Time for a big change (with my shoes)

4 miles
41 minutes
10:20 pace

OK, so that time and pace isn't bad by any means.  Certainly not my best for a 4 mile run, but also not  my worst.  Especially when you consider....

A) .....this was the uphill version of our "campus loop".  I never like going that way.  Because it's uphill.  I'm soooo much stronger with hills than I was when we moved to Washington nearly two years ago, but I'm still a turtle compared to my husband who seems to power up them as though hills don't exist.  However, I ran the entire hill (the one on campus that I despise so much) without stopping.   I did stop and walk as we left campus.  That's another killer hill, and my legs had nothing left after the other hill.  On top of that...

B) ...I got new shoes.  Not just any shoes.  Kinvara 3s by Saucony.  I went from a Mizuno Wave Inspire 7 (discontinued) with a 12mm drop to a Saucony Kinvara 3 with a 4mm drop.  What does this mean?  Let me explain.  It's all in the thickness of the heel, and the stability foam (gray foam) from the arch to the heel.  Some of it is visible by just looking at the shoes side by side (see picture below), but a lot of the difference is from deep within the shoe.  Check it out...

It's all about the drop and the foam, baby.  

Three years ago, I was in a motion control shoe.  Why?  My physical therapist said my feet were way too flat (over pronation) for the neutral shoes I had been wearing.  He swore up one side and back down the other that all of my IT Band issues were caused by the neutral shoes.  Maybe so.  So I wore motion control shoes.  They helped.  Until last summer, when injuries started surfacing left and right.  My mileage had increased, but at a reasonable, safe rate.  The increase was nothing that should have caused the number of issues I was experiencing.  At that point, I bumped it down to a stability shoe.  They're not quite as rigid as motion control.  They helped clear things up a tiny bit, but I was still constantly fighting off or nursing injuries.  It started off with shin splints & tight calves.  During the winter, my left Achilles began to ache.  Now, as you know from all of my recent whiny blog posts, it's the IT Band.  To top it off, the shoes simply don't "feel good" on my feet, even when they were new.  Period. When I mentioned all of this to my PT here in Vancouver, he began measuring my feet with much detail, and agreed that it was time for a shoe overhaul.

Friday afternoon, I headed over to Fit Right NW here in Vancouver, where I purchased a Neutral Mizuno.   Within hours of wearing them (breaking them in), the side of my right foot was killing me.  I thought for sure that was a sign that I needed to be in stability shoes forever.  I'm not sure what the issue was with that particular pair of shoes.  They felt OK to wear, but I still felt as though I was sporting around stability shoes.  I took them back the next day.

My husband went along with me to make the exchange.  He needed new shoes, too.  After trying on shoes for 45 minutes or so, he began to rave about the lower drop Kinvara 3s he was seriously considering.  I finally asked (out of pure jealousy) to try on a pair.  I'm so glad I did.  They felt amazing!  I was shocked & leery to purchase them since it's such a drastic difference in support.  Our sales guy could tell I was on the fence about it so he ended up doing a video analysis of me running just to show me how great my feet and legs look while in action.  Everything was straight, no major over pronation, and was no longer heel striking.  Not only that, but the strange little "kick to the side" thing my right foot normally does wasn't happening nearly as much.  I had to really look for it...even in slow motion.  (Now I wonder if the other shoes were causing the kick thing to happen.)  The video was total proof that I do not need stability shoes!  

They remind me of old school running shoes from the 70s.

Now, is this a smart move with less than 40 days remaining before my first full marathon?  Probably not, but do I have anything to lose at this point?  I needed new shoes no matter what.  My IT is already jacked up for whatever reason.  If it's due to wearing the wrong type of shoe, problem solved.

We went home & took off on a 4 mile run.  The guys at the store wanted me to only do 2 miles, but I pinky swore I would stop if anything started to hurt.  Nothing ever hurt!!!!!  I killed the big hill.  My calves felt a bit tight by the time I was at mile 3.5, so I stopped to walk.  That evening, my arches were tight, but nothing major.  The next day, my legs were achy.  The way they feel after a 9 or 10 mile run.  Clearly, it's going to take some time to get used to these shoes.  (For the record, the guys at the store did warn me about the transition time & all of the aches that will follow.)  I will not be doing anything over 4 miles in these shoes for a while, but it's a start to a much needed transition.  I'm hanging onto the old shoes to get me through my long runs.

{the good}  I'm finally feeling better!  I'm still a little sick.  My lungs are taking their own sweet time to recover, and I felt as though they were struggling to keep up with the rest of my body during this short run.  Getting to run in new kicks is always a good thing.

{the ugly}  A huge, fat bee hit me on the eye while running!  There were bugs EVERYwhere.  I think I sucked in a couple of gnats.  There were swarms of them every few feet.  The warm weather has for sure made all of the bugs think it's summer.