Health & Fitness
Planned Races 2012
Colorado Marathon (10k) May 6
Bolder Boulder (10k) May 28
Sierras race (5k) June 2
HITS Ft. Collins (sprint) July 28
Tri for the cure (sprint) August 18
Boulder Sunset (Olympic) Sept 1
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Apparently I heel-strike when I run...
Also, apparently DH (who is not into running) was recently watching some "thing" on how bad that is to land heel-first and how "this really fast guy in Africa" lands on his toes first. So, in my running career, my two main injuries are inner calf (like from the ankle bone up my leg) strains, and occasional shin splints. I am in PT for the most recent calf-strain, and I will be asking my PT about this also, but for now I am just wondering-how big of a deal is the heel-strike, and if it is a big deal-how do you get over it?! In case anyone is wondering I have brand new shoes (Mizuno Wave Inspire) and they are LRS and PT approved, so I think my injuries are form vs shoe....
Planned Races 2012
Colorado Marathon (10k) May 6
Bolder Boulder (10k) May 28
Sierras race (5k) June 2
HITS Ft. Collins (sprint) July 28
Tri for the cure (sprint) August 18
Boulder Sunset (Olympic) Sept 1
Re: Apparently I heel-strike when I run...
Well, this is basically what the whole barefoot running phenomenom is about.
If you think about running barefoot, what part of your foot do you land on? You land on your forefoot, not your heel. This is the most natural way to run because obviously there were no shoes when man first started running. At least not any shoes like there are today. Many people believe that the extra cushioning in the heels of traditional running shoes are to blame for people heel striking.
I'm no expert, but I do read a lot about running, and I've read a lot of things about how heel striking is the cause for a lot of injuries.
I'm actually not a heel striker, but I switched to Newton running shoes, which are a part of the minimalist shoe market. They're not as "barefoot" as Vibrams, but they do have raised rubber bars on the forefoot of the sole which help you to land on your forefoot rather than your heel. There's actually a whole article on Newtons in last months Runners World. Anyway, I love them, but they are kind of expensive.
If you want to try the minimalist or barefoot shoes, there are other brands out there to try that aren't as expensive as Newtons.
Whether or not your injuries are caused by heel striking though, I have no idea.
The longitudiinal literature and the studies in this entire area have been actually very small and non conclusive. To state that heel strikes the cause of many injuries is drawing a pretty strong causation when it's most likely correlation.
To the op, the fact that your husband saw a show, and now thinks this based on one item gives me total pause. As an anecdote, I'm not a heel striker and also occasionally get shin splints, and have had a variety of injuries over the years.
Yes,I'm smiling...I'm a marathoner!
Bloggy McBloggerson
CO Nestie Award Winner-Prettiest Brain-Back to Back!
2011 Bests
5K-22:49 10K-47:38 Half Mary-1:51:50
2012 Race Report
1/1-New Year's 5K-22:11
2/11-Sweetheart Classic 4-mile-29:49
3/24-Coulee Chase 5K-21:40
5/6-Colorado Marathon-4:08:30
5/28-Bolder Boulder 10K
Yup, that's why I said that I didn't know if her injuries were caused by her heel striking or not. I only said I had read the articles, not that they were necessarily true. There's always different theories and arguments. In the end OP needs to do what's right for her. I love my Newtons, like I said, but they may not fix what is causing her injuries. Who knows.
I'm not a great blogger, and I started the running posts more for myself than anyone else, but feel free to follow me.
http://sunshinenwine.blogspot.com/
I, too, have been a heel-striker for years and was encouraged to do so by my track coaches in the late 90s. I had horrid shin splints all four years I ran track, and it pretty much killed my desire to run after high school.
Last fall I started running again, got fitted for shoes, and back came the shin splints and sore knees. I knew I had to do something if I wanted to really start racing. I've been lurking on the barefoot message board on Runners World and The Barefoot Runners Society and have read a couple books, articles, and blogs by barefoot/minimalist runners.
I find the topic interesting and started my transition to barefoot a couple months ago. I put on a pair of a pair of minimalist shoes last week and noticed that I was no longer heel-striking. It felt great. We'll see how it goes, I guess...
My CrossFit coaches are also former running coaches and their main focus is not on heel-strike/injury but that "heels are brakes" so every time you strike with your heel, you actually slow yourself down slightly and have to speed up again with every step.
I will admit that it takes some thought/getting used to, but I am definitely running faster by doing more of a mid-foot strike. I'm a little awkward with a toe-strike still.