Showing posts with label wear. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wear. Show all posts

Sunday, September 20, 2015

Supinating is how I roll

Virrata out-sole wear courtesy of supination
Today's run (street): 4.3 miles
Yesterday's run (street): 5.1 miles

Fall is almost here and I'm loving the cooler temperatures. Unfortunately, the humidity still thinks it's summertime. That's true, but running conditions have improved over August's dog days. Stepping out to mid-60's temperatures provided a welcomed boost this morning. I had two good runs this weekend, even though my positive performance from Friday wasn't duplicated on either day.

Yesterday I broke out of the boundaries of my neighborhood, venturing into the nearby business park and the neighborhood that connects to it. I'd targeted 5 miles and ran easy. That turned out to be a good idea because the humidity was an oppressive 88%. This morning felt cooler and a moderate breeze from the north provided a nice offset to still-present humidity. I'd considered a trail run but didn't want to deal with mountain bikers at Stillwell. I ended up staying local.

The best thing about today's run was that my energy level was running a few notches above usual. Feeling stronger prompted me to step up my pace and open my stride. It was during my run on Saturday that I noticed how my form has changed since dealing with my herniated disc. I still have slight discomfort in my left thigh, especially when I push my speed.

After yesterday's run, I looked up strides and landing styles and realized for the first time that I am actually not a pronator. That label was given to me seven years ago by the salesperson at Super Runner's in Huntington after she watched me walk across the store. That resulted in my purchase of a pair of Brooks Adrenaline 9's that I loved dearly and wore for 1,000 miles.

Although pronators are supposed to wear stability trainers, I've always felt comfortable running in neutral shoes, especially the minimal variety, That explains my love for the Kinvaras and my appreciation of the Saucony Virratas that I recently replaced with the Kinvara 5s. The article I read showed wear patterns and connected them to different types of strides: pronator, over-pronator, neutral and supinator.

According to the illustrations, I'm a supinator, someone whose foot rolls outward on landing. I looked at my Virratas, the shoes with the most outdoor mileage, and the wear pattern clearly shows that I do this. So now I'm confused. Stability shoes are built with a medial post or some type of multi-density material in the mid-sole to neutralize inward rolling. I get that. What I don't get is when I look up "best shoes for supination" most results point to stability shoes. But since it's the opposite problem, wouldn't stability shoes amplify supination?

While the running world works to figure that out, I'll stick with my minimal neutral models. The only downside to that is my preferred shoes use a fairly soft material on the out-sole that is apt to wear out from all my supinatin'. Still, I'd rather run in shoes that feel right, rather than ones that are made for people who supinate. So far, that seems to be the right approach.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

What's your running shoe's medical history?

 
Today's run (treadmill): 25 minutes

When you go to a medical office for the first time, they usually present you with a clipboard loaded with forms that you have to fill out before you can see the doctor. Among those forms is a checklist for your family medical history. It makes sense since the best way to predict future health problems is to know your areas of risk. I'm applying the same concept in assessing the useful life of my main pair of running shoes.

I've always been skeptical about the commonly-held view that trainers should be replaced between 300 and 500 miles. Just as people may carry greater risk for certain illnesses, some shoes and brands seem predisposed to wear out sooner than others. My first pair of running shoes were some Nike Foot Locker specials that only lasted about 400 miles. But I ran in a pair of Brooks Adrenalines for 700 miles before I retired them.

People tell me that they notice when their mid-soles have worn out after a few months. I think it's all in their head. Unless you are a large person, it's unlikely that you would significantly compress EVA enough to matter. I've come to believe that it's the out-sole that determines the life of a shoe. When I've needed to replace a pair, it's usually because the wear pattern on the bottom has caused a change in my foot strike.

Of all the running shoes I've owned, the pair I've liked the most were the original Saucony Kinvaras. Unfortunately I loved them past the point where their out-sole could provide me a stable platform and I ended up with a knee problem. After 466 miles, I took them out of the rotation. I'm currently running in the Kinvara 3's, a great shoe as well, but I've reached 436 miles with them. That's only 30 miles less than what I got out of the first Kinvaras.

Saucony's new Virrata looks interesting
So far, I've experienced no knee issues when running in the 3's, but the wear patterns are starting to show. Should I be proactive and replace the 3's in case they go from good to bad in the next 30 miles? Or should I put faith in the idea that Saucony may have engineered a more robust out-sole in the two generations since the first Kinvara? I'm on the fence about it, but it doesn't take much to get me back into shoe-buying mode.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Puzzling find beneath my Hattori's


Hey, that's nowhere near my mid-foot!
I did both of my weekend runs on the treadmill and used my second pair of Hattori's that have yet to see pavement. Out of curiosity, I looked at the bottoms to see if the tread picked up a wear pattern from the belt and noticed some evidence of impact on the front medial side. That looked like I may still be pronating, even with a mid-foot strike. I also thought that it may just be belt dust that attached to the out-sole.

When I looked at my primary pair of Hattori's I was quite surprised to see that both heel pads showed clear evidence of wear towards the outside edge of the shoes. These are outdoor shoes and there's no other explanation except that I'm still pushing off the heel at some point in my strike.

This is puzzling because I know I'm landing on my mid-foot when I run in the Hattori's and the white EVA shows an imprint that supports that fact. Clearly there are two points of contact when I land and I'm guessing that I glance off the heel and then strike ahead of the arch. No too bad but not what I want. Perhaps I'll make a trip to a local running store in the next couple of weeks and ask to have my gait videoed. Even if my theory is confirmed I'm not sure if there's much I can do unless I want to go back to a lightweight stability shoe.
 

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