47 years in, still learning

The longer you run, the more you trust your own feel.

You know your paces. You know which shoes work, because you've been buying them for years.

David has been running for 47 years. He started with spring track in high school, met his wife through running, and still counts his college teammates as his closest friends. His goal for our call wasn't a race time. It was to keep running as long as possible.

Halfway through the call, he said something I keep coming back to. "After 47 years, I'm sitting here learning a lot."

The store he'd always trusted

For decades, David bought his shoes at the same local store. They were one of the first in his area to offer gait analysis. He'd take his shoes off, walk up and down in socks, stand on a pressure plate, and get a recommendation. It worked for years.

Then the store changed hands. On his last few visits, it felt like they cared more about selling him insoles than about whether the shoe worked for him.

He still went with their pick, the Asics Novablast 6. The heel felt a bit low, and he could feel himself landing differently. When I asked how it was going, he said, "I don't know that it's right."

I hear versions of this a lot. A runner walks into a store with a real question and walks out with a box, but no answer. I work in a running store myself, so I know how it happens. The floor is busy, there's a queue at the counter, and a good fitting takes time.

There was also a simpler problem. The store watched David walk. Nobody watched him run.

What his running showed

A lot of his running looks good. His pelvis stays level, his knees track straight, his shoulders are relaxed, and his arm swing is strong.

Two things stood out. He lands well in front of his body, and he runs very upright. Those tend to go together. When your upper body stays tall and a bit behind, your foot reaches forward to find the ground. A foot landing out in front works a little like a brake, and that braking travels up into the knee.

It also explained something he'd noticed himself. On fast 400s, he feels his lengthen a lot. In a lot of runners I work with, part of that is the foot landing even further in front. It feels like more stride, but more of it is braking.

Why the knee flared up this summer

At the start of summer, David moved from a neighbourhood literally called the Flats to a loop where he can barely find 100 flat yards. His left knee started getting sore.

He'd already guessed why. He's always talked about the three Fs of running: how frequently, how far, how fast. He thinks he needs a fourth. Footing.

I think he's right. Downhills add braking on their own. Add a foot that already lands out in front, and every step down asks more of the knee. His mileage hadn't changed, but the load had.

His left foot also pronates a bit more than his right and rotates out more at push-off. That tends to add some twist through the shin, right under the knee.

What I gave him

First, posture. The falling forward drill: stand tall, lean from the ankles until you have to catch yourself, then look for a softer version of that lean while running. Second, slow step downs to prepare the knee for downhills. Third, a shin rotation drill for the left side.

Then shoes, picked from his footage and his goals. He lands on his heel, has high arches, and wants to keep running for decades. So I suggested the Hoka Bondi 9 as his daily shoe, for a stable heel and a good fit for his foot.

For speed work, the Asics Superblast 3. It's quicker, but still soft and stable enough to protect his legs. A snappier racer might save a few seconds, but at this stage the injury risk isn't worth it.

Forty-seven years gave David good instincts. What they couldn't give him was a look at his own running from the outside.

After the analysis he left a 5-star review on google:

If you've been running for years and have never seen your own stride on video, reply "gait" and I'll send you the details.

Thank you for reading,
Tim 👟