Mid Foot Strike

I guess I am officially a midfoot striker. Looking back at a race photo from last November and comparing to a race photo from June, I would say there's a substantial difference in the foot strike. I began the trend to mid/fore foot running after reading much about the possible reduction in leg injuries. I was all for that since I had been feeling the effects of shin splints for about three months. Add some ITB knee issues and I was looking for whatever might help.

I bought my first pair of Newton Sir Isaacs in March or April. I had been working slowly towards changing my foot strike with my Brooks Ghosts but not too much. When the Newton's arrived, the official transition began. For a few weeks of midfoot running, my calves were crying foul! As expected, there is a greater emphasis on the calf muscles. Now, for the last two months, I have been about a 95% midfoot striker. I tend to go back on my heel on steeper downhill runs and on occasion when running very slow with fatigue, but not too much.

I doubt I will ever be a complete forefoot striker and I am quite content to land at the midfoot and often hit on my heel as a very light secondary touch. To me, that would be a midfoot striker and it is very comfortable to me. A forefoot striker would land a little more forward and never touch with the heel. I see very little mechanical differences between midfoot and forefoot striking. In both cases, there is little or no use of the heel and the arch does not come into play.

I have not had any shin splints since recovering from that first bout that lasted three months. The reasons can be attributed to either of two things: 1) change to midfoot strike or, 2) being more use to the training miles each week. I still have bouts with the ITB. It can occur in either leg but never both legs at the same time. The midfoot strike did not seem to alleviate that although some of the "hype" I read about it suggests that it will.

I only wear the Newton Sir Isaacs on runs that should be fast paced and on races up to half-marathon distance. For slower training runs and marathons, I run in the newly released Saucony Kinvaras. The Kinvaras are somewhat minimal and very lightweight (only 7.7 ounces compared to Newton's at 11 ounces). I don't use the Newtons on these longer distances because the extra thick midfoot strike plate can be slightly annoying to me. It's great for feedback on faster paced runs, but it is something that I dislike on very long slow distances.

Well, that's about all I know about shoes and footstrike.