Talking to my coach about minimalism

What kind of injuries?

Quad strain, weird shin splint in one leg (thought I had a sfx.), IT band issues in my hip, then I did something to my foot and haven't run in 2 weeks. Getting an x ray next week to see if it's a stress fracture or not. I haven't had a solid week of training in a couple months. The injuries aren't super severe, they are just nagging and cause me to have to take like 5 days off at a time. My foot is the most serious I've had so far.

if you buy your own shoes you can wear whatever you want - don't worry about your coach

Does your coach have final authority in what shoes you run in? He/she should not.

If you think you'll be less injury-prone in your flats, talk to your coaches about it and tell them about all this stuff. If nothing else could have possibly caused all these injuries to start happening, there's a good chance it's the shoes.

cbenson4 wrote:

There's a good chance it's the shoes.

Shoes don't cause injuries. That being said, coaches can suggest shoes for a runner, but ultimately it's the OP's decision, or should be.

OP, just tell your coach exactly what you posted here.

Okay, one coach is pretty chill and would be okay but the other is a little more old school and would probably confront me about it. They didn't really make me get new shoes, they just strongly suggested it. It's more the whole team attitude towards minimalism. My teammates have made fun of people who wear "minimal" shoes. I guess I'll just have to not worry about what they think.

oldboy wrote:

cbenson4 wrote:

There's a good chance it's the shoes.

Shoes don't cause injuries. That being said, coaches can suggest shoes for a runner, but ultimately it's the OP's decision, or should be.

OP, just tell your coach exactly what you posted here.

Are you old enough to remember the Nike LDV?

800girl, your foot problem could be from wearing casual shoes with no arch support or support of any kind. Like in style shoes you wear all day at school. Make sure you get a trainer "neutral" shoe, none of that over pronating gimmick junk. Also try an arch support inserts for your casual shoes. If you go back to 5.0 free and have no problems, then you should be good to go.

When I was in HS I was cranking out 110-120 miles per week exclusively in racing flats. I used the Nike Streak XC, now called the Nike Streak LT. It was all of 5.4 ounces and and had a 3mm heel-to-toe drop. My calves were initially sore but after a few weeks I adjusted and there was no unusual soreness.

After I made that transition I experimented with going back to cushioned shoes and they always felt heavy and clunky. You think "what's the point of this?" Your legs will be stronger if you train in racing flats.

Why would the Free be considered a minimalist shoe?

OP, Nike Free 5.0 has a 8MM heel-to-toe offset, therefore it is not a minimal shoe. Minimal shoes have an offset of 4MM or lower.

There is even more to minimalism than that. Is that an oxymoron?

ALH359:

The frees are a neutral shoe ie. no arch support or pronation control. I wasn't saying that they are 100% minimal, I was just commenting that the shoes with support hurt me. I'm going to try and run in flats to get the true minimalist experience when I get over my injury.

800girl wrote:

Okay, one coach is pretty chill and would be okay but the other is a little more old school and would probably confront me about it. They didn't really make me get new shoes, they just strongly suggested it. It's more the whole team attitude towards minimalism. My teammates have made fun of people who wear "minimal" shoes. I guess I'll just have to not worry about what they think.

Here's what they don't tell you about minimalism. While your body might be able to adapt to it and handle it now, think of your feet and body like a set of tires for a car.

When you were born you got a new set of tires for your body. Your feet, and bones, and tendons, have only so much pounding they can take in one lifetime.

You read through the years of threads here, and you will find threads called "calf/calve heart attack," or threads/mentions of arthritis or peripheral neuropathy ending older runners careers.

And you'll also see mentions of runners talking to their doctors and their doctors telling them they only have so many years of pounding / high impact that their bodies can take.

What the minimalist fad folk won't tell you, because they are not truly thinking long term, is that there is a genetic aspect too -- you have no real way of knowing if you are going to be one of those runners who can still be running at 106, or have a calve heart attack at 36 and are no longer able to run.

This whole "Born to Run" faddish aspect of "minimalist" running doesn't press a few points hard enough. --Those native people grow up without shoes/barely shoes, and on trails 99.9% of the time.

If minimalism were so great for you, you'd see ALL the elites running in them. And you don't.

You are rolling the dice with you life time, long term running ability by experimenting with minimalist shoes.

Your safest bet is to wear sensible shoes moderately cushioned shoes. Say, Air Structure, as opposed to HokaOneOne.

Good Luck.

"If minimalism were so great for you, you'd see ALL the elites running in them. And you don't. "

Well, elites are sponsored by running shoe companies, so that's probably why they wear their shoes...

Also, do you think we are genetically inferior to the tarahumara and our bodies can't handle the pounding but theirs can? Or, because we have been wearing shoes for so long it is impossible to transition back? Is there any evidence that wearing a more cusioned shoe will prevent inuries?

800girl wrote:

Also, do you think we are genetically inferior to the tarahumara and our bodies can't handle the pounding but theirs can? ?

Yes, in the case of 95% of the population.

It's funny you mention this, assduck. Because you're the number one supporter of nike around these boards, aren't you? This wouldn't be a shameless plug, would it?

In short, shut it, assduck

oldboy wrote:

Shoes don't cause injuries. That being said, coaches can suggest shoes for a runner, but ultimately it's the OP's decision, or should be.

OP, just tell your coach exactly what you posted here.

Shoes DO cause injuries, asswipe.