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Jon’s musing about running and things about running while running and after running and probably before running too

Guys, guys, guys. I know i am going down a weird rabbit hole of oddities with this big toe convo and you’re probably thinking i could join a side show, but i assure everyone 😂 that i am truly a normal guy with just some strange small stuff that has potentially huge effect. Learning a lot. And putting this video out there for others.


I dont think i have super serious condition, but probably enough to be a negative consideration to my aspirations of being as efficient as i can.

essentially a normal foot uses the first and fifth toe and heel as a tripod for the movement, and i am rolling off the second toe into the third and fourth causing all kinds of stress and havoc on the biomechanics. They are suggesting to add something under the first metatarsal to change when/where the contact points are hit for the 1st and second metatarsal. I think the commercial product might be called a cluffy wedge.

there is another couple of videos on strengthening the feet to address the effect of years of imbalance.

I’m not a huge proponent of any type of running, i.e. shoes, barefoot, drop, minimal, maximal, etc. but i feel like the stuff i like is stressful to the calves and with the stress already happening because of this shorter first metatarsal joint, i’m multiplying potential injury.

i am glad that i’ve been ok for so long but i am going to try to mitigate the calf stress. I am wondering why though my right calf seems to be more injury prone.. i might have a weaker left leg or perhaps my right knee injury is part of it. Hip imbalance. Hmmm. Hard to say if its coincidental or correlation.
 
I think the cluffy wedge is for a different issue with a 1st metatarsal hallus rigidus pain and not exactly the windlass/tripod issue imotalking a out above.
 
essentially a normal foot uses the first and fifth toe and heel as a tripod for the movement, and i am rolling off the second toe into the third and fourth causing all kinds of stress and havoc on the biomechanics
Wanted to clear this up, just in case anyone ever read this and was confused. If I understand correctly, the tripod action is not with the toes, its the metatarsals. It was late and too much hallux research!

the cluffy came into play because a condition of rigid ray of the hallux (big toe) can cause pain due to over stress of toe off. I think the cluffy tries to raise the foot bed under the toe while not allowing it to flex, maybe like a rigid extension, i’m not 100 sure.

i want my big toe to be more flexibile as the ROM of my toe dorsiflexion is kind of low and cause the windlass mechanism to engage through plantarflexion. I dont have pain in that area and i found out that the foot exercises i was doing more regularly in dec/jan/feb are excellent for what i am seeking, so there is that!

what’s interesting, and i may have mentioned it before, is that i came across multiple comments that there is some connection to enhanced athletic advantage to mortons toe, but honestly cant recall what sports they were, and most articles seem to say running and lifting are affected negatively because of the balance and support issues. Turns out 20% of genpop have this issue supposedly.
 
And i am off on this crazy tangent, took a few days off and just walked with my wife the 5 miles and today the my calf was feeling great during the day. I figured i’d give an easy run and work on the windlass mechanism and basic form. Broke out the brooks launch6. gorgeous day in the high 70s, took off ~7pm.

On the easy jog i could feel the strain of the calf, as i increased the pace and worked on the windlass, i felt little to no calf strain. Opening my stride was similar but I definitely know i was coming off a strain. The shoes felt so light. It was a nice run in the evening and i think the inly thing holding me back was holding the pace long term. I need to continue working on that no matter how far i think I’ve come.
 
took the week off from anything other than walking/body weight exercises and i only did 2 or 3 days of walking. i spent the weekend doing some well needed yard work & long overdue car washings/waxings. I worked on my feet exercises and tennis/lacrosse ball "massages", and specifically my big toe dorsiflexion.

a bit disappointed by my attempts to integrate 3rd party power into polar, but i've moved past that thinking of some other solutions and pod usage.

I felt a little tentative for going out for a run, i just decided that if after mile 1, if my calf hurts, i just call it a day and walk home. thats about the place i can make the choice to turn left for the 5 miles, or straight for a half mile home. todays 5 mile run started out great, no pain, no strain, and continued that way for calf issues. I spent most of the time working on form, especially keeping my first MJP in the gait motion and letting the big toe bend for toe off, i can definitely feel the 2nd toe wanting to take the brunt of the weight and rolling off into 3,4 for movement. it felt way easier to run off the 1st and second and i need to look at incrementally padding the first MJP with mole skin.

but with that out of the way i can feel my aerobic base is still kind of weak. I have to find a way to keep a pace and i'm not sure my route with the hills really allows for that optimally.

nice to be back in the run, especially on a nice cool day.
 
Finally went for another run today after taking the week off and doing other stuff for other reasons, mostly soccer for my kids. It was nice but i at the same time i was realy jonesing to get back out, i wasnt dying to get back out there, but i was. Kind of. I was feeling good from the last run without any pain and i had ordered these special metatarsal pads and they arrived just before i was going out today for a run. I didnt fiddle with anything and went out.

Today i wanted to go out early and see if the continued change in gait was gonna be an issue. I was distracted by spreadsheets and finally got out around 1:30pm for lunch. A bit nippy here in northern VA. I felt great as far as form, the pace was good for me, my HR was way too high, but i felt really good at just under 9min/mile over the 5 miles after slowing down to get the HR down to the aerobic base.

