Getting better

Who said running was a cheap sport ? I've been adding up the costs over these last few weeks and the totals are rising: €65 for the massage at the osteo; €60 for the ESWT treatment; and a cool €150 for the orthotics at the chiropodists last night. €275 spent on injury treatment and I haven't anything tangible for my money (well a set of insoles hardly counts does it?).

I had been advised to go to the chiropodist by the physiotherapist who applied the shockwave treatment. The chiropodist advised to me is based just to the west of Paris and is specialised in feet treatment for sportsmen. I arrived in his clinic and was impressed by the range of equipment on display for the analysis. Firstly, he makes me stand on an electronic pad linked to his PC which measures all of the pressure points under the soles of my feet. Then he puts me on the treadmill and films me as I run. I'm watching my feet on the screen just in front of me and recognise my natural 'curving' movement as each foot lands in an outward arc from take off to landing. Then it's on to the foam cushions where the heated strips form a thermo-moulding of the shape of my feet and finally he makes the insoles as I wait.

We have a long discussion as to the rise in running injuries that he's having to deal with over the last few years and he blames the shoe manufacturers for the problems they're causing in runners. The torsion bars in most manufacturers are excellent in providing a dynamic shoe returning the energy from the sole back through the ankle as the foot leaves the ground. However, our achilles tendons just aren't strong enough to take this sort of pressure on a permanent basis and it doesn't take much to cause tendonitis through overtraining, over-striding or just badly placing your foot while running. He advises me to drop the Mizunos and the Brooks and to adopt the Nike Lunarglides as they are one of the only brands not to have adopted the torsion bar in the sole construction. As this guy is also the chiropodist for one of the leading French female runners, I'm going to follow his advice when I replace my shoes in a couple of months. We also discuss the latest marketing in shoe sales on pronators, universal and supinators which he dismisses as pure b******t - I like the guy !

Left the house to go for an early run and try my new insoles. The first few steps are a bit unusual as I feel as though I'm running on the shoes rather than in them. This is the first time that I've ever had orthotics made for me and it takes a little getting used to. I run a couple of kilometres around the usual loop and think about how my ankle is doing. For the first time in a long time, there is virtually no pain or discomfort from the achilles or the base of the calf. Whether this is due to the ESWT, the orthotics or just natural healing, I don't know but it's very pleasant to feel that I'm almost over this injury and that I'll be able to run properly soon.

Ok, so I'm running pain-free now but my lungs are telling me that they're struggling to keep up. I'm running at 4:30 per km and the 4 extra kilograms hanging around my waist are taking their toll on my performance and my cardio-vascular system's capacity at this speed. I want to slow down but tell myself that I'm a lazy lump and need to carry on to work off the fat. I take the 10 km course option and run around the back of the park, enjoying the sun rise as Spring arrives and the course isn't totally pitch black anymore. I'm able to maintain my pace until the slight slope back through town in the last 2 km. I drop to 4:45 pace before picking up a little towards the end of the run.

I finish the 10km in 44:40 or an average of 4:28 per km. Best run in ages and although there is a slight grating with the achilles, I can tell that it will wear off realtively quickly during the day.

Life is looking up.