Monday, August 27, 2007

Fun at the running store!

So the hubby and I went up to the big city of Topeka on Saturday and we went to The Great Plains Running Company. It's a running specialty store and I was excited! The people there were great and gave me a big high five when I told them I had signed up for Disney and needed a gait analysis.

It was a bit wierd running on a treadmill in my bare feet, but it helped because I learned I have, for the most part, normal pronation but my right foot may pronate (roll inward when it hits the ground) a bit more. Knowing that, the person helping me went and got about 7 pairs of shoes for me to try on. The first ones were great, but I tried them all on. It was fun because the last time I went shoe shopping like this was when I was about 8. She measured my foot and tied the laces for me and everything. Haha!

I know I made a breakthrough when I resigned myself to buying the best pair for my feet even if they were the ugliest ones (I just am not a fan of yellow!) We did a comparison by putting the top two on, one on each foot and then switched. Happily for me, the winner (they fit just right, I felt like Goldilocks) was the pretty pair. (And they were on sale!) So now I have pretty blue and light gray Puma Complete Tenos IVs and they are awesome.

Alas, since Sunday was my long run I was not going to break them in then. So, I am super excited for my run tomorrow to test them out. Yay for new shoes! I never get this excited about shoes, just so you know.

The long run yesterday was good. Since I had done 6.25 last week, I said I should try for 7, 5 of which had to be running. It was tough and I found myself frustrated that I just ran out of steam. But then I thought about it and realized I ran out of steam about 1.25 miles later than I did last week, so that was encouraging. Total distance was 7.25 I'm going to add a fourth day of running this week, probably speed work.

Still happy and still excited about running.

3 comments:

Bill Carter said...

Andria

You just did one of the smartest things a serious ( and you definitely are) runner can do....find out what shoe coincides with your specific way of running. It is amazing how much science really goes into designing and manufacturing shoes these days. This is something that will really help you.

It is great to hear that you are adding both mileage and speed work. Make sure that you don't do to much and maintain your flexibility, easy runs, etc. I have been pretty good the last couple of years about injuries (knocking on my desk), but I've had my share in the past when I tried to do too much.

Keep up the awesome work and congrats on the new sneaks.

Bill

Anonymous said...

Excellent choice on getting professional fitted shoes. I can emphasize to other runners how important that is. Having the right shoes helps (in my opinion) make the runs more productive.

I wouls seriously consider following some sort of planned lad out. I use a plan on Runner's World, made for my time and desired intensity.

Tom@RunnersLounge said...

Bill is sooo right. If you add an additional day of running, acclimate to the mileage first, then make some portion of your added run some speed work...rushing too soon will tee you up for an injury.

So glad you're enjoying the running!