I'm a couple of short plods to the good, after a few weeks' layoff to rest the Achilles. I'm trying to retain the high cadence, but concentrate on a mid to back foot landing. It's a shame, because I really thought I'd arrived at a more efficient running style. But after reading
this, I'm somewhat scared that I'm doing long-term damage. Any time I'm tempted to run on the front-foot, I just think of "surgery to scrape scar tissue off the tendon". Mmm, nice thought.
So as per
last November, I find myself trying to adapt my running style once again. So far it's not much fun - I can feel every step jolting through my knees, quads and lower back in a way that I thought I'd left behind for good. But after a few weeks I'm sure I'll find something that works.
In all the scientific pondering, I also noticed that I've been neglecting the basics. I mostly stopped stretching (except for achilles) because none of my other muscles seemed to be getting stiff (hence thinking I'd found the magic formula). And it turns out I'm wearing a pair of shoes bought in 2011 for the Brighton Rock episode, which have now clocked up 750 miles (a record for me). Time for a change on both fronts, methinks.