NOT A SINGLE BLISTER, not even a hot spot.
I did hard snow, soft snow, melted snow, grass, gravel, pavement, field, tarmac and bog. My feet are fine. So how did I do that?
Well a combination of things culminated from a long struggle, countless discussions, trials desperation and research.
I learned that you have to find what work for you, it may not work for someone else and it may not work for you all the time. My feet management is in 3 parts.
1. Advanced preparation
- Went to a foot specialist, forgot what they are called, pedi--trist or something, asked her to take all the dead skin of my feet and get it as thin as possible. Also cut, file and polish my toe nails to as smooth as possible so that the socks will not catch anywhere.
- Every night I plaster my feet with Vaseline and wrap them in cling film before bed time. My feet are now softer than a new born baby's bottom.
- Locate all the places I normally blister in my shoes, and cover them with ENGO tape. Very expensive but it works. It is Teflon coated tape that stick to the inside of the shoe and reduce friction many folds.
2. Before race
- Tape my feet up in Martin from Likey's special way. He do not tape spots but the whole heel and the ball of the foot. The taping is done only once and left on as long as possible. If you can keep the tape on the whole race, even better.
- Injingi Cool Max socks as base layer. I use a size that fit tight but not so tight it compress.
- In the UK wet weather my outer pair of socks is water proof sealskinz. In the desert I will try one pair only but a spare pair outer socks will be on hand if need to.
- Tying shoe lases is seriously important. I have two sets of laces for each shoe and tied the front and back of shoe at different tighnesses to ensure my wide feet are loose along the toes and tight around the heels. I also use round laces in the front that allow slippage and movement, while the back laces are secured twisted flat laces.
3. During race
Keep concentration on feet and continually monitor if they are still OK. When I start feeling fatigue, warming, pins and needles or any thing apart from a normal rested foot I do something about it IMMEDIATELY. This could be as simple as:
- changing the way I put my foot down,
- changing pace
- changing length of stride, or
- take a break. Not long just 2 to three minutes. Not always necessary to get weight of feet, but just standing around stretching somehow put new life back in your feet.
Lot of work, lot of effort but it is important and the most important thing. NEVER BE COMPLACENT. In the past when I felt something started to go wrong, I ignored it and thought I will just tough it out. BIG MISTAKE. Have to monitor your feet like a patient in intensive care. all the time.
I plan to do the same distance this weekend and will let you know what happens, however I am more confident than before.
