New Kicks

For several days last week, I was hurting.  My right hamstring seemed really tight, and the biceps femoris on that leg was tender.  Usually I can identify where exactly it hurts by probing my leg, but this didn't seem to be one spot in particular.  But when I bent my leg at 90 or more degrees, ooh, lots of pain.  I also noticed it when going down stairs. 

I did what any stupid runner would do -- I followed my schedule.  It was sore on Thursday, but I ran the scheduled 8.2 easy miles, plus I ran to work for another 3.7 miles.  Friday, my day as Superwoman, I ran the 6 mile hill loop (aka the mountain route).  It was tender the first quarter mile, but then there was no pain (well, pain in my lungs, but not the same).  I ended up resting on Saturday (which is actually okay per the schedule), and I ran 12 miles on Sunday, which ended up a bit of a train wreck due to poor pacing (90%) and leg pain (10%).  Monday was boot camp, Tuesday was a few solo miles since there was a thunderstorm, then my run home from work, and the track meet. 

In between the running times, I was being pretty good about icing it and using biofreeze (or actually something called Freezepain I think, whatever they had when my husband asked for biofreeze at the store).  Not so good about the RCE part of RICE. 

At some point, a light bulb went off in my head. 

Pain sometimes means it's time for new shoes.

Duh! 

I am currently rotating two pairs heavily, and two pairs lightly.  But both the heavy rotation shoes were more than 4 months old.

This year so far, I'm at about 850 miles of running.  I haven't tried to break out shoe totals, but just a rough guess is probably about 375 miles per heavy rotation shoe, and 100 miles for the light rotation running shoe. 

And for me, shoes usually max out around 400 miles.  If my calculations are a bit off, then my heavy rotation shoes are done.  If my calculations are right, I could wear them for about another week or two.  I really need to be better about tracking the shoe mileage. 

So I bought new shoes. 

I planned to run in them Tuesday morning, but it was threatening rain and I always like the first dozen or so runs to be dry.  But I finally put them on to go to work yesterday, and I was pain-free.

It could be coincidence, the pain in my hamstring and biceps femoris was already getting better I have no doubt, but either way, it's a fairly simple fix and one I can't believe I didn't think of sooner.

In exciting shoe news, after about 2 years of cheating on my Brooks Glycerin by flirting with Mizune Waverunner and Adidas Supernova, my new pair is Brooks Glycerin again.  Ahh...

Unfortunately, there are 3 color choices, only one in stock at my local running store.  I decided to go with the "in stock" color because I am going to order another color to be my marathon day shoe (will match my outfit better).  So that means my new kicks are hideous neon yellow.  I feel like I'm not fast enough to pull off this color, but oh well. 

Oh, and double unfortunately, with the redesign, the price went up another $10.  That means $150 a pop on shoes now.  Oh well, it's the cost of doing business I guess, and since running is my main hobby, it makes sense that I'd spend money on it. 

Bright yellow, with my Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon socks!

 

"Yeah, I got on sneaks, but I need a new pair..."  (Name that tune!)