Skip to main content

Last attempt with the string between the toes

Last Sunday, just before my 54th birthday, I tried one last tying style with my Huaraches. The goal was to find a lacing with minimal rubbing of the string between the toes. Also, I forgot totally about speed and concentrated on light, easy and sound-less stride.
It was beautiful outside but quite chilly.
I checked every 2 kms or so whether my string was creating a blister. Last time I tried, after 8 km in melted snow, I had a tiny blister on each foot. Nothing serious but I aimed at eliminating ALL rubbing for longer runs.
I did not feel anything and could not see any blister, so I decided to go for my usual 12.4 km (always with shoes before).
When I came back home, I found out that I had 2 huge blisters, one on the right foot, all swollen with blood, one on the left foot, with the skin peeled off.
From the shower after the run until today (tuesday 19), it hurts as bad as it looks.



I did not feel anything probably because of the cold weather (around 0°C).
I did not see anything because this time the blisters were even more below the toes.
From the videos, I do not think I overstride significantly.
From the sound (almost no flapping left now), I must hit the ground smoothly.
The only 2 causes left to explore would be that:

  • The hole-between-the-toes is to backwards, so that any tying will be too tight
  • And/or I dorsiflex way too much and no matter how I tie my huaraches, I will still have some rubbing BELOW my toes.

I will give another try with a hole further in front, but later, when I my feet are totally healed.
In the meantime. I will run with my Merrell TrailGloves and my Newton Gravity.

But the good thing is that I now know that I may not be able to wear the huaraches with the string between the toes and I must try another style with the strings across the toes.

Something like this.

So I ordered 2 kits from XeroShoes the same evening and I will try new tying styles as soon as my skin is compatible with running again.

Stay tuned.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Fine tuning of my Huaraches

In March, I found a setting to tie my Huaraches and avoid the string rubbing! I noticed that even though I have a neutral and silent stride and can run miles barefoot, I could not solve the issue of the rubbing of the string between my 1st and 2nd toe. In fact, the blisters came after 5-8 k, and not between the toes, which would be a sign of overstriding, but BELOW the toes. Plus, I also made a terrible flapping sound when running. So I checked my stride on video and found that I dorsiflex a lot, i.e. my toes are bent a lot upwards before landing. When I do that when still, I can clearly see the strings touching hard the skin far below the 1st and 2nd toe. OK so that explains the rubbing and the huge blisters in some cases. Then, I checked on internet photos of sandals worn by the Tarahumaras. Shit, if these guys can run 100 miles in sandals, there must be a solution. And in some photos I noticed that they wear their sandals with the string between the toes attached more forward...

Les dernières avancées scientifiques pour synchroniser le cerveau

The Ultimate Guide To Brainwave Entrainment Un super article, très complet, qui donne une revue de tout ce qui se fait actuellement en techniques de synchronisation des hémisphères cérébraux. Le but étant d'harmoniser le fonctionnement du cerveu humain afin de retrouver un équilibre entre cognition et intuition, et entre résolution de problèmes et sensation cosmique.   http://www.shift.is/2017/10/ultimate-guide-brainwave-entrainment/

Première sortie Salève en Huaraches 2017

Pas vite mais sympa. Reprise après un hiver à me trainer comme un sac. Dernière sortie de mes vieilles Huaraches Xeroshoes. Elles sont un peu usées de la semelle et parfois je recule sur des terrains un peu glissants. Avant d'en refaire une autre paire, je photographie l'usure pour les archives de Steven Sashen à Xeroshoes.