I had placed it over my heart and routinely patted it when the pain in my hip and groin became unbearable.  Sure, many people would have simply stopped, walked back or quit all together, and live to run another day.  That is not me.  If I had quit the race I would have felt like I was quitting on Auntie Chris.  She fought so hard for so long against her cancer that this was my way of honoring her memory, the fact that I was doing it with injuries seemed sort of appropriate. 

12 miles in I stopped and walked while trying to somehow massage the pain away for one more mile.  Several other runners shouted encouragement as they passed.  The remainder of the race was a slow, hobbling trot, but I kept going.  I got close to the finish line and Emily was there, having finished well before me, as did my Uncle Steve.  She pointed to her hip to ask how I was feeling.  I just shook my head no and kept going. 

I crossed the finish line at 1:55, I did not get much further before I found a spot along a fence and collapsed in pain.  For a few minutes I sat perfectly still afraid to move afraid to feel the pain.  It was a while before I was able to stand, I found my uncle and he congratulated me on my finish.  Everyone who ran got a medal, so I had a memento to look at and remember. 

The pain in my hip and groin was a bigger problem.  I had to stop running for weeks to try to let it heal.  As I said before, true relief only began to come when I switched shoes back to Brooks.  As I look back now though I would not change a thing.  I ran my first Half Marathon, dedicated it to a loved one, and conquered some adversity as well.  It may not have been a perfect story book ending, being injured and hobbling to the finish line, but for me it was pretty close.

It's Gotta Be the Shoes

I am sure that all seasoned runners know the importance of the right pair of shoes when it comes to running.  In fact I am sure most people period know this.  I knew that it mattered but I didn’t realize just how much until just recently.

When I began running last March I was running in a pair of New Balance.  After only a few weeks I knew I needed a new pair so I went to a local shoes store, Hanlon’s.  There the running-savvy staff would measure my feet and get me into a pair of shoes specifically for running.  The funny thing was once I got measured I found out that I had been wearing the wrong sized shoes for a long time.  I had thought I was a size 10 ½, but no I was measured out to be a 9 ½.  So there was a potential problem taken care of.  I was put into a pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 11, I was told they were perfect for beginners.

I ran in those shoes for 5 months, ran 4 races in them, had a few nagging injuries, but they were a good shoe.  However, as it came time for my first half marathon I decided that it might be time to try something else.  I thought there might be another shoe that would give me stability combined with pain-free running.  I was pointed to the Mizuno Wave Rider 14. 

I was deep into my training for the Harwich Half in October when I changed shoes, a big no-no.  Now, I had upped my longest runs to 15 miles right after I changed to the Mizuno.  I ended up with a pulled hip flexor in my right leg which I assumed was only a side effect of my increased training.  I injured that hip and my right groin during the race itself.  It was a terrible pain, the burn in my groin led me to believe it was torn, though not bad enough to require surgery.  I finished the half in 1:55, collapsing in pain at the end. 

Still, I believed that the injuries were from the training and nothing else.  I continued on, having to seriously cut back my running and training because of lingering pain in my hip and groin.  I thought rest would cure it, I’m sure normally it would have if I had been in the right shoes.  I ended up getting another pair of Mizuno and the pain of running did not cease.  I was getting blisters all the time and just could not shake the injuries to my hip and groin.

By the time January rolled around I had run another 5K and an indoor half on a track in New Hampshire.  The half was cut short due to pulling both calves 11 miles in.  Reducing my electrolyte intake in the weeks before that race hurt me, but I still was avoiding the obvious solution.  After that debacle I forced myself to take 3 weeks off from running to heal my injuries.  For the most part it worked, until I began running again and it all came back.

I was getting discouraged, putting back on weight that I had lost, and thinking there had to be something wrong.  Like I said, sometimes the most obvious answer is the hardest to find.  Suddenly it clicked, I had been running injured for 6 months.  What had I been doing differently?  Nothing, except for the brand of shoes which I changed.  I felt hopeful when I went back into Hanlon’s and bought a brand new pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12. 

That was the answer!  Sure enough, now about a month after that realization I just finished my 5^th run of the week.  This week was the first time since right before Christmas that I ran 3 straight days, and 5 days in a week.  Sure I am being cautious, running with a brace on my left knee after dealing with some bad tendonitis, but with each successful pain-free run I am closer to taking that off as well.

So I learned the long and hard way how important the right shoes are.  I left Brooks for Mizuno and ended up injured for 6 months.  I am sure that plenty of runners have done the opposite, or with 2 totally different brands.  My story is not unique, except possibly for how long it took me to realize what I was doing wrong.  I am back with Brooks and plan to stay with them for a long time.  Have any of you experienced the same thing?  Have you switched shoes only to get injured?  On average how many different pairs of shoes did you go through before you found the right ones for you?

My new Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12