Unfortunately, I haven't been feeling well. It started Monday when I felt sluggish during my run, and then all week long the feeling stuck. My intervals on Wednesday were bad, but not that great either. During cross, I had had breathing problems that I had a ton of appointments for, and never got anything correctly diagnosed. It mysteriously went away, but I think I know what the problem was... I 'll get to that later. Anyway, Wednesday, it was the same old feeling of not being able to fill my lungs, and then it persisted yesterday, even though the run was slow. Yesterday I woke up with a scratchy throat, and it's still here today, along with a slight headache and grogginess. A full night's rest would have helped, but my neighber here on campus and a stupid ass hole who decides to talk on her phone past 2 in the morning right on the other side of my wall.
K, that's the end of my rant, but the point is this grogginess better go away for tomorrow. I really want to break 5:30 in the mile.
So yea, back in cross country I had three phases of a bad cough. For some reason, no doctor I saw thought it was bronchitis, despite the really deep barky sound of the coughs. I had some sinusy fluid running down my throat, but I'm pretty sure that has something to do with it. And to tell you the truth, that sinusy crap always seems to be there, barking cough or no cough. I think that could be one culprit for the breathing problems.
My second thought is a little more far-fetched. For two years, I've been wearing motion control shoes WITH orthotix, because that's what my coaches have been telling me to do. I've always had a bit of a pronation problem, and I had been wearing motion control shoes since high school, but after my stress fracture my freshman year in college, they suggested I get orthotix. That was two years ago, and immediately after I got the orthotix, that summer I developed plantar fasscitis which lasted for about 7 months and inlcluded a 4 1/2 month hiatus from running altogether. I still feel it some mornings, but it's not a factor keeping me from running anymore. Even after the PF was under control, there were always little aches and pains... ALWAYS. This inlcuded ITB problems. More than that, my legs never felt fresh. Every run I did, I just couldn't wait until the end of it because my legs just felt zapped. For example, in cross country, I can really only remember one run that I would have called a "good" workout for me, and one race that was a "good" race. Everything else was crap, and every summer run was torture. Running 8 miles was a tough thing, and anything more was unthinkable to me. I could remember times in high school, runs in high school when I would go for 11 miles then feel like I could go for another 5. I never felt that anymore.
This will get back around to the breathing problems, I promise. With one week to go before PSACs, I decided to take the orthotix out of my shoes and I bought new shoes with no motion control. I only inserted some cushioned arch supported insoles to replace those disgustingly rigid orthotix. I felt an instant change. INSTANT. Running is actually enjoyable again. I think that for those two years, I was running with far too much support under my feet. Looking back on how terrible running was for those two years, I can't believe I kept doing it. More than that, I should have been moving forward and recovering from my injuries much quicker than I was. When I'd have a bad time in a race, I just told myself, "Oh, you're still just coming back." I had started running again way back in Febrary! I should not have been in recovery mode anymore. I don't know what made me think there was a chance that it wouldn't always be like that. But I'm sure glad I stuck with it.
Now, I know this doesn't seem to make a lot of sense, but I'm wondering if my breathing problems resulted from wearing the wrong pair of shoes. Motion control + orthotics = too much stability = breaking my natural running form too drastically = actually making me less efficient = having to work harder to move forward. Running wasn't so hard after I switched shoes. Does this seem logical to anyone else out there? (Comment on my post, damnit...)
My shoes :) Asics, Oberon.
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