So. A week ago I went running along my usual route, following the usual minutes run versus minutes walked but this time was different! This time I was wearing my fancy new watch to count my minutes for me AND I tried running mid-stride strike (I stopped in another running store to chat with them about zero-drop shoes etc and realised I had the wrong terminology. Whatevs). It was a lot easier than I had expected and I mean physically easier! I could feel how there was less strain put on my body and that eventually I would be able to run quite a lot faster with the same amount of effort I had been putting into it previously to go fairly slowly. In terms of fighting my body's memory and habit of running heel-strike it was much more difficult but I figure that will come with time. And now that I have time (in the form of my handy watch!) I should be able to keep focus on my stride.
And then, I was walking down the street, minding my own business when I bumped into a sidewalk sale at one of the local shoe stores. I gave it a glance as I passed, barely slowing my pace, until I saw this:
It's one half of my new pair of running shoes: the Merrell Lithe Glove in porcelaine rose. Gaggy colour but what an awesome shoe! They were a steal (almost half price!) and I still panicked about having spent the money, but after wearing them around the house a few times, my husband encouraged me to road test them. I walked in them a couple times and then this morning I decided it was time to get real about changing my running style. Time to commit. So I laced'em up and headed out, following my usual route but dropping back to the first week of my training regimen, as all sources about transition running had decreed. (And what did I have to lose? I was only three weeks in! I figure those extra weeks were practice for my lungs.)
I have to tell you, it was a little harder than when I first tried in my old trad shoes. I found I had to switch to landing mostly toes first, which I wasn't orginally going for, and I felt like a fool doing it (like a ballerina trying to jog, and I ain't so graceful as a ballerina, let me tell you) but I managed to get into the groove enough that it started becoming more habitual, that is I had to remind myself less often to run more forward-strikey. Partly this is the shoes- there is so little cushioning that you have to compensate with your body- and partly because it still was physically easier. Maybe that's the wrong word. Maybe it wasn't so much easier as righter. More right? Whatevs, it felt pretty good, as if I should be running this way, even if I looked like a chump. (And I so regret the blip I read once about running your first race and how you should mind your form so you don't end up a bad example picture on the interweb- way to undermine my self-esteem!)
And remember, I run with a stroller. And it ain't no B-O-B Revolution. (Does anyone else think of Outkast when the see how that brand is written: B-O-B?) Anyhoo. I've just had a bath to soothe my aching calves because this type if running uses your muscles WAY MORE at first, or ever, because heel-striking relies on your joints to absorb the shock, whereas toe-strike relies on your muscles to mitigate the impact. Also, I have a wicked blister from these stupid tongue straps on the shoe (and I was running barefoot)- so gnarly the air breezing by hurts, grr. But tomorrow I rest (muscle-building exercises only). I feel I am on the right track and still have time to follow the couch-to5k training plan before my first 3k race!
