Penn State's mentor group - CLOSED! (Page 13)

I am sorry to hear that your wife is questionable for the race. That has to be disapointing. Do let me know if she needs anything while she is in Denver.

So glad to hear that you are feeling better and will hit your goal weight for race day. That has got to feel good

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Orthodics, anyone have any exerience with them?

I went to a high end Multisport store last night.  They have a computerized system which measures footbed pressure graphically and recommends a specific orthodic.  Then you try on the orthodic and repeat the process and see the difference in the distribution of your footbed pressure.  For me the orthodic displaced pressure over a greater surface area, basically evening out the pressure. 

My question is does anyone have any experience with these and did you experience a change in performance and or comfort in your running?

Edited by GRB1 2010-04-15 7:51 AM

I have custom orthodics and they have helped me. I got them from a Podiatrist (did a mold of my feet) and they helped stop the beginnings of PF and other arch related issues.  Everytime I ran, my arch started to hurt. That stopped after I got the orthotics.
I am not familiar with the system that you tried out last night. I would like to try it though

I've always felt that orthodics should be avoided as they compensate for areas that need strenghtening.  Some may need them regardless.  Of course this is coming from a guy who's had at least one running injury for the past 4 years!

Heh, funny, my wife signed up for a triathlon but isn't going to show since she came to the realization she hates swimming.  She hasn't said much about getting to IMSG, probably because she puts in 12 hour days during those audits and sneaking out early would be tough.

About tired legs; not a big fan.  I personally don't think you're getting a return on investment for the time and inviting injury.  A recovery ride ride is one thing but a hammerfest on tired legs doesn't work for me. 

Sounds like a crazy ride/run!

Yeah i have thought about that a lot actually for some reason and at what mile i would actually be able to run with the bike and still make the cutoff times haha

I am very sorry to hear that too

I apologize up front about the length of this post.

I agree with furiousferret on this personally.  This is going to sound like "the book" (ie. Born to Run), but I've thought this since back in my high school running days.  The arch in our feet evolved in order to help absorb the impact of running/jumping as well as keeping us balanced.  The human foot has 26 bones, 33 joints, 107 ligaments, 19 muscles and tendons... with both feet that makes up roughly 25% of all the bones in your entire body and obviously a lot of joints,ligaments,muscles to tie all them together.  I don't believe anything in nature is perfect, otherwise nothing would continue to evolve, but with that many joints the ability to absorb shock is incredible.

If you look at a skeleton of a foot, you'll see that with the largest, least flexible part is near your heel. If all those other bones were strictly for stabilization when you are standing still, it could be done with a lot less complexity.  Arches are used in construction when you need an incredible amount of support to hold something up.  Putting orthotics in is going to make the muscles and tendons in your foot weaker, much like if you put any joint in a cast to let it heal from an injury.  If you start wearing orthotics, it's like wearing a cast, if you ever try not use orthotics you're going to find your now too weak to support when you run without an even higher risk of injury.

People do month of rehab when they take a cast of in order to get their muscles strong enough to return to 'normal' life.  I think orthotics are a bad idea for 99% of people, but it's a big industry and they want your money. Common sense marketing tactics mean they need to convince more people they need them when they really just need to back off their training volume and let their muscles strengthen.  Simple everyday things can help strengthen your feet... you don't have to go out and buy Vibrams.  Wear flat shoes with no arch support to work, to the grocery store, to the mall, etc.  Go barefoot or just in socks around your house.  Simple everyday things can make the difference.  Just because you're not 'working out' at the moment doesn't mean you can go eat McDonald's right?  Why is it different with the muscles in your feet?  I won't even go into what I think about high heels for woman. ;-)

Every 3-6 months you probably replace your running shoes and get a different model shoe.  Each model of shoe, even if it's the same brand, will have a different arch support in it.  Meaning, you just weakened some muscles from wearing your last shoes, now you get a new shoe which might need some of those muscles a little more while it weakens some other muscles.  All this switching every few months can't be very good for injury prevention. Especially to a group like this who's doing high mileage consistently... you switch shoes, never put the old ones back on and go out and try to continue that same high mileage.  I have 6 different brands/models of shoes, I swap out and run with different ones all the time, typically only run in the same shoe 2-3 days in a row at max.  When a shoes gets to around 150miles, I buy another pair (doesn't have to be the same one, unless I really love that shoe), but I then add that new shoe to the rotation.  I think this constant swapping I do helps keep all the muscles in my foot stronger so a new pair of shoes never causes an injury.

Just my thoughts on the subject  

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I was going to just ride the trainer after work but got an invite from a friend for a post-work OWS. Training with friends wins out over the trainer any day! Should be a nice evening for a quick dip.

Orthotics: I would say if something works for you and keeps you from getting injured then it works for you. I think if you can do things without the aid of external devices then i think that is best but if something works for you...who cares what others say. I understand that it is a huge business but that doesn't diminish the fact that they work for some people.

Tired Legs: I usually do my long Sat morning ride after a run on Friday night and it's hard to get down the stairs some Sat mornings. I usually just walk around and do some light stretching. My riding partner ride from his house over to mine (about 5 1/2 miles) so he is warmed up when he gets there. I have to take a 3 mile warm up to get my legs going and then I'm fine. I usually have a rotating pain(knee, groin, foot) somewhere but nothing to the point that I get injured. i think as long as you don't hammer it, you should be fine.

Tonight I'm doing my 1st real OWS and I'm excited to get it under my belt. I have just over a week until my OLY in Mexico. After a Friday 5 mile run, my Sat long ride and Sun hike I'll be in taper mode. I'm probably not going to run next week because my shins feel like they need a rest.


Have a great workout day!!!!!

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Not sure what I'm going to do today, I'm tempted to do 30 miler on the bike, 1 or 2 miles on a run,  and then a short swim.  By the time I get home you guys will probably all be in bed

Have fun with that OWS!

For me, i swam 2950 Y this AM....and will be going for an hour 40 min run tonight.

That should def be fun! try and stay warm

Ha! Not likely to stay warm but thanks.

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1:45 run and thinking about doing an organized ride that should be 45 or 65 miles (3+hours)

Should be nice weather here. Woot.