The tricky business of transitioning ...

I may have timed my foray into fore-foot running poorly.

I went to a clinic on Sunday called Re-Learn To Run. Held at a local running store, the 2.5 hour clinic is about making your running more efficient (read: teaches fore-foot running).

The clinic started off with some history about running and how/why the heel-strike method has become so prominent despite it not being ideal (in a nutshell - marketing). It then moved on to the essentials of fore-foot running: (a) a shorter stride and (b) quicker turnover (or increased # of strides per minute). A considerable amount of time was then spent on drills to help re-condition the body to fore-foot running. Lastly, the instructor talked about how to safely transition from heel-strike to fore-foot running. The key: go slow (i.e. 6 - 12 months is a safe, common timeframe). This time period is essential to help your foot, and the muscles in your foot (specifically your arch) strengthen so that it can take the added stress you're putting on it.

Crap.

I new it would take some time but, 6 - 12 months? My Ironman is in roughly 8 months away. And this isn't my off-season like it is for most. I can't take it easy on my mileage. I need to be steadily increasing my mileage over the next few months. Eep.

To make matters worse, although I felt fine throughout the clinic and was comfortably fore-foot running by the end of it, Sunday afternoon/evening was terrible. I kept on getting random spams in my feet (top part of foot, above the arch). They'd hit mid step such that I couldn't put any weight on my foot.  I almost keeled over in the grocery store (which would have made for a fun picture for this entry but unfortunately no one caught it on camera).

Frig. 

Not sure what I'm going to do. SoleFit's Knowledge Centre (available from my 'fave links') has a number of foot exercises I can do to help strengthen the foot. I'm thinking I'm going to do these religiously over the next two months and see if it helps with the spasms.