Tyler (Everything)

14Oct/073

The Shoetiful Disaster pt. 2

Today I went looking for some shoes again, since I figured that this gait analysis I would have all the possible shoes that Ryan would ask for. Another $400 later and I am going in with 6 pairs of brand new shoes. Half of them are mild motion control and the other half are neutral.

Either way I am happy having tons of shoes:

Holding All Shoes

12Oct/070

The Shoetiful Disaster

I am still working on getting my shin problems behind me, but I must say that I am continually more impressed with Solefit Orthotics. I went back to the office yesterday at 5PM to review the shoes I had purchased. Ryan didn't like the look of any of them. The Saucony Trigon Rides looked best but he still didn't like the look of them, so he told me to return the two other pairs and to pick up the Saucony Trigon Guides and the Asics 1120. Both of those shoes fall into the Mild Motion Control side of things, which should help with any pronation.

What makes me very impressed with Solefit -and Ryan- is his insistence on getting the right shoe. He was apologetic -for no reason- for my having to come back one more time. Both of these sessions are at no charge, which I still find incredible. So I will be going back on Monday early in the AM to hopefully finally determine which will be my shoes going forward. As well Ryan indicated that he didn't think that there was anything in my gait that would indicate that it would be causing injury, so hopefully this will be a big step forward.

1Oct/071

Buying Out Running Room

I thought that I had a problem with owning too many shoes -in excess of 40 pairs. Well today takes the cake, yet today for once is a bit of a positive. For the past few months -lets be honest, the whole damn summer- I have been battling a nasty case of shin splints, with the possibility that its become a stress fracture. I have tried ART, and all of the online recommendations that there are to find. Well today was a day to rule out footwear.

I had been running in a pair of Saucony Triumph 4s. Prior to that I had been running in a pair of New Balance 752s and before that Saucony Grid Webs. The grid webs were the best shoes I have ever had, and the NBs were somewhat of a blistery disaster. I got the Triumphs mainly because my online reading led me to believe that they were the closest thing to the Grid Webs. I can't say that they aren't.

Well after meeting with Ryan Grant at Solefit Orthotics I was led to believe that the Triumphs were not the best shoes for me. It was a very cool experience; what was actually done was a video gait analysis. There were two cameras positioned fore and aft of a treadmill filming the action of the foot at its various positions throughout the gait cycle. I had both the Triumphs and 752s with me and it was incredible to see the difference between the two. They are both neutral shoes but the Triumphs are a considerably softer soled shoe. It appears that the Triumphs just weren't providing the the support necessary as there was a great deal more pronation with the Triumphs than the 752 -actually none with the 752s.

Ryan suggested several other shoes for me to try. And he wants me to try new shoes and Superfeet before orthotics. He gave me a list of 6 shoes:

  • Saucony Trigon Ride
  • Adidas Cushion
  • New Balance 1061
  • Mizuno Rider
  • Brooks Glycerine
  • Asics Nimbus

He also wants me to come in after purchasing a few of the pairs to have them evaluated with the video to ensure that I don't end up with another 'lemon'. So tonight I went out and bought $500 worth of shoes. I ended up with the Trigons, Cushions, and Nimbii. So here is what my current stable looks like: