Thursday’s run hurt.
My calves were tight and my arches were sore and achy. I think my PureFlow 4’s are dead. Which is not cool as they only have 146 miles on them. I think… I lost most of my shoe data when Nike updated their running app. Boo. But they felt dead on my run and since is my third pair of them, I am pretty familiar with the signs of a dead shoe.
So now what? I am not hugely fond of the 5’s I have been testing. Granted, I’ve only put 5 miles total on them. The toebox feels small- which I usually like- but the ankle area feels very floppy. I tried re-lacing them on my last run in them but they still felt off. No bloody heels though, so that was a plus.
So while I was running, ok well, taking lots of walk breaks, I was thinking. I’ve dropped thoughts about my weight recently- this still isn’t that post- but what if my weight is affecting my shoes?
Am I too large for my shoes?
I am honestly wondering this not trying to stir anything up. When I was heavier I ran in support shoes. Over the years as I both ran more and lost weight, my shoes kept getting lighter and with a smaller heel toe drop. And things were mostly fine. But now, I am heavier than I want to be by a decent amount. Let’s be real, I am closer to the weight I was when I first started running than I am to when I was at peak fitness 2 years ago. Could that be affecting my shoes?
I know the weight affects my form at times. Especially if I wear the wrong pair of shorts on a run. It could have all the markings of a great run but the wrong shorts right now will turn it to a crap storm real fast. Which then throws off my stride. So why couldn’t that be happening with my shoes?
Problem is that I don’t know how to test this little theory of mine. I mean I could by another pair of shoes but all this shoe buying is getting a little expensive. I am hesitant to return the PureFlow 5’s as I’ve only put 5 miles on them. It took me 20+ to break in the teal pair of 4’s that I had but then I put another 200ish miles on them. The last pair of normal running shoes-i.e more support- I owned was well over a year ago. I actually gave them to my mother to be gardening shoes. So that’s out as an option too.
Then on Saturday, I ran 8 miles in my Nike’s and my legs felt better than they have in weeks. They have even less to them than my Brooks. But, I was also in compression socks. Is it all in my head?!?!
I would love to say I as going to lose the weight and all would return to normal. But again, let’s be real, I’ve trying that for a year and failing in numerous ways. So now what?
Help me, blog land, you’re my only hope!!!
Seriously, what are your thoughts?