Shoe wear pattern - help me interpret

It looks like you're an extreme heel striker. You're light, but may be striking the ground too hard and then slapping your midfoot.

Holy heel strike. Do you keep running in your shoes after you wear through the heel like that?

It's hard to say if you overpronate without seeing your footstrike, but based on the photos your right foot follows a fairly normal pronation pattern. Your left foot seems to underpronate, given the excessive wear on the inside of the foot near the big toe.

Do you do any foot strengthening exercises? Do you have flat arches? Have you considered transitioning to more of a forefoot strike?

Thanks for the replies.

Do you recommend a different offset than 8mm for my heel striking? On one hand, I think a thick heel sole with high offset would help cushion, but on the other hand, a thicker heel might make my heel strike even more relative to the forefoot.

With the severe heel strike do you recommend that I stick to soft/plush shoes or consider a more minimalist shoe ? I tend to think that I need to stick with plush because of the focused impact on my heel.

Thanks!

You are having achilles and plantar issues because you aren't using the feet properly. Based upon your shoe wear pattern you are essentially running with a walking gait. That means your achilles and foot muscles are not getting the stress needed to be healthy/strong. When you land on your heels your feet, achilles and calves get very little eccentric work. Wearing heavily cushioned shoes exacerbates this problem, as you will discover that many people wearing Hokas end up with achilles issues.

That being said, you likely have been moving this way your entire life so it will take at least 12-24 months to switch your form and have the tendons remodel almost completely.

Heel strikers don't get enough eccentric stress and they end up with similar injuries as long-time cyclists, who also get very little eccentric stress, who begin running.

Thank you.

I have noticed that I've always walked with a short stride length and my running steps per minute is usually around 205 when I run a 7:30 pace.

Perhaps I should consider lighter shoes ? What About the offset?

Thanks

Achilles97 wrote:

Thank you.

I have noticed that I've always walked with a short stride length and my running steps per minute is usually around 205 when I run a 7:30 pace.

Perhaps I should consider lighter shoes ? What About the offset?

Thanks

Low drop and a low offset will be best for you. A highly cushioned shoe will only exacerbate your pronation. At this point you want stability through a low offset. Similarly, a high drop will force you to continue to land on your heel.

You can also go to your local track and practice running barefoot on the grass infield. You'll notice you naturally land on your forefoot when running barefoot. With practice, this should translate to your running on the roads in shoes as well.

Thank you. Perhaps I'll try on some Kinvara and go from there . And yes I do notice that running barefoot I tend to land more on the forefoot.

Does any of this ring true.

Achilles pain right.

Pes anserine pain left.

Metatarsal stress fx and or neuroma left.

Pretty much spot on!

I'm finding conflicting information regarding offset for heel strikers. Some information suggests going lower offset to help my foot level out and promote a mid-strike. Other information suggests a high offset to provide extra cushioning on the heel strike.

A few years ago I suffered a pelvis stress fracture from running. At the time I was running in Saucony Hurricane shoes training for BQ @ 60 miles per week @ average of 6:45 pace. I've been hesitant to wear any shoes that are not plush since then and I've adjusted my running to only do one tempo run per week.

I am looking at either the Saucony Kinvara, Liberty, or Rides. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Meant to say Saucony Freedom , not Liberty....

Cadence of 205 at 7:30/mile, yet you can run 60mpw at avg. of 6:45/mile. That puts you in the 16:30 range for 5K. Something ain’t right here.

If you continue to heel strike heavily, yes, the higher drop will provide more cushioning upon striking the ground. The goal, though, should be to move away from heel striking, and you do that with a low drop shoe. One of the above posters rightfully noted the impacts on your feet, calves, achilles, etc when heel striking vs mid-foot striking.

The Ride has an 8mm drop. I would go for the Kinvara or the Freedom (both 4mm drop). The stack height is the same, but I believe the Freedom has more cushining, which given you situation, might be better.

Quite Strange wrote:

Cadence of 205 at 7:30/mile, yet you can run 60mpw at avg. of 6:45/mile. That puts you in the 16:30 range for 5K. Something ain’t right here.

When I ran my 2:58 marathon my cadence was at 198. Lately I seem to be short stepping at 205ish at 7:30 to 8:30 pace. I have been sore and having foot problems so my stride is short due to discomfort and tightness. I do feel like my stride is too short lately and it doesn't feel as natural as it did a few months back. This all seems to coincide with the foot situation. I'm going to focus on lengthening my stride next run.

Quite Strange wrote:

Cadence of 205 at 7:30/mile, yet you can run 60mpw at avg. of 6:45/mile. That puts you in the 16:30 range for 5K. Something ain’t right here.

M or F? Age?

5'7", 110lbs, 205 cadence and pelvic stress fracture?

There are some pieces of this puzzle missing.

I'd throw in some swimming once a week and stationary bike once a week.

Hmmm?Hrrr? wrote:

Quite Strange wrote:

Cadence of 205 at 7:30/mile, yet you can run 60mpw at avg. of 6:45/mile. That puts you in the 16:30 range for 5K. Something ain’t right here.

M or F? Age?

5'7", 110lbs, 205 cadence and pelvic stress fracture?

There are some pieces of this puzzle missing.

Male 40 years old

Achilles97 wrote:

Quite Strange wrote:

Cadence of 205 at 7:30/mile, yet you can run 60mpw at avg. of 6:45/mile. That puts you in the 16:30 range for 5K. Something ain’t right here.

When I ran my 2:58 marathon my cadence was at 198. Lately I seem to be short stepping at 205ish at 7:30 to 8:30 pace. I have been sore and having foot problems so my stride is short due to discomfort and tightness. I do feel like my stride is too short lately and it doesn't feel as natural as it did a few months back. This all seems to coincide with the foot situation. I'm going to focus on lengthening my stride next run.

Sounds like you have hip problems. Cadence of 205 at 7:30-8:30 pace makes sense for someone that is maybe 3'7", literally, not 5'7". Did you tear a groin muscle or something at some point? Sports hernia? I don't think your feet are the cause of the problem.

Quite Strange wrote:

Achilles97 wrote:

When I ran my 2:58 marathon my cadence was at 198. Lately I seem to be short stepping at 205ish at 7:30 to 8:30 pace. I have been sore and having foot problems so my stride is short due to discomfort and tightness. I do feel like my stride is too short lately and it doesn't feel as natural as it did a few months back. This all seems to coincide with the foot situation. I'm going to focus on lengthening my stride next run.

Sounds like you have hip problems. Cadence of 205 at 7:30-8:30 pace makes sense for someone that is maybe 3'7", literally, not 5'7". Did you tear a groin muscle or something at some point? Sports hernia? I don't think your feet are the cause of the problem.

Yeah. If you do the math with 205 strides at 8min pace you get roughly 1 meter per stride. With that kind of wear pattern, stride length and cadence, it seems like you are race walking.