"old" shoes = wretched run? (Read 624 times)

So the weather has been wet and messy today, plus I have that minor heel blister from my new shoes, so I figured it would be a good idea to just throw on my older pair of shoes (with only about 240 miles on them). OW! As soon as I got going I felt stiff and "off." By about 1.5 miles in I was in agony...shin splints, tight calves. I stopped at about 2 miles to stretch, but the run still felt pretty crummy until about the 3 mile mark...after that the pain just moved up into my knees and quads. I stopped and stretched again at about the 4 mile mark. Coincidence? Has my body already decided that the new shoes are "it?" Even though my Sat. run was much longer, it was pain-free (other than the blister) in the new shoes. Should I just retire the old shoes if my next run in my new ones goes well? k

I don't think having a bad/old pair of shoe will cause all those problems so quickly. If they have lost their supportive qualities, you will feel the effects over several days in a row of wearing them. The only way to see if it's time to toss them out is to alternate your runs with and without them and see how you feel afterwards.