While I was training for my Half Iron, my running was my weakest point. I grew up a competitive swimmer which gave me a great aerobic base as well as the fundamental techniques for swimming. That alone can be a huge advantage when competing in a triathlon. While I was a competitive swimmer, the dry-land exercises provided me with a great running background as well. However, after I quit swimming after high school, I switched to bicycling and did not run as much. Not to mention I got a bit out of shape my first year or so in college. I was a cyclist though and had a good base for that part of the training. However, a drawback of being a cyclist is that you are good at one motion, up and down with the legs, which is great however there is more to that when it comes to running, and the low impact from bicycling and swimming does not translate well into an untrained running body. As I reintroduced myself into running, I also did a combination of other changes, which any athlete knows is the basic recipe for injury. But I did not pay any attention to that at the time, unfortunately.
So the changes I made not only included starting to run again but also changing my foot striking technique. The majority of runners are heel strikers. Then there are some mid foot strikers, and lastly there are forefoot strikers. I was, for the most part, a heel striker, though it is my belief that while I was swimming I was more of a mid-foot striker, although I can not exactly prove it. When I started running again, I had made a decision to become a forefoot striker. Much of my philosophy on training and living is to be as natural as possible, and as far as shoes go, they have become a hindrance and crutch for the majority of people because of the way they are designed. Thats a topic of discussion for another time and as always a preferential statement. Since I had made the decision to go to a fore-foot strike technique I shifted my shoe choice to a low heel classic running shoe, designed after the old track shoes. Sacuony Bullet. I was also using some Five Fingers for a while but because of my long toes they do not work very well without giving extremely large blood blisters at the bases of my big toes. I began my training slowly with half mile and mile runs in the park on a gravel track. I would even train barefoot on occasions to strengthen my feet. I was getting up in miles over the course of two months and was running 6 miles twice a week with a few shorter runs when I could get them in. As the race neared I was still only at 6 miles and need to bump my mileage up prior to the race. One Saturday after noon I took a nice easy paced 10 mile run up to my friends apartment prior to a GT football game. At about the 8 mile mark I had a pain/twinge on the inside of my left ankle and had to stop for a few hundred yards and walk it out. I did however finish the 10 miles in a relatively good pace at about 8:30 per mile.
During the course of my running training I did not stretch as much as I should have, and the contributing factors are probably some laziness, as well as lack of knowledge on running specific training and stretching technique. It was not till afterwards that I began researching techniques to take care of runners feet and stretches to keep the body loose and functional. Unfortunately because of my ignorance and negligence I developed a heel spur on my left heel and some plantar fasciitis to go along with it.
It is my understanding now, hind sight is always clearer, that I could have easily prevented these two injuries with some minor stretching. Specifically stretching of the arch of the foot with a simple technique where you kneel on your knees and toes stretching your toes forward(up) and in-turn stretching the arch of your foot. In combination with the reverse of that stretch where you sit on your heels with your feel laid out flat on the ground, provides good flexibility and strengthening of the feet and ankles.
