Shiny New Shoes

truane

I was running Saucony guide 7s because of their stability features and sole offset which helped with the fact that my ankles overpronate (they severely roll inward). I  had these sneakers for about a year including the first 6 weeks of November OS. I just visited my local running store and was recommended the Newton Kismets. These shoes do not have an offset sole (the saucony guides were 8mm thicker on the arch side of the shoe) and have extra padding where the ball of your foot is so as to promote less hell striking. I used the shoes twice now and my entire legs are in agony. As stubborn as I am i tried to run twice today and could not get passed 3 miles on either run ( i really wanted to reach my weekly milage goal). Before the change in shoes I was running 2 times a week for an hour (between 7-8 miles) and 2 times a week as a brick for 30 minutes (between 3-4 miles). Has anyone else changed their running shoe to a shoe that was so different than the previous shoe it took a long period of time to get used to running in them? 

Scott Giljum

Thomas, be VERY careful! Going from that high a drop to basically nothing can cause a number of issues if you don't phase it in over time. My guess is your calves and Achilles area are feeling rough to can barely move levels of sore. You are engaging muscles that were not used at the higher drop and if done at a too much too soon pace you can cause everything from muscle strains to stress fractures. My question would be did the guides work well for you? Meaning no injuries, run a good amount of distance as needed, etc? If so I don't think you should be changing that much. It is a great idea to move from heel striking to more a mid foot strike but if you are not careful, you will get hurt.

Chris Davis

Yep, what Scott said. Be careful. When I made the jump to zero drop/mid-foot strike, I would do my first minute or two of a run in the zero drop shoes, and then stop back by the house, swap out to the old shoes and finish the run. I slowly built that first part up over several weeks. And the second something started to hurt, I would walk it back to the house and switch out shoes.

Chris Davis

Also, with your change from a stability shoe, to low/no stability, you're going to have to build up your stabilizing muscles in your feet, ankles and legs. If you over work those poor guys that had the shoe to support them, you're going to do yourself more damage than good.

Coach Patrick

Thomas, not sure what your store was thinking as that's like going from an Impala to a Ferrari. I think there are something like 15 other types of shoes between those that would work. And wouldn't cause agony...I would go back for sure and explain to the store manager, if only to save other triathletes.

Personally I'd ask for my old shoe back or an intermediary brand / type of shoe...