Categories
running

Running success

[Saturday: 5 miles; Monday: 3 miles]

I had been wearing some Topo trail shoes that were just a bit large for me. But I kind of got to liking them, particularly for running on the trails in the Mines of Spain. They are lightweight. With my normal clonkers I wear out the outside heel part of the sole first. With these I had been wearing out the ball of the foot. Which indicates to me that they have me running more up on my feet. I feel quicker.

Here about a month ago I got a new pair. And I started off using them but quickly developed a terrible cramp-like pain in my left calf area. I did some stretching but that didn’t help. I would start out on my run and within half a mile I could barely move. Using the old pair didn’t do that. Thinking maybe the new pair was faulty, we ordered a second pair from the official Topo website (so I could use their return policy if necessary).

By the time those arrived I had taken almost two weeks off. I couldn’t tell if maybe I had a stress fracture or something, so I waited what seemed like a long time. I no longer felt the injury. Anyway, the new shoes came last week so on Saturday I started out on a relatively flat course. In about half a mile the pain was back. I tried a couple adjustments, eventually taking the insole out completely. That seemed to help. I was able to finish 5 miles after I did that.

Sunday we went to the local sports shoe specialty shop and I bought some plain old Brooks shoes. I had worn Brooks for years before I got into the Altras and then Topos. Yesterday I had a very nice run in the Brooks. I could feel the lingering discomfort from Saturday’s run but it didn’t get any worse as I went, a great improvement.

So the returnable Topo’s are going back to exchange for a smaller size. My theory is that them being slightly large is aggravating something in my foot. But the funny part was that my foot didn’t feel unhappy, it was way up on the calf muscle. Maybe I am clenching my toes or something ? I tried to relax. I tried everything. We will see if the smaller size does the trick. But with the Brooks I have something I can rotate in and give my feet a change of scene.