This week just gone by had two major focus, deliverables in office in what has been a super hectic week and my gym trainers i.e. shoes .
As most of you might know , i was never a great fitness freak . Although the fad of keeping fit did come to me once a while but i never had a disciplined approach to it.
As is often the case , anything done without focus and discipline is bound to fail and mine was no different , i never really succeeded in being fit. It never really caught on until about 18 months ago.
I was inspired by a close friend and a colleague of mine ( Sathish aka Jillu) who was so disciplined that he went on to reduce his weight and also his waist size enormously.
Getting inspired is one thing and carrying on that inspiration is another one. As i left Chennai to London , my colleagues masterminded by Sathish presented me a high quality to sneaker and during my parting get together it was explicitly stated i put that to proper use.
That was 18 months ago. It took a long time for the idea of hitting the gym sank in my mind.
Being alone and finding lots of free time was a big boost and a key reason for me to finally take to going to the gym. It was during first week of September 2010 i decided to go to the gym and rest is history.
Now am a regular at the gym and make it to the gym at least four days a week of which two days are dedicated to running.
During the initial days running for just 10 minutes was very tough , i was extremely unfit but i was determined to get better.
As with every-other thing , going to gym is a habit , once the habit catches on , its very difficult to let go . On this occasion i did not need to let go but i had to preserve the habit.
Slowly my running capacity increased . I moved from 10 minutes to 15 minutes and by April 2011 i was doing close to 30 minutes .
My target was to run for 60 minutes and i did it by Sep 2011 , a full 12 months since i took up the activity.
In all this planning and execution , i forgot to understand one key component . The Accessories, unknown to me my pair of sneakers were getting worn out because they were getting hammered when i do running full steam ahead. As 2011 closed , whenever i ran hard i started feeling pains in my shin and joints and also in my ankle.
When i asked around and researched a bit , it was becoming increasingly clear that my running shoes had to change .
If i were in my home country , i would have just gone to a showroom and picked up a new shoe. Over here i.e. developed world , everything including buying a pair of shoes needed some research and scientific explanation on which shoes fits the buyer the most. If that sounds way to sci-fi , read on until you find out what actually happened.
I finally decide to buy the shoes and go to shoe shop.
Me : Hello , am looking for a pair of trainers for running, my current one is hurting me when i run
SK (Shop Keeper) : Sir, which one do you use ?
Me: I use Addidas
SK : How long have you been using it ?
Me : about 18 months
SK : Looks like your trainers are due for replacement and it may have run out of its life
By this time i was scratching my head and thinking does a shoe have shelf life
Me : Ok , i need a new one
SK : Sir , lets test which one/type will fit you best
Me : Test?
SK: Yes , Sir
Me : Test what?
SK: Test your running and your foot landing angle when you run
Me: So what should i do for you to see that
SK: Sir , all you need to do is run on this running machine (Treadmill) and our video will capture your running motion , we can then see which type will suit best
Me: Do i just do one run?
SK: No sir, you do different run on various types of shoes
Me : Ok , lets do it.
By this time , i was astonished to see buying a shoe had such amount of details into it. This was unheard of.
After about 30 minutes i had done six individual running test with six different sets of shoes.
After each run, the shopkeeper also a trainer showed me my running video and showed the angle in which my leg hit the ground.
After the 30 minute stint and six sessions of video, the shopkeeper said , "sir your leg fall is near neutral on your left leg but not completely neutral ".
To this , i asked what this means, he said you need a paid of shoes which has some support to nullify the angle of your fall.
Bewildered, i accepted . He had placed few pairs of shoes for me to choose from , all from various brands.
I finally choose a pair of Nike shoes with a bit of hard support in its sole to support inclined landing during running.
Am Keen to keep my habit of going to gym and running going . This blog was just to bring out the Tale of a pair of shoes .
It definitely was a fairy tale to me.
Hope you enjoyed the blog.
