I didn’t really do anything today (well, yesterday now) besides swim after the MOAB. My legs are pretty sore, especially where they were cramping yesterday. I probably could have managed a run, but I think I was just better served by taking the rest of the day off. I’m hoping that the soreness goes away before my race tomorrow morning.

On the advice of some people on the TriNewbies forum, I stopped in at the StartLine Running Store today to look for some new shoes. My current ones are approaching their wear limit and I had the odd suspicion that I wasn’t running in the right shoe as well. From what I’ve read online, they have you believe that you pick your shoes by looking at your arches. High arches and you need a cushioning type shoe, normal arches and you get a stability shoe, and low arches and flat feet get motion control shoes. They theory behind this is that runners with high arches tend to either run neutral or slightly supinate, while folks with normal and low arches tend to pronate a little or a lot respectively.

Well, from my own observation, I have a normal arch on my right foot and a low arch on my left foot. Seemingly, that would indicate that I need a stability or motion control shoe. However, when running I seemed to be fairly neutral in my stride and if anything, favoring the outside of my foot ever so slightly which would lead me to believe that I need a cushioning shoe. Based on what I read, you could make an argument that I should be running in any of the three shoe categories. Confused and with all of the injuries that I’ve had, I decided to go seek “professional” help.

I went into the store and found Ann, the store manager who the TNO folks advised me to seek out. I told her I needed new shoes because mine were getting worn (i.e. she’s going to get a sale today from me so she didn’t need to try to sell me something new) but didn’t tell her what I had been running in before as to not bias her in one way or another. She started asking my questions about my training and my goals - good signs right off the bat. She took a look at my feet, sizing them seated and standing and taking a look at my arches. She immediately said to an employee, “I think he’s going to be a neutral.” She went back to the back room and got a couple of different pairs of shoes for me to try and and had my run on the treadmill while she observed my stride. She confirmed the fact that I’m quite neutral. She then asked if I brought an old pair of running shoes, which I happened to have in my car, to look at the wear patterns (another good sign) and watched me run in those. Everything confirmed her theory that I needed a cushioning shoe. “I just can’t see you in that shoe,” she told me referring to the shoes that I was currently running in. I explained that I had been confused by what I had read about arches and what not and that was how I picked my previous shoes. She very politely and convincingly assured me that those rules aren’t always the case.

So I’m home with a brand new pair of Mizuno Wave Rider 8 shoes. I was too sore to run in the new shoes today. It’d be nice to get a short run in them tomorrow before my race on Sunday, but I’ll run in them brand new come race day if I can’t; they are very comfortable right out of the box and don’t imagine that they’ll need any breaking in. I’m somewhat optimistic that running in the wrong shoes was at least partially to blame for some of the injuries that I’ve had. Maybe not the shin splints, but perhaps the ITB and even more probable my recent bout of achilles tendonitis. I guess time will tell if this is the case or not. But I do I wish I had sought out a knowledgeable fitter a long time ago. I feel kind of silly having trained and raced in the wrong shoe type all last year.