So I don't know what to make of the latest revelation.  I've been banged up since March and have not been consistent with cross training efforts as it drives me more batty than usual.  What started out below the (inside) knee in March has progressed down to the achilles for the past couple of months.  I saw a PT prior to a 2-week vacation at the end of June and have been trying to stay consistent with strength exercises and mixing in more XT-ing.

 

The one thing that I've been cognitive of is the age of shoes and how many miles I have on them.  I've bounced between the Wave Riders and Ghosts for the last couple of years and they have worked well for me.  From Nov-Feb, I had a pair of Wave Riders with 500+ miles on them and pair of Ghosts with nearly 300 miles.  I started up on a new pair of Ghosts about 75 miles ago.  My legs have shown little improvement.  It seems like a never ending cycle of feeling better to reverting back to where they've been.

 

Now, here I am last weekend.  I run easy on Saturday and Sunday and the legs were starting to feel their normal pain.  I pull out the Wave Riders with 500+ miles on them and wear them later on Sunday.  No running, just bumming around and legs felt remarkedly better after being in them.  I run on Monday in the Ghosts and the legs are back to being more sore in the morning.  Since then, I've been staying in the Wave Riders and have run the past wo days.  Each day, the legs have felt better.  I get up this morning and there's hardly any stiffness or pain.  I don't get it.  Guess I'm going to keep running in the older shoes with 500+ miles on them.

 

It's at least giving me a glimpse of hope in being able to rebuild fitness!

Well if the old beat up shoes work, do what works.  Shoe shape can certainly impact what is going on; perhaps try a new pair of the Riders, see if the Riders are simply doing better for you overall now and the Ghosts are part of the problem?  Sometimes what worked before will not now, perhaps the Ghosts are no good for you.

I have a pair of Ghosts and a pair of Wave Riders also. I like them both, but the Wave Riders are definitely a firmer ride. Maybe that firmer ride is what you need.

So after six months of injury upon injury, physical therapy, ultrasound therapy, massage therapy, and drinking on the couch watching baseball therapy, I think I am finally back in the game. I am running pain free and ready to get back to actual training.  

Nice to see all the challenge threads around here. I hope there are more this fall and winter, I'm hungry for improvement.

Less shoes = better shoes. Last week, I finally wore through my 2006 Nike Air Pegasus. I mean I wore through the sole right to the ground. Air-holes right under the big toes. I have decided to reject any rule, and simply wear the shoes until they are substantially gone. I probably have 2 more years of shoes sitting in the closet, considering the 2006 shoes had somewhere around 5000 miles in them. They ended up being pretty minimal.

If this is where we post stupid things: I entered a little trail 50k. It is in 5 weeks. My longest run is 13 miles. That should work.

So the less I run, the more the lower leg was hurting.  I was trying the elliptical and occassional bike mixed in was some easy short running but it was doing no good.  So, I decide to say screw it and go long and see what happens.  It was at least long for me at the moment...13 miles in 90 minutes yesterday.  About everything else hurts except the lower legs.  Must be the trick.  Inflict pain on the rest of your body so you don't notice where the real problem is/was.  I'm quite excited and am looking at getting back to some consistency.

Stassburg sock...

Does this thing work for PF?  I do not have it bad, but it is threatening. I would rather put it away early and decisively.