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For all things I've been doing wrong, I must have been doing something right

Today was a nice day not to be running. To watch Bay to Breakers roll through the park, and then to go get a pedicure. My back still hurts and I need a break.

Last week I had the privilege of getting a full evaluation of my running gait, strength, flexibility, and footwear, all for free. A local sports medicine clinic is starting up a program for which they'll eventually charge runners lots of money, but I got in early as a guinea pig.

A doctor tested my strength (er, weaknesses) and flexibility. He told me I have weak glutes. Hmm. This does actually explain some things, like why at the end of long, hard races, I start to canter unevenly and drag one foot like Quasimodo. (Almost.) (At least that's what it feels like.) I also have terrible balance and my muscles were tight everywhere he tested. I tried to convince him that that was because I had finished a 20-mile ride only an hour earlier and hadn't had time to stretch. Which is true. If I had had more time, would I have stretched? Um.

A foot specialist examined my feet, watched me walk with and without shoes, and checked the wear on my current pair of running shoes. Turns out I overpronate way more than I thought I did. I've been running in the wrong shoes for seven years, and I need orthotics, too. Huh! Sort of surprising. I have four pairs of my current shoe model, in various states of decay. I suppose it wouldn't kill me to keep running in them until it's time to recycle them.

A nutritionist evaluated my pre-, mid- and post-workout nutrition, which I have pretty well dialed. At least I passed one section.

And finally, they videotaped me running on a treadmill from the side and from behind, which I got to watch later with the entire group in horrifying slow motion. Honestly, I'd rather not look at a full body shot of myself from the rear while doing or wearing anything. (And by that I do NOT mean I prefer to be wearing nothing.) But, of course, it was instructive. I do look OK running from the side. And again, the overpronation is pretty obvious from behind.

I went to Sports Basement the next day and picked up some moderately-more-supportive shoes. I refuse to go for the full-on motion-control shoes. They're much, much heavier than what I'm used to, and they hardly flex at all. I know plenty of people run in these with great success, but I look at them and think of Jimmy Hoffa. I think I'd do more harm than good by making such a drastic change in my footwear.

I thought about Jimmy Hoffa and concrete shoes a few times as I did a 10-mile run in the brand-new shoes Friday, having never run in them before. I really do know better. Doing a long run in new new shoes is a recipe for injury. My legs felt a little more beaten up than usual following that stunt, so I soaked them in a bathtub full of cold water afterward.* It actually felt... good.

There's nothing like a soak in freezing-cold water to remind me that what I do is a little crazy sometimes.

*While wearing a fleece jacket and hat. Brr.

May 20, 2007 8:18 PM