Also finally got a chance to run on a track and measure at 4pm and baseline my pods for a good pace mile. I honestly cannot remember the last time i ever ran a mile around a track, has to to be as a freshman in college for the cooper test. I did the mile in 7:55 feeling pretty good at the end, definitely not too much overextended, but i felt my left calf tighten at the beginning of second lap, off and on for all lap and it loosened up completely by the middle of the third lap. I had to roll my eyes as it, of course, had to happen during a short baseline run.
 
been a bit wilding out over here! yesterday afternoon, i did an 8 mile cross country route in just under 90 mins. went from pavement to boardwalk to easy trail to hard trail. It was awesome, just cruising most of the way, kind of cool so not many people encountered, but it was late morning so there were some. i haven't attempted to put on the MTP pad yet.. a bit anxious for some reason.. I spent most of the time trying to make sure I stay on the 2 MTP with it dorsiflexed to the toe off, i feel like my form is getting much better, between the lean, the turnover form, and the foot strike to toe off. the change to the 1st MTP off the 3rd/4th feels a lot easier but i think it must mean that i could be pronating a bit more on the stroke to toe off ride than I was before. or perhaps just less supinating at the end after pronation. I am getting better at interpreting the data I am getting from the pods, but still there is no 100% must be doing as everyone is differnent, just adjustments to "off" things.

today late AM my family went on the same route mostly for 7 miles of a quick hike. it was a gorgeous cool day in the forest, lots of greenery and spring colors popping up here and there. It was a great family outing. we did it in about 2 hrs iirc. felt wonderful to be with them out there.

and then early evening, i went for a 3 mile tempo run, it just felt like the right thing to do tonight. a 5K in ~28 minutes. way above my MAG goal but it was fun and since my MAF training volume was met by the hike, I felt ok to give it a go.

tried on a bunch of other shoes this weekend, but couldn't make it work. Adidas adizero Boston 8s. good price, just enough volume in the shoe to fit, but I don't think it was worth trying to see if it worked itself out. Merrel Trail Gloves 5, too much volume and movement in the heel, and I don't need any more trail shoes, and Saucony Kinvara 11s which I am going to see if the wides are a bit fit than the regulars, but they felt really nice. Altra Provision 4 felt pretty good, but i needed a half size larger, and they are a stability centric shoe, and i am wondering if that would be a good fit with my issue. could be. I tried some of the barefoot shoes I have feom a couple months ago in a smaller size and i think they def are too small.

definitely enjoying the new watch I have been trying out from polar vs the vantage M, and also been using running shorts rather than regular modern athletic shorts. 5" and 3" lengths and definitely feels different, way more free. Family definitely not super digging the 3, but I don't plan on wearing them anywhere else but a quick run out and back. I normally don't wear shorts anyway, always pants, just a thing i got used to while living abroad in my late teens.

good weekend and relaxing even with all the movement.
 
I am paring down the distance for a bit, working on the 5k at a good workable aerobic pace that makes me smile. Wasnt sure i was gonna get it today so i went for a 3 mile walk during a soccer training at 3pm. Came home and around 7pm went out for the 5k. Did it in a nice easy 30 mins feeling pretty good on the uphills. Whats funny is that at the top of the hill, i feel like the body should be happy to be on the flats, but realistically its just tired from that hill.

My form feels like it is getting way better with the 1st MTP issue but i need to try out this pad soon. Knock on wood, the shin/calf is just fine. Just wish they were way cheaper than they are, not terribly expensive but not cheap, especially for a 30 min jog.

Really enjoying the parts of the run, not sure its the runners high, bit it feels good to be in a zone thats just like, yeahhh. I’m cruising nicely.
 
Todays 5miler was rough. New out and back road. Different shoes than yesterday as i realize I probably need to mix them up to prevent injury/weakness. At times my legs felt ok, other times were dying. Only intended to go around 3 miles but the extra was just some warm up encroachment on the workout.
 
Had a nice couple of 5-6 mile runs using the mini “orthotic” that i stuck to my foot, but i felt like for running it was inconvenient and inconsistent to be placed on my foot and i had having to reapply daily would be a hassle. And i I feel like heel lock lacing is enough of a pain, it’s slightly a downer when you are trying to get out the door and trying to get all the IT working too. So after 3 or 4 days of reapplying the pad straight to my foot i applied it under a pair of insoles.

496CF50C-621F-425A-80FB-81D918C7EF02.jpeg

And so lets talk about how it feels different, i had less pressure under my 2nd MTJ and felt like i could not choose whether to pronate using the flexion onto my 1st/2nd MTJ (like i have recently described) vs the supinated flex off the 2nd -4th MTJs. I felt the some new pressure on the 1st/5th and while it wasn’t instantly miraculous, it felt ok and i ended up on the last run with some calf strain. I think that may be due to either overuse, “new” use, or higher tempo because of the motion.

Coincidentally also ended up with a bout of hematuria that had me nervous after i realized i had not had beets in a long while. Just cabbage and legumes 😂 . both no1 and no2 issues that went away in 3-5hrs, but i was anxious i was dehydrated but i stay pretty hydrated. I felt/feel fine but i am keeping notes in case it returns.

Btw, here is a pic of what mortons toe looks like in green
C3DC2464-BE99-40BF-A4AC-1020D8D0877D.jpeg

and a second random pic off net of the the issue.

491FD32E-E026-4B7A-BA87-41F5FAAEF16D.jpg
 
I used the used patches in a shoe with almost 200 hard miles on them with big compression on the midsole near the 2nd MTJ. Still felt the difference. So walked 5 miles in them. the first mile felt odd but by the 2nd it was barely noticeable and towards the end i was trying to figure out if the placements could be finessed a bit. I am gonna leave it as is and see how some additional usage feels. Definitely feels like the line of dorsiflexion along the metatarsal heads arch has changed.
 
Weird what one little patch can do!

That Morton’s picture though 😫

Yeah, that pic with the lines is odd but better explains the lines of pressure points. My toe sock pic shows a common symptom of look but not the actual issue since the issue is not a long 2nd toe but a shorter first cuneiform/ray metatarsal.
 
Walked a 5 miler today with the inserts in a much less used shoe and i realized that its super hard to get them perfectly placed as the left and right feet have different placements