I have been wanting to ask you – are you a heel or mid/forefoot striker? And have you had any running injuries? I haven’t seen any since I’ve been following you. 🙂 Thanks for the gear update, I love seeing what others use. Might do my own!
Prior to running in the Saucony Hattoris, I was definitely a heel-striker. Since adding the “barefoot” running to my schedule I’ve slowly been trying to transition to more of a mid-foot/forefoot strike. In my Hattoris I always use a forefoot strike. For my normal runs I’ve been working on shortening my stride and trying to land more on my mid-foot. No doubt that I still land on my heel more often than midfoot, but I can tell a big change in the wear pattern on my shoes, so I know I’m making progress. The biggest thing holding me back from fully transitioning to a forefoot strike is my endurance while running at race pace.
As for injuries I have been very fortunate. I missed quite a bit of training time (including a half marathon) at the end of 2008, beginning of 2009, with ITBS. I also missed a couple of weeks with shin splints in mid-2009. I missed another two weeks at the end of 2010 with an arch strain in my left foot. Other than that I’ve just had a lot of minor little things that haven’t caused me to miss too much time. Some of those minor things were in my feet, but those have all but disappeared since I started running in my Hattoris.
I have chronic patellar tendonitis in my left knee that I’ve just learned to live with. By far my worst injuries over the past two years have come from falls rather than simply running. I sprained my right lat during a trail run that caused me some difficulty breathing.