On the road again

Last night it was time to put my recovery to the test so I set out to do the bridge to bridge 10km in sth Perth. Wearing my new orthotics, my knee still freshly taped from Monday's visit to the pysio I took off...

For the first few km's it felt like I was flying, it was quite different to my w'end run as everything seemed to be flowing so smoothly. I started to think to myself about the orthotics and indeed I could feel quite a bit of pressure on my arches as I pounded down each foot.

After a while my mind wandered to other things and to tell you the truth I hardly noticed them at all. It was a dark and stormy night with the wind howling, and the rain coming down almost horizontally with the wind trying to get under my cap. I was pleasantly surprised to see probably 10 runners all up on the run, kind of a reaffirmation that I wasn't going crazy doing this sort of thing.

Having said that, it was really quite invigorating being at one with the elements and made me feel alive again after being stuck behind a computer all day. I lifted the tempo a little over the last 1km and was really happy that my body carried me the distance without much of a problem.

Sitting here 24 hrs later I have hardly any soreness at all to report except for probably just a 1-2% dull ache in the knee which seems to be getting better every day.

It is early days so far, but I am really really happy with how the orthotics have helped align my body and somewhat correct the biomechanics. It will probably take a long run on the weekend and a few more weeks to truly ascertain the effectiveness of them, but at the moment I couldn't be happier! It really did feel like I was running the way I was meant to be. I guess everyone has different shaped feet and the way they supinate, over pronate, or just go neutral doesn't necessarily mean they are the answer... for me however on just a couple of runs, they are (...i think :)

In hindsight I probably could have gone for an off the shelf inner sole approaching the $100 mark to try first, but I was stubborn in a way and thought that I may as well go for the custom ones and fork out the $$$ in hope they would work. The good news is that I really do think they are. I have been wearing them around the house over the last two weeks and after my run have no blisters, admittedly though there is a slight discomfort on my arches which my podiatrist said will go away and I won't notice them at all. Oh yeah and about the squeakiness, talcum powder works a treat!

I'll keep you posted in the coming weeks with a bit more of a conclusive analysis, but at the moment it's so great to be on the road again!