RE-Learning to Run... Day #1

In my Injury Report  (IR) I mentioned that I was taking a week off and trying to mend my pulled tendon-ligament-heel bone area. We aren't exactly sure what is causing the pain, but at first I was feeling a "ripping" sensation every time I kicked back in my stride. Well I've been testing it out and it feels much closer to a tightening sensation. After I warmed up with a 45 Min spin class today, I decided to test it out on the... (dun dun dunnnn) Dreadmill! ugh!

Run attempt #1: 1 Mile Slow Treadmill
Mileage: 1 Mile
Incline: 0-2 grade
Shoe: Vibram 5-finger classics
Pace: 9:30 avg min/mile

Report: I started with a 10 min/mile and felt pretty good so I conducted test #1, increasing my pace to around 8:20 min/mile. I felt a little tightening. I think this is because, the faster I go, the more I lose my form and start to overpronate. I had to OVER-overpronate during the marathon, because it made my knee feel better-- that's how I ended up hurting my ankle! So as long as I run with a forced arch in my foot- landing correctly it feels great. If I let my foot roll in, my ankle hurts.

So then I decided to conduct test #2-- incline! I increased it up to incline level 2-- not a huge amount, but enough to make me really push off with my foot. Not bad!!! A little tightening, but nothing that was going to pull.

Vibrams: My first attempt with vibrams was on the treadmill. I had planned on running with my sneakers, but after a week of walking around and exercising with the Vibrams, the shoes just felt SO heavy. Also, when I started running in the sneakers, I couldn't change my form and it felt very uncomfortable. The vibrams have already started giving me an arch and my shoes have been worn enough to be flattened on the inside, causing my foot to further pronate.

I like the vibrams so far. It felt very natural to run in them and they allow me to run in a comfortable position. Also, they have these little tab like things on the back. Immediately I thought... "oooh blistersss!!" However, I have a scab on the back of my ankle from the chip holder in one of the races last week. If the vibrams were going to cause a blister/cut they certainly would have annoyed the scab-- I looked after I was finished and the scab was fine!!



Overall, I would say Run Attempt #1 was pretty successful... but I have a ways to go. I'm going to try to do 2 tomorrow and if that feels good and my doc gives the OK, I'll try and run 4 on tues.