Run clockwise you fool

Last week’s 5km personal best didn’t come from nowhere; I had ramped up my training significantly by doing some interval work, increased distance, and some hill running (not a difficult task when your postal address is “The Highlands”). I was out on the roads 5 times a week and clocked up around 80 miles over the last 3 weeks. I had been using a training programme pilfered from the internet geared towards half marathons (as I’m registered for the Cork to Cobh 15 mile race on the 3rd of Oct).

This newfound professionalism – having commenced all of three weeks ago – was also timed with a transfer of footware in order to develop and sustain a more efficient running gait. Anyone who’s seen me run over the last few months probably noticed I pranced more than I ran - I used to bounce down the road, unwittingly putting as much effort into going up… as I did to going forward. With this in mind, I started off my pursuit of an efficient, injury free running form by adopting the ChiRunning programme; I bought the book, the DVD and attended one of Catherina McKiernan’s running clinics. The programme is a great fit for the basics, but I feel that it falls short when pursing competition running. In addition, it’s very easy to slip out of good form when you’re tired… and I was getting tired a lot!

So I started researching and the more I’ve read on the topic, the more intrigued I was by the school of thought that advocates minimalist footware. A friend of mine swears by his barefoot five finger shoes - I know, I know... they look weird... you should see them on! But back to my story (drama), he managed to sell me a pair that were the wrong size for him but perfect for me (which reminds me Garry, I owe you money – presuming you’re reading this which you may not be… you’re not even a blog follower! I’ve put a reminder in my phone).

The objective of the shoes is to help the runner to stop heel striking, bounding and/or any other adverse habits picked up over time. These habits are either inefficient or harmful to the ankles, shins, knees and hips (runners' hotspots for injury). When running in them, your body begins to intuitively adopt a gait that minimises foot impact as a sort of ‘self preservation’ because you get 100% feedback from your foot strike. Normal runners are a bit like driving a crap rental car (say... Opel Corsa) with no feedback from the steering wheel – you just don’t know what the car is doing and you’ve no idea how you’re getting on when cornering hard (for those of you who corner hard in rental cars).

Sorry, I diggressed (you may need to get used to that), so I started training and racing in Vibram 5 finger shoes and haven’t looked back since. Unfortunately, whilst not looking back, I also forgot to look ahead… and last Friday, I hit a large stone/boulder while out on the road. As you can imagine, you only get marginal protection from lacerations/thorns/pebbles/etc from these shoes and little or no protection from large stones. The impact left me with some pretty severe bruising under my right foot (which I tried to make nothing of at the time... but it hurt). So when I woke up for Saturday’s early morning interval run with Phil on the Glanmire GAA pitches, I probably "nursed" that foot a little in a shoe that offers zero protection and zero support. I ran anticlockwise for over 7 miles at a fast pace (as I was doing interval training) which meant 56 right angle bends off my bruised foot. When I awoke on Sunday, the tendon below the ankle (the one you use for lateral movements) ached . I phoned the physio for confirmation of my suspected problem two days later and she confirmed; I’m out for a while (a week at least until she examines it). Sod it, it’s 3 weeks until Cork to Cobh!



So in conclusion, my tendon hurts, the bruising under my foot hurts and my ego hurts – mainly down to the stupidity of it… why did I go out that day… and if I had to, why did I run anticlockwise!


Run clockwise you fool, CLOCKWISE!