I speak of shoes

I mentioned earlier that I would explain how I survived my first tri season on a 10 year old pair of cross country racing flats and with which shoe I eventually replaced them. While I don't have a picture of my old shoes to post right now, I'll work on getting one up soon so as to help with the appreciation for their age.

First, however, it needs to be discussed why and how I chose to run a season on such old and worn out shoes rather than any of the viable options sitting in my closet...

While I don't personally own, nor I have I used, the Newton shoes, check out their website http://www.newtonrunning.com/run-better to get an introduction to the idea of forefoot running as opposed to heal striking. This helps to understand part of the reason I had recurrent issues when I increased my mileage with traditional heavy heeled shoes such as Asics or Salomon trail running shoes. Not only was I naturally a heavy heel striker, I found that when I put on my old racing flats, I achieved essentially the same benefit as the barefoot running idea and found that running was more comfortable and efficient without so much padding on my heels.

However, over a season of irregular running schedules, my feet rebelled against the poor internal structure of the old shoes, particularly the poor choice of seem placement and my choice to run barefoot in preparation for and in racing triathlon.

Thus, after my scare with plantar fasciitis after the 2008 US Open and the full foot blistering, I went to Luke's Locker in Dallas, one of those great places where they actually take a look at your foot structure and form and recommend a shoe based on your stride rather than just aesthetic preferences. The shoe I ended up with and have been highly satisfied with since mid October with regular running is...



The Saucony Grid Type A2, and I now wear socks on all training runs and will save the barefoot running for races only. You may notice there still is not much heel, but that's the idea, with a reduced cushion in the heel, I have learned to adapt my running stride from a severe heel strike to a more efficient forefoot stride.

Additionally, something I came across only after researching triathlon gear, but would recommend for all runners is my locklaces, check em out at http://www.locklaces.com/home.html . Not only do they make transitions fast by eliminating the need to tie shoes, but for regular training runs, it keeps pressure constant from day to day.

That's all for now, there's more to come,

Peanutt

Just saw them off and call me tenderfoot

My shins that is, but not above the bottom of my calf muscles- after years of distance running in high school I have just now developed something resembling a respectable calf from cycling and I'm not quite willing to give those up. But the shins, they can go, right there in the middle, just like the movie Gataca (sp?) where they sawed his shins in half and inserted implant rods, I'll take a set of titanium implants, something not so fragile that won't ruin a perfect 65 degree sunshiny day for running.

And the blisters, they remind me of those days in high school track when the Texas sun would shine down in the middle of the afternoon and by the 15th or so repeat 400 it literally felt as though your shoe were melting away and you were testing your manhood infront of the tribe by walking across the coals...except, again, its a perfect 65 degree day with a slight breeze, no reason they should feel this bad. 

In recap...I ran about 7 miles, according to google maps, out and back starting into the wind and it took 48:55 (23:50 out 25:05 back) and I could've done without the shins, I'll recap my week at a later point in time, but this should do for my first post...

Peanutt