A couple of weeks ago, I reported meeting with Mark Mendeszoon, Podiatrist and owner of The Achilles Running Shop in Mentor. Among other things, we discussed the minimalist/barefoot running craze and his thoughts on the trend both as a foot doctor and someone in the business of selling running shoes. He’d had me try on a pair of Saucony half-ways...not the full blown, no heel of the minimalist shoe but a lot less cushioning than the traditional shoe I and every other runner in the country had been using until recently. I thought the shoe was very comfortable and began using it immediately.
Had I been advising a client, I would have told them to break the shoe in gradually...maybe using it twenty percent of the time to begin to see if they were having any issues. Good advice and something I wish I would have considered for myself. I haven’t been running that much...two times a week at most...and never gave any thought to going out and doing all of my miles in the new shoes. The first run created no problems, but by the second my feet...particularly my heels...were quite sore.
For some reason, I didn’t put the new shoes and the pain together right away...and ran in them two more times. By last Sunday night, I was having troubles walking and only then did I figure it out. I was running in a shoe designed for a predominantly forefoot strike, but was obviously still landing hard on my heel...where neither the shoe nor the foot offered much protection. If I was to keep running in these shoes, the message was quite clear. Change the gait you’ve been using for the past 40 years...now.
As much as I would like this to happen, it is unlikely. I need to do more barefoot running to correct my gait and then put the shoes on and run in them as if I were running barefoot. Maybe next summer...but not now. So I went back to the Metropark and did my Survival Workout, then put on the old shoes I’ve been running in since my comeback began almost two years ago and ran 32 minutes. The first mile was painful as I tried to land on my forefoot, but by the end of the run, I was feeling no pain and running strongly.
Through the evening, I experienced some mild discomfort, but nothing like the pain I’d had after recent runs in the Sauconys.
Once again if you care to, you can learn from my mistakes. I’m there for you...like the test dummy in the crashing automobiles slamming around inside the vehicle. Buckle up. Exercise...but use some common sense.
Survival Workout duration: 60 minutes. Run workout: 32 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100 to 150 bpm for SW and 140 for run.Calories burned during workout: 600 for SW and 500 for run.
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