(Mid)Sole Searching: Part II

I was climbing uphill, mid way through the third mile in the golf course on the Boilermaker course in Utica, NY when the thought came to me.  "Man, I am out of shape." For the last few months, I had been blaming my transition to midsole for my discomfort and lack of speed during runs.  There were times that I felt like a gimped horse with cement blocks for hooves.  I don't know where that visual came from, but it's true. On this day, though, fifteen weeks after my midsole journey began, I felt like an out-of-shape runner. Ahhh, progress.

Boilermaker 2011: Can't really see my stride, but you can see that I was a sweaty mess.

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My transition to midsole was motivated by the nagging pain in my posterior tibial tendon.  It seemed no matter how much rest a got (I took a month off from running), it wasn't getting better.  I visited my buddies at Finish Line Physical Therapy for a few weeks and was given exercises and stretches that definitely helped, but didn't solve the problem.  I went to an Orthopedist to get a professional opinion and an MRI.  He diagnosed me with no stress fracture... and not much more information.  He gave me a green light to run and said I'd just have to work through the discomfort until it gets better.  Yeah, thanks.  I went to an acupuncturist.  That felt pretty good, but didn't really help.

At this point in April, I was wearing Superfeet insoles when walking and stability shoes when running.  I was trying to give my feet as much support as possible. This was the path given to me by the orthopedist.  Then, by chance, I read Born To Run, and this led me down the rabbit hole, toward natural running.  I got rid of the insoles and started minimizing my footwear.  I must have bought a dozen shoes in the last few months (many of which I returned).  I'll be posting a blurb on each of them shortly.

Finding my midsole was just as difficult as everyone told me it would be.  My first three guides all encouraged a gradual process of adapting to the new running gait, though each recommended a different path to get there.  Abshire suggested that I resist the temptation to do my normal miles.  Instead, he supplied a series of strengthening and form exercises to do.  Dreyer suggested that all the exercise a runner needs to develop running form and muscles is running itself.  I cannot say that my method was scientific at all.  I tried a bunch of different things from a bunch of different sources.

WOW did my calves ache.  And my tendons around my ankles were sore.  It felt like what I was doing was just making things worse.  I couldn't be sure if I was doing things right or not.  Some runs were fine, others were disasterous.  I would find myself out of commission for a week at a time because of soreness in my calves and tendons.  I kept going back to these three main sources, looking for something that maybe I was doing wrong.  I would also scour the internet looking for other examples and experiences.  Are my pains normal?  At times I would find things I could tweak. But mostly, I was just being impatient.

Midfoot vs Forefoot
So which is better? Abshire, Romanov, and Eric Orton (McDougall's coach) believe in the forefoot.  Dreyer advocates midfoot.  Romanov's book, The Pose Method, was the first that I picked up and I immediately and naturally began practicing the forefoot strike.  He instructed me to simply let my foot drop naturally and not to place it anywhere.  By lifting the other foot, the already lifted foot would drop naturally to support me.  Quite helpful advice.  In the beginning of my transition, I didn't really differentiate between midfoot and forefoot.  But, as I have discovered, there is a meaningful distinction.

To strike on your forefoot means to land on your forefoot first, then rock back onto your heel.  A midfoot strike has you landing evenly on your foot- heel and forefoot- at about the same time.

From http://icanhasscience.com/

In retrospect, I find it interesting how committed some people are to stating that one footstrike is superior to all others.  I tend to believe that all footstrike types are just tools at a runner's disposal. I am at a point with my running form where my footstrikes change depending on speed and slope.  And I like it.  It makes me feel like a nimble mountain cat and/or ninja.

Check out this writeup by Runblogger.  It's an interesting study done in the mid 1900s concerning foot strikes found in runners who specialize in specific distances.  The author concludes that short distance runners stay on their forefoot while longer distance runners go midfoot/midheel.  Interesting, especially knowing that this was from a time before our beefed-up running shoes with big cushy heels.

Also check out this discussion by other running geeks about Scott Jurek and his footstrike.  One of the most successful ultra runners out there, is all over the place with his strikes, it appears.

Gems of My Journey
So how did I get myself to be a fairly proficient midsole striker? From all the accounts that I've heard, I'll tell you confidently that there is no one way to do it.  Patience is probably the underlying commonality amongst all methods.  Here are a few of the dozens of tidbits I followed that stood out to me.

The foam roller.  That thing has been a life savor for me.  Seriously.  I am a huge foam roller advocate.  I currently use the thing once or twice a week.  This may be the biggest gem that I can offer you through my experiences.  Stretching alone isn't always enough; the foam roller is magical.

Chi-Running posture lessons. Most of what Dreyer teaches in his book I luckily already did intuitively.  But with this transition, it was great to get a constant reminder and to really have a look at the physiology of the practice.  Leaning from the ankles, not the pelvis, and keeping your core engaged I would say are the top two lessons.

Form drills.  Drills such as the knee high toe up move by Eric Orton and Abshire's one leg reaching squats have helped so much that I have integrated them into my standard strengthening circuit.  I will share this in a coming post.


Ryan Hall and his ankle dribbles.  Check out this video.

After watching Ryan Hall do this, hear him explain his theory of proper foot strike, and seeing other video analysis of his gait, I went out looking for his shoes, wanted to dye my hair blond, and start praising Jesus as much as he does.  Seriously.  Does it feel weird to idolize someone younger than me?  Yup.  Does that mean I'm getting old?  Probably.  Oh well.  This video turned the tide for me.  It was of course an accumulation of all that I learned and practiced, but Hall was the spark that got me over the top. I started to primarily strike midfoot and things started to click.

When I run, I imagine Hall running.  I emulate his smooth motion.  I've heard many coaches and experts say that not everyone can run like Hall- not everyone is that lucky.  Well, I want to be one of the fortunate few. 

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So here I am, a self-declared proficient midsole striker.  Yet I am still aggravating my posterior tibial tendon. What the hell.  My hope, in this multi-month experiment, was to prevent injury.  In that regard I am not yet successful.  I wish I could say otherwise.  Time could tell differently.  Perhaps I just need to allow my body to further adjust.  Perhaps I never allowed myself to fully heal to begin with.  Or perhaps natural running alone isn't enough....

I visited a podiatrist a few weeks back and got fitted for orthotics.  It may seem that this flies in the face of my whole natural running expedition, but Danny Abhsire would disagree.  He advocates both corrective orthotics and natural running.

I'm two weeks into running in the orthotics, still landing midsole.  So there is more to this story, enough for another blog entry, I do think.  Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion of this Midsole Search saga...