Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Bicycling ... and Orthotics


Dongguan city has banned motorcycles from his streets (for public security, safety and traffic management purposes....) and this ban has obviously also hit those in need of transportation who can not afford a car.
So the "wealthy" gets the streets empy for driving cars more smoothly and the others have to survive somehow (that is the rule #1 of "China Life": big fish eat small fish).
The pic was taken this morning. The kid was totally asleep.
I must ask my family to make a similar try, even if I have doubt that my daughter would ever sleep unless on a king size bed...


On a more "running side", the knee is still aching and does not show signs of improvement, even with ice + Voltaren. I guess that after next Sunday's Half Marathon, I will have to log 3/4 days of the hated "Injured, did not run"....
but otherwise it seems a vicious loop of feel pain, taking voltaren and train easier and easier.

The form is still very good anyway: yesterday early morning I did a Tempo Run of 12k at 3'38"/km pace, very easy because the HR did went over 170bpm only for 16' out of 43'. It was much more of a "fast Marathon effort" than a real tempo.

Now I would like to invite your comments about Orthotics and Support Shoes.
I started to wear orthotics mid of last year to correct my pronation problem, plus a 3mm lift to partially compensate a large leg length discrepancy that I have from birth.
I do not know if my improvement is also due to the orthotics (I do not use them in race), but after these months I start to hate them because I feel that my feet are completely losing their elasticity and flexibility. Basically I feel like running only "with my legs" and not using the propulsive power of the foot.
I may take the drastic decision to put the orthotics on hold and also ditch all the supportive shoes like Asics Kayano, while running only in lightweight trainers for a while, until the feet start to "move again".

5 comments:

Unknown said...

You might want to give "Barefoot Orthotics" a try (http://www.barefootscience.com). They are supposed to strengthen your feet rather than just support them. My sports chiro recommended these to me, as I, like you, hate orthotics. I've only been using them for a week, so I can't say yet whether they make a difference. Don't know if you can get these shipped to China, but it might be worth a try.

-Patrick

Anonymous said...

Everybody has one leg shorter than the other one. So virtually everybody who goes to an orthopaedist will get a prescription for some kind of orthotics. My opinion about this is that unless your running is very painful, do NOT use orthotics. Your body has managed to be without them for many, many years, and has adapted its balance the way it had to. Why would you want to change this unless there is a serious problem? Now, I am not sure how serious your problem was, but I suspect it was not so serious as you are thinking about ditching your orthotics... As a conclusion, buy a pair of Nike Free or run barefoot - that's the best you can do as Patrick said.

Grellan said...

Just came on your blog site. one to add to my favourites. We share the same book interests (Daniels, Noakes et al.) - still reading Lore of Running. What a bible.

I got these barefoot shoes (http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/products/products_sprint.cfm?CFID=2421069&CFTOKEN=15638848) and run once a week in them. My theory is that 10,000+ years of evolutionary running (barefoot) is better than 20 years of running on cushions. Recommended in "Brain Training for Runners" by Matt Fitzgerald.

Jury's still out though. Only have them 2 months. Patricks barefoot orthotics may be the answer - a move in the same direction as the five fingers.

Grellan said...

Just came across your site. Well done in the HM PB - very impressive for us mere mortals. We share the same book interests - running that is (Daniels, Noakes et al) Still reading Lore of Running - what a bible.

I got these barefoot shoes (http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/products/products_sprint.cfm?CFID=2421069&CFTOKEN=15638848) 2 months ago and am running in them once a week.


My theory is that 100,000+ years of evolutionary running (barefoot) is better than 20 years of running on cushions (overstriding etc.). They weer recommended in "Brain Training for Runners" by Matt Fitzgerald - (those or Nike Frees). Jury's still out though.

Patrick's barefoot orthitics may be the answer - a move in the same direction as the five fingers.

Grellan said...

Just came across your site. Well done in the HM PB - very impressive for us mere mortals. We share the same book interests - running that is (Daniels, Noakes et al) Still reading Lore of Running - what a bible.

I got these barefoot shoes (http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/products/products_sprint.cfm?CFID=2421069&CFTOKEN=15638848) 2 months ago and am running in them once a week.


My theory is that 100,000+ years of evolutionary running (barefoot) is better than 20 years of running on cushions (overstriding etc.). They weer recommended in "Brain Training for Runners" by Matt Fitzgerald - (those or Nike Frees). Jury's still out though.

Patrick's barefoot orthitics may be the answer - a move in the same direction as the five fingers.