Running coach, zero drop and improvement with sore knees

Howdy,

After the thread I put in the beginners section I feel I should progress this thread to General.

Now I have been running for a good few weeks now along with still continuing to maintain decent mileage whilst cycling and I am kinda running into a situation (pun intended) and would like to sort it sooner rather than later.

So when I first started running I had PTT that I believed was linked to a old injury and more than likely it was a issue for much longer but came to light when I start running properly, I am happy to say in the last month my ankle/s have been perfect and I hope that little chestnut is behind me, not even a sniff of any problems touch wood.

However I have started to get a bit of knee pain esp when running say 4+ miles two days in a row, mostly to the front and slightly below the inside portion of the knee cap.

I have been doing everything I can to be a forefoot or mid foot striker, I run on trails 1-2 times a week then 2 times on the road. Both my shoes have a heel drop of 10mm for reference.

Now I have heard good things about shoes such as Altra and Hoka giving good comfort whilst promoting a forefoot biased motion due to their heel drop, I know people say that going straight to low drop shoes esp with previous PTT can be a issue so I may look at using them lightly on the treadmill as a warm up before heading out for a road run, sadly I cannot find a Altra dealers near me so advice on sizing and opinion very much welcome.

The other is how many of you actually have had any coaching?, I think it is fair to say that in the early part of ones running career getting good fundamentals would be ideal for a long and healthy life in the sport so what options are there for a bit of cheeky coaching for a mildly competent beginner and is it something that is worth it?.. I have improved a ton form wise from my first days of elephant stomping my way around the commuter fodder of East London yet I still feel that I could improve and I think the knee pain may well telling me that.


Regards