DS Trainer Dilemma...

Probably sticking with the Mizuno Alchemy/Mercury would be the way to go and only use the ds trainer on harder days. . . tempo's/intervals. . .etc. using the ds trainer 4 days a week is a bit much if you have a flatter arch. I for one am 5'9'' 143 and thought I could run in a lighter stability shoe such as the structure triax, 2090/2100, but I would start having achilies problems after a month or so. . .Now I am wearing the brooks beast and the injury problems have gone away and the shoe keps my foot in a nuetral position and works for me. . . so try to stick with the more motion control shoe for training. . . but everyone is different and it can be hard to figure out what shoe works best. Thats my 2 cents..good luck

My God, don't ever wear the DS Trainers again! I call them the DS Cripplers because of what they did to my foot. I've been injuried for 9 months because of those shoes. Same sort of thing, a bruising the ball of my foot and arch. That version of the DS Trainer (if it's the one that came out 2004) fits very, very narrow, almost pinching the foot. It also has no forefoot cushioning at all. Try a stability shoe-asics 2090, brooks Adrenaline, Adidas Supernova Control, something along that line. With orthotics you probably don't need a huge beefy motion control shoe. But I'll repeat, and I sell running shoes if that helps, DO NOT EVER WEAR THE DS TRAINER AGAIN! Also for treatment, rotate ice and heat on your foot, twice as much ice time as heat time. And try massaging the afflicted area, deep thumb pressing massage. People get paid 50 bucks an hour to do the same exact thing soooo....

Hope I helped.

Harrier Girl:

Just curious; have you tried DS Trainer without orthotics? I've used orthotics once years ago. They made shoes way too bulky. If orthotics were made to fit Mizuno, they may not fit in DS Trainer. I'm not saying it's better to run in DS Trainer without orthotics, period, however. I don't run in them. They are too narrow for me. They may fit your feet fine if you have narrow feet. My wife's feet are much narrower than mine and she loves them.

My orthotics actually fit fine in both the Mizunos and the DST. And while the problem could be from doing so much road mileage I have done periods of pavement running before, in fact every winter I do alot, but I've never gotten hurt because of it. I was looking up plantar fascitis online and it showed pictures of shoes that bent in half and said they cause problems. Sure enough that plastic arch in the DST bends right in two! It's like there is no arch support whatsoever. Anyway I guess for now I'll go back to Mizunos and try the DST for short races or fast workouts.

Try this exercise:

While sitting in a chair lay a towel on the floor in front of you the long way. One foot at a time grip the towel with your toes and curl them to pull the towel. Pull the entire length of the towel and do the other foot. Do three reps a day per foot. This will strengthen the tendons in your arch.

Good luck.

I'm on my second pair of DS Trainers. A few of my teammates train in them as well (one uses the VII's and I use the IX's). I am 6'2" and around 155 lbs with very flat feet. I have orthotics and also found that my trainers feel too bulky with them, so I don't run in them. I found that walking around in my orthotics all day is helping on itself. I really like these trainers. Even though they are pretty lightweight, I was still able to put 500 miles on the first pair during XC season before switching them for a new pair. I would recommend them to a person with flat feet based on my good experiences with them so far.

If a certain shoe causes your foot to hurt, chuck them in into a donation box, or use them for raking leaves or leave them by your back door for rainy days when you go out to get the mail.

ASICS Gel-Lytes caused me similar problems, too. I have PF issues whenever I wear minimalist footwear; and I ran & trained in flats for years.

Owwww wrote:

I ran & trained in flats for years.

Nearly all runners do.

And do they all have PF?

No, obviously not.

i dont know about other lightweight trainers mentioned here(adidas, nb 900, etc..) i actually l ike the lower heel height and light feel, but the asics used to have a medial post, albeit a small one that made for a pretty firm stable arch. now its some plastic plate that bends in half easily. so i feel like its not supporting my arches enough. a shoes can be light but still have a supportive arch can't it?