Aching ankles, shoe adjustments - the sequel

Way back yonder when I was training for the Houston Marathon, I wrote about the torture besetting my ankles and Achilles heels. At the time I was logging respectable, but not aggressive, miles -- say, 24-32 miles a week - as I prepared one month out before the race.

My original intent was to train mostly in older, but not inadequate, shoes that still were well within their recommended lifetime miles of 400 miles, then transition over to new shoes. This plan would allow me to have "fresh" shoes for the race while giving me time to break them in.

Gnashing not to scale

Oh the pain. Early morning runs began with gnashing of teeth and pulling of my breast because of the near-tendon popping tightness and pain emanating from my Achilles and heel, and from the ankle-separating pain sort of at the bend between chin and foot and the top of the foot.

Both sensations caused me to run kind of club-footed for 1/2 mile to a mile until I warmed up enough to suck it up. Even still, the Achilles pain usually lingered.

I even tried new stretching techniques, concentrating on the calves. And by "new" stretching techniques, I mean I actually started stretching my calves, which I never really do. I'm having a "do as I say, not as I do" moment. Anyway, nothing worked, until I remembered, as I always do late during marathon training, that the new shoes may be the culprit.

So, as I blogged before, I made adjustments to my new shoes.

You know how new shoes come tightly laced out of the box, or not even laced at all, which the store salesperson usually laces up right there in front of you with the shoe in their laps and not on your feet?

For me this almost always means that the shoe is too tight. When working ina new pair of shoes, I always do this toe kicking thing while running to position my toes further toward the toe of the shoe. This would suggest a losely laced and tied shoe, but actually it is a tightly laced shoe that forces the foot toward the back/heel of the shoe.

For me, the remedy has always been to give my feet some breathing room in the shoe by loosening the laces and allowing the feet to find their position in the shoe more comfortably. Eventually, I may tighten the laces, but that just comes with constant adjustments over time.

So, why am I repeating a previous blog topic? Because I am here to report that the solution worked. The feet feel great and the running is more or less painless -- at least there is no pain in the ankles or heels.

Limosines for the feets!

Santa brought me a pair of bright, pimped out size 11 Asics Gel Nimbus 13s. The soles have the impressive GU Dance Line, whatever that is.

These are the carriages that'll carry me across the Houston Marathon, Rouge Orleans Ultra Relay and New Orleans Marathon finish lines. And because I'm training in the cool months, these won't stink nearly as much as the Asics I just retired.

They were good to me too. They helped me in the final stages of Chicago Marathon training, the race itself, and prepped me for Houston -- though I should have traded them in long ago.

After I finish Christmas clean up -- the tree is punishing my allergies -- I'll wax philosophical on shoes. Can't wait.

Merry day after Christmas and Happy New Year!

3 miles down, 19 to go

Ran 8 miles Saturday, 6 miles Sunday and 3 miles tonight in preparation for tomorrow's 19 miles. Again, my lack of faith in my erratic training program gives me pause. I find that I am once again anxious about running the 19 mile long run tomorrow.

The Houston Marathon is one month away. After the 19-miler I still need to run 21 miles then taper for the January 14 race. I feel like I'm behind and forcing myself to run a race ill-prepared.

There is no doubt that I will finish the race, but I don't want to run another turkey like I did in Chicago last year when I finished 5 hrs +. Yes, my motto is to finish, not place, but 5 hrs was embarrasingly ridiculous. I don't want to do that again.

I hope I can pull it off tomorrow.