muprocket

I've just recently become interested in triathlon competition. After a good solid year of cycling, I'm beginning to add some running to the mix, and I'm not having the best luck. Excuse my newbeishness...

I picked up some La Sportiva trail running shoes a little over a week ago at REI. They seemed comfortable and snug, and don't rub along the bottom or the heel. There's also enough room in the box to wiggle my toes slightly... So I then hit the local horse trail:

Jul 19 (Sun) - 4.5mi
Tue - 6mi
Thu - 8mi
Mon (Today) - 8.5mi

Each run has been agony through the first 4mi - at which point all pain seems to fade to the rhythm. The calf and hamstring pain is tolerable and expected, but I've got a very dull, intense pain from the ball of my foot and around the outside edges, and some minor pain along the outside ankle area. There are also some blisters on the inside ball of each foot (they seem to be callusing nicely, though).

These runs were all at what seems a ridiculously slow pace, since I've never done anything more than a mile in 10 years. I feel like I may be overdoing my muscles and joints a bit, but I'm really trying to maximize time and get the same level of workout I get on the bike.

So:

1) How long will it take for my feet to get used to the new load (190lb) and movement? Is the HTFU approach here going to cause any bad injuries?
2) Does anything red flag my shoe fit?
3) Is there any sort of technique I can/should practice that will give me more efficiency and less pain?


Thanks!

sirious94

well if these are your first runs, then that is a little intensive. depending on your age you should probably be up to speed in a month or two.

as for the shoes, they are new so you can expect some blistering (try walking in them for a few days to try to break them in) no major red flags that I can tell.

As for the intense foot pain, I don't really see why that would happen, Possibly it's the shoes, or possibly it's just getting used to the running.

and the technique, well you can read up on it or try to find a group run, and see what other people say.

jasandalb

GEEZE...for your first runs you are hammering down!! Slow down and dont run so often.. You've probably overworked you body.
Since you are not use to running the muscles and joints that are pounded during running are overworked and haven't been allowed proper time to heal.
Recovery is one of the most important parts of training, so you need to allow time for you muscles to recoup. You could also supplement with glucosamine, protein shakes, recoverite, etc....
Have you tried changing your routine up and hitting the pavement? Get some regular running shoes. I can only expect that the shoes you have now probably weigh a ton compared with a good pair of non-trail running shoes.

Geoffrey

Ditto on the GEEZ! If you haven't gone over a mile in 10 years, suddenly doing 15-20 miles a week will kill you. MAYBE your lungs and heart can take it from your cycling conditioning, but your muscles and tendons are BEGGING you to cut back.

Good thinking on hitting the trail, because that's usually easier on your body than hard pavement. I would suggest starting with a slow 2-3 mile run twice a week. If you stay closer to 2 than 3, maybe as much as 3 times a week. If you are feeling serious pain anywhere, you need to stop NOW. Running through pain WILL injure you, and FAST. I've been there myself, and I can report that you'll end up not able to run at all for weeks, at least.

For now, please, take at least 2-3 days off from running to heal, and then start slow and short. Work up by adding around 10% to your distance each week, but take a recovery week every 3-4 weeks (i.e. cut distance back for that week). The miles will still be there later if you take it slow getting there, but if you go out like you're doing now, and you aren't lying about how little running experience you have, you'll hurt yourself and you'll be out of running for the foreseeable future.

Your running training should not hurt. If you are in pain, you're doing something wrong. Stop and figure out what before you continue.

Good luck!

Geoffrey

As to your question regarding technique, yes, technique is important too. Check out runnersworld.com in the running technique section for some first pointers to get you oriented. I won't go into specifics, except to say that if something is starting to feel uncomfortable and you modify your gait to compensate, THAT is when the injuries really start to pile up. That is to say that you should continue to run naturally, even as you attempt to optimize your gait. Tensing up and/or doing anything that feels unnatural usually leads to even faster injury than simply running too long and hard.

brian669

too much too fast. i would say start at 5k (or 3 miles) and increase your run by 10% each week. or do 2 or 3 at that pace and the 4th can be 10-20% farther than those (example - 3 mi tues/thurs with a 4.5 mile run sat). then you can increase the short runs 10% weekly and adjust the long one accordingly. you want to increase it gradually, though. also make sure your electrolytes are full - esp sodiums as well as potassium. you could work in some intervals if you are hell bent on distance. interval regular pace running with walking so that you are running maybe 4 miles (the distance you apparently are having issues at) and walking 2-3. the bottom line is running 4 miles out of the hole and increasing to 8 in a week is not the way to do it.

you may also want to find a running shoe store that has a video fit system. what they do is video tape your running on a treadmill and it gets analyzed as to how your foot acts while you're running. this will tell you the type of shoe that fits your foot right. a lot of distance running shoes are more focused on shoe weight than say motion control or stability. most are actually neutral. if you have a motion control problem such as overpronation, for example, the shoe you have will cause you some major pain over the course of its use. this link is very basic but it will give you a brief idea of what i mean.

https://www.zappos.com/runningfitguide.zhtml

travelmama

slow your roll until you get used to the shoes and use some ky jelly or wet platinum lubricant so that you don't get blisters.

muprocket

Awesome advice, thanks guys!

I'll definitely tone it down a bit and just try to get a few more biking miles in to compensate until my legs are in shape. I do recall several instances where I changed the gait to avoid the pain though. Good to know to avoid it in the future - icing at the moment

Cool lubricant trick, btw. Think I'll try that out on my next run.

DogBonz

Yeah Man... If you are just starting, I would cut back on the distance and gradually increase it. Also, something that works for me (now I know that everyone's body is different) is that I always bike the day after a run. The two motions seem to compliment each other. Just my two cents.

cyanemi

I thought I was going ridiculously slowly but my legs would burn and I'd stop and walk. I started going a little slower and I now I can go forever without any pain. I've also added sprints into the mix which doesn't cause any problems. It took me four weeks to figure this out. Adidas Supernova is a good shoe. It sounds like your shoes are a problem.

ricks200192117

First of all you're doing way too much distance to start off with, give yourself time to work up to longer distances, keep your strides short and your feet under your hips when you're running. Your leg turn over should be approximately 100 short strides per minute. If you follow these two recommendations and reduce your mileage I can pretty much guarantee you that all the problems you mentioned will go away. Don't worry about distance so much now, you will add distance over time. It takes a full year for your bones to adapt to the tremendous pressures running puts on them, being extra careful in the first year is critical in allowing the body to take on these new stresses. Finally if you sustain a significant injury training stops, so be careful about not hurting yourself.

jbarham

I just started running about 3 months ago and found that the couch to 5K program really helped get my legs used to running short distances. Just Google "couch to 5K" and read a bit about how it's done. It's low intensity interval training designed to get both your cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems ready for the abuse of running longer distances.

muprocket

A quick update:

- Replaced shoes with wider fitting Montrail set (which double nicely for hiking)
- Using shorter stride
- Not changing gait to compensate for pain
- Limited run time to 1hr
- Stretching post and pre-run.

I'm starting to feel my body adapting now, and the pain (as in damage, not burn) is gone!

jbarham

Careful stretching pre-run. If you stretch cold muscles you can injure yourself without knowing. If you're going to stretch before the end of the run, stop about a mile in after a light jog and stretch then. To avoid muscle stiffness and soreness, you should definitely stretch post-run, but it's not crucial to do so before you run.

sirious94

along the thoughts of the previous post, don't do static stretching before a workout. Try active stretching (look this up) before and static stretching after. Static stretching before can actually be bad for you.

SingingSabre 

Running shoes should not hurt you! Ever!