Jane Austen is the favorite author of both my mother-in-law and one of my closest friends in this life, and Pride and Prejudice was one of my favorite books for some time, a great story on the cost of pride and learning to have more compassion.
Last time I wrote about running, I spoke of running with pride, and as I've moved through the early months of training, I'm reminded of a different aspect of pride. Namely, I've been reminded of the balance between having grace with ourselves while pushing ourselves to do more. Very quickly the cost of pride makes itself known, tight achilles and burning quads as examples. In run training, if you push too hard, you may find yourself taking three steps backward. If you don't push hard enough, you won't see the growth.
My pride wanted me to get out there and start building miles as soon as I could, but I knew I needed to have patience to build a base. Since my last post on training, I have gained zero miles to my weekly total. ZERO. I'm also just a hair faster than molasses.
But if you're thinking about getting into running, you may come to the same realization that I did:
To transition from walking to running, it is more important to be stable than to be fast.
For one, you might be a forefoot striker like me. For a forefoot strike, the mechanism is profoundly different for walking compared with running. There are benefits to a forefoot strike done well. The force of impact rather than jolting to your knee or hip is absorbed more by the feet and the compression of the whole leg. There is a risk, though, of rolling your ankles if you don't build the strength and stability, and forefoot strikers are prone to tight calves which pull on the achilles tendon and ligament.
Pronation is another term you may have heard, and this is the way your foot rolls inward as you run. Some people overpronate, ankles leaning more inward. Some people supinate, sticking more to the outside of their feet. I'm a forefoot supinator... sounds like a superhero, but knowing more about what that means has allowed me to find the right shoes for me. I used to love my cushy Altras. I felt like I was spring loaded, but I kept wearing them down on the outer edge, spring loading myself into instability. A combination of barefoot shoes (Vibram KSOs) and Brooks Ghost 13s ended up being the right combo for me, less cushy but fostering more stability.
You might be wondering if you're a forefoot striker, a midfoot striker, or a heel striker and how much you pronate?
How do I learn about my running form?
To learn more about foot strike, there are tons of great videos out there like this one. To look at pronation, you can look at your arch in the wet foot test. If you have a devoted set of running shoes, look at how they are worn. It doesn't take long to see signs of wear, and it can be a quick way to see where the impact is mostly felt in your shoes.
However you feel best when running, take the time to learn about yourself. Different running forms each come with their own challenges and the more you learn about your form, the more you will be able to anticipate challenges and wear the right shoes. 13 weeks in to training, I'm coming to the end of my foundational training I set out for myself. I'll keep working on stability, but the miles will start adding up from here.
No doubt, forming a solid foundation is an activity of patience and patience you will never regret having.
Special thank you to my personal trainer, Meghan Schexnaydre.
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