Running Through The Pain

Why can something as simple as running cause so much pain?

When I sit down and think about that question, it seems like a stupid one. Of course running can lead to pain you idiot! You’re pounding your legs into the ground (with all that weight on top of them) for miles on end. Take an average stride of 150 strides per minute and run for an hour. That means you’re thrusting each of your legs into the ground around 4,500 times an hour. Ouch!

Now that winter’s on our doorstep, I’m trying to transition back to hitting the pavement. I’m having much less success than I’d hoped for! While I’m much stronger than last winter, the long, redundant miles on the road are exposing my weaknesses. On the trails I get to vary my stride and bounce around a bit. On the road I’m going at the same tempo, trying to maintain an efficient stride and pace. The truth is that it’s painful! I’ve been experiencing some posterior shin splints that I’m able to run through, albeit in an extremely uncomfortable fashion.

I think I’ve narrowed it down to a few issues...

The first is my shoes. I rotate between three different pairs of road shoes: A more “minimal” shoe for shorter runs, a transitional shoe for medium length runs, and a more cushioned shoe for long runs. The Brooks (long run shoe) are a perfect balance for me between not enough, and too much shoe. However, I think they might be forcing me to pronate unnaturally. I haven’t experimented much with good road trainers as most of my long runs have been on dirt, so I might have to look into some other options here.

The second issue is my stride. Now that I’m focusing on becoming faster, I think my form has changed. The tread patterns on all my shoes indicate I’m spending much more time on my forefoot than I was before. That’s not a terrible thing, but it’s not the way I stride naturally. I’m obviously forcing the issue when I should be easing into a more natural, faster variation of my current form.

Mostly, I’ve come to realize that you need to be bulletproof to run without injury. You can’t have any weakness in your armor or you’ll be brought to your knees. I have mad respect for all the elite runners out there who train day-in and day-out, all while avoiding injury. I’m still new to the sport, so while it’s frustrating having to deal with injury, it’s fun learning more about what’s causing it. And truthfully - for some reason - I like doing things the hard way! So until my flaws are strengthened, I’ll continue to make friends with the pain!