Friday, July 30, 2010

Chrio Tuneup and New Wheels

For the last week or so, I had been feeling like no matter how much stretching I do, my left glute and hamstring just refused to give up it’s tightness. Which was translating into an awkward stride while running. It actually felt like one leg was shorter than the other. Walking to work on Monday I realized my left foot was all over the place, every step would land and roll differently. It was definitely compensating for something.
So I went to my chiropractor on Tuesday afternoon. Sure enough my chronic L5 was tilted and locked. A quick adjustment to get it unlocked and like magic, walking felt right again and the glute/hamstring problem faded as well.
Because my legs were feeling better, I ran my 6 miler Wednesday night way faster than I should have. Then I didn’t give myself much of a break, I ran a track workout at 5:30 the next morning, which also felt great. Not exactly following the "go easy" plan that's on the schedule. I couldn't help myself, it was fun.

I have a 13 mile and a 6 mile run on the schedule for this weekend (and I think I'll actually get both of them in). Looking back on my training journals 19 miles of running has been a good weekly total for me so far this year. I’m not sure I’ve ever run 31 miles in one week. So that got me thinking, I decided I had better consider the condition of my footwear. I've been running in Brooks Adrenaline 7s for just about 3 years now. (not the same pair for 3 years, just the exact same model)
So I went over to Jack Rabbit Thursday and I did the whole gait analysis thing again. I did this a couple months ago but I wasn't really buying what the person was telling me so I didn't buy anything. Today someone helped me that seemed much more knowledgeable. As a result I now own a pair of Asics GT-2150s. The other model that looked good on the video was the Mizuno Wave Inspire 6. Depending how the Asics work out for me, I may buy the Mizunos next month. I want to have 2 pair of shoes in rotation again.

The new shoes feel much softer than my Brooks, so I’m planning on wearing the new Asics for the 13 miler. Or is that really stupid? Should I wait for a shorter run before switching to new shoes? Hmmmm, I think our route will take us past our cars at least once. Maybe I’ll take both so I can switch mid run if it’s not feeling right.

2 comments:

Mjay said...

matt-

On that note (shoe note)...jerry mentioned last night that he would like to get a trail shoe for orienteering. Remember we don't have a store to help us nor time to travel to one....sooo....is there one you can recommend? Jerry tends to roll in on his arches (technical term unclear). We could order online if you have a good basic.

thanks!

catmarlson said...

He's an over pronator.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot_type

Here's a link to some trail shoes. Scroll down to the "Support Running Shoes"
http://www.runningwarehouse.com/trailshoesmen.html

I'm probably just going to wear an older pair of my Brooks running shoes. I'll also take along my Merrells which have Gore Tex in them in case it's a rainy day. It's a much heavier shoe.

http://www.merrell.com/US/en-US/Gallery.mvc.aspx/M-F/Men/Footwear/Filters/Style/Shoes?filterGalleries_Style=M-F-F-S-SH