TRANSITION TO A DIFFERENT TYPE OF SHOES IN RUNNING
An interesting question was asked by Eric
Epberlin from our forum about the use of shoes. His question was about the alternation of shoes with very thin soles, as Puma H-Street, to other more cushioned and formed shoes, depending on the length of running, readiness of feet (their muscles, ligaments, and tendons) to handle the load from fast and long running and the necessity to give them some rest.
Despite my own recommendations of transferring your run to more thin and unformed shoes, I would say Eric's question made perfect sense to me. I know that many people need some transition period, even very good runners as Eric, with their change from high cushioning shoes to these ones. It is obvious, that after being for so many years in one type of shoes, athletes get accustomed to being supported, and cushioned with all anatomical, and neuromuscular systems of their bodies. And it is easy to understand, that jumping to another type, located on the opposite side of the set of requirements is a dramatic change for a runner as a person with all his/her inherited conditions, perceptions and level of development of neuromuscular system.
First of all, any change is scary or, at least, uncomfortable. Our body, as one of the most conservative systems, doesn't want any changes, despite your mind desires and thoughts on this matter. And the body has its own, very obvious reasons for it - neither muscle nor ligament systems are ready to accept this coming "offer" bringing much more intense work. So, our emotions are negative for this new experience, and they are confirmed by unpleasant soreness and pain. And it all comes together. You need to do your long run, but you are able to run only a short distance before your anatomical system starts screaming and yelling. This controversy is not what we wanted.
So, how to solve this dilemma? A simple answer is to adapt your body (your feet) to the new requirements. But, as we know, adaptation is a long process and it means that we have to sacrifice the level of training. Who wants this? Is there a way out? I guess, it is some kind of trade off, which we have to do during the transition time. The essence of it is a compromise. We need to slowly change our habits, muscle and ligament strength, reduce the fear and transfer our body on a higher level of functioning.
How do we do it?
- Start working on your technique and try to keep it for short distances with thin soled shoes
- Run longer distances with your focus on the proper technique, but use more formed and cushioned shoes, not as bulky as before, but something in-between
- Do your running drills and short runs barefoot on the grass during warm up and cool down
- Do your jumping exercises in thin soled shoes
- Increase the length of track running with thin soled shoes from short to the middle distances
- Do jumping exercises with additional weights and resistance, such as rubber bands
- Run long distances alternating thin soled shoes on one day and "normal" shoes on the other
- When you get more comfortable with thin soled shoes, you can increase the number of days of the week running in them and make just a little break to "normal" shoes
On one day you'll be shifted to a new level, but you could still use this logic to give yourself some "rest" from your high demanding run, if you need to.
Dr.Romanov
