Some serious shoe loving

I wore my new Nike Vomero+ 2 shoes for the first time today and oh my gawd, they are heaven to my feet.



Compared to my NB 1061, the Vomero+ 2 is super light and cushiony. My kicks and lift offs were higher. I felt bouncy, springy and fast. It also has a support for bunions, which will come in handy during long runs. Love it!


The oval thingy supports bunions

A few things I'll need to adjust to:

• the width ~ it's a lot narrower than my 1061's, but then I was wearing a thick pair of Thorlo socks
  
• my heels feel like they are rolling inward upon landing

Thank you Therese, you are the best!

Nike+ Sports Kit
On another note, my Nike+ sports kit must be dying. I did a 49 minute tempo run today and it reported that I only ran 3.32 miles at a pace of 14:43. HUH?!? By my calculation, I should have covered 5+/- miles. I'll try it with the 1061's tomorrow and see if I get a wrong reading there too. Aren't these things supposed to last 1 year?

New running shoes; Part 2

Nike Moto 4, Nike Air Structure Triax 10+, NB WR1061

Within a month of getting the Triax, I bought another pair of running shoes, the New Balance WR1061.  This shoe is highly rated here and here.  A couple of reviewers mentioned though that this shoe is classified as "neutral plus," therefore suited for heavier runners.  Uh oh, there is no way you can classify me as heavy.  Still, I plunged ahead with the purchase because the selection of women's running shoes in Manila is so limited.  Plus, it was on sale!

Already, the 1061 is showing promise.  I am SO happy to say that after several runs totaling 14.7mi, I haven't felt any pain whatsoever! :-)  Huh, a shoe really does make a difference.

Shoe Mileage

- Nike Max Moto 4: 467

- Nike Triax 10x: 46  (Retired)

- NB WR1061: 15

Shin splints

I read up a little on shin splints and found this article, Your Shins by Martha Schindler on Runner's World. This paragraph caught my eye...

...A runner who overpronates might buy a rigid shoe hoping to keep her ankles from turning, he explains, but many motion-control shoes are simply too stiff for a woman's less-muscular foot to bend. "If you hear a slapping noise every time your foot hits the ground, your shoes are too stiff," he notes...

AHA! I may just have come to the root of my problem. I recently started using these pair of shoes. Each time my foot hits the ground, these shoes make a loud slapping noise which I can hear through my headphones. So much for buying a shoe voted "Editor's Choice," if it isn't appropriate for you. I'm actually a neutral runner, not an overpronator, and this shoe corrects overpronation.

Also on Runner's World, this article Get Healthy Calves and Shins, by Ted Spiker, describes shin splints.

Pain down the front of your lower leg is likely due to shinsplints--or medial tibial stress syndrome, as medical practitioners prefer to call it. It's thought of as a beginner's injury, but shinsplints can strike anyone, especially those who overtrain. They're caused by degeneration of the muscles or tissues that attach to the tibia (shinbone). Anterior shinsplints affect the tibialis anterior muscle (outer side of the tibia), which keeps your toes from dragging when you take a step and lowers the forefoot to the ground. Posterior shinsplints indicate irritation of the posterior tibialis muscle (inner side of the tibia), which decelerates the pronation of the foot after heel-strike. Too many miles with too little rest, improper biomechanics, or tightness and weakness in the calf muscles are all contributing factors, says Janet Hamilton, a registered clinical exercise physiologist and author of Running Strong and Injury Free. Typically, this pain strikes when you start to run and stops once you've warmed up. If you have shinsplints, the best remedies are rest, icing, stretching and strengthening exercises, and anti-inflammatories...

Running gingerly

TUE:: Ran 5.22mi with my brand new pair of Triax running shoes. I'm NOT liking it at all! I hope it's just a matter of getting used to it. I felt a constant dull pain on my right shin during the run and would briefly disappear only if I ran at a faster pace. The problem may be due to the Triax being a half size larger than my old Motos... Although the Triax is cushiony, which I like, I feel it lacks the support I need and seems a bit heavy.

WED:: Ran 2.93mi. Back to the Motos today, no shin problems at all. Hmmmn, could a shoe really affect your run that much?!?

New running shoes

My less than 6mo old shoe, a Nike Air+ Moto, is about to be retired. It only has 425+ miles, yet it has lost that bit of springiness and support :-(

I tried the Mizuno Wave Creation 8s and love the way they feel on me. BUT, having several friends who work for Nike, they won't approve of me wear any other brand but theirs. So when I learned that Nike has a promotion going on right now, I rushed to the store. For every Nike+ shoe you buy, they will give you a sports kit for the iPod Nano for free.

Sadly, they didn't have the Nike Vomero+ 2 in my size, so I ended up with the Nike Air Structure Triax+ 10. Hope that works for me... Otherwise, I'll end up getting a 2nd pair of shoes, the Mizunos. Bad for my financials, but a good thing for my feet. :-)