You don’t have to tell me twice
Okay, so maybe you do. But after that I’ll get it; I swear!
As I’ve been grumbling about for the past few weeks, my right calf has been giving me grief. It’s not the same top-of-the-calf pain I experienced while wearing the motion control/stability shoes (I’ve since switched to a neutral pair, the Brooks Defyance), nor was it a case of shin splints. Rather, the pain was centered between my calf and shin on the inside of my leg.
I’ve chalked it up to running too many damn miles with little recovery. It certainly helped to take a week off after Skagit Flats, but I could still feel twinges of pain during my runs since (that’s one of the things that contributed to last week’s tears). I’ve stretched, I’ve sticked, I’ve foam rollered, I’ve self-massaged, I’ve had my darling massage the spot — all to no avail.
But then it dawned on me. Could it once again be my shoes?
I consulted my training log to see how many miles each pair had racked up. I wasn’t surprised to see the first pair had 500 miles on them, but was a bit shocked to see the second pair was pushing 450. I’ve had a pair on order from Brooks since the end of August (I had received a 40% discount card at Hood-to-Coast), but the company is in the midst of a software upgrade and they’re experiencing longer-than-normal delivery delays. So off to my running store I go.
Not wanting to mess with a good thing, I had the clerk grab another pair of size 10 Defyances (hey — don’t laugh. I’m a tall girl, ya know). After inspecting my insoles she also recommended I replace those, as they had about 950 miles on them (although she recommended I wear my old insoles in my new shoes for a couple of runs to make sure the shoes were still a good fit).
I laced up my new shoes for an early morning run and headed out the door. I could tell the difference from the get-go — no calf pain! There was just a tad bit of residual achyness as I ran downhill, but it was nothing compared to what I have been dealing with. I was able to run 10 1/2 in relative comfort (I cut my scheduled 12-mile run short as I was meeting my sister for lunch).
Who says blondes don’t catch on?
(Then again, calf pain isn’t necessarily a bad thing).
September 29th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Shoes – glad that’s the easy fix! Hopefully the achyness will clear up completely soon.
October 3rd, 2008 at 7:00 am
Never underestimate the importance of shoes. Sex and the City taught me that. (Don’t judge.)
And thanks for the comments about my daughter from you and the Mr. I’m finding out more and more about seizures and all the folks in the world that have experienced them on a daily basis. Very reassuring to get an understanding of what is going from folks who go through it. Thanks again!
October 4th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Phew! Glad to see things are better. My legs are screaming at me to get new shoes as well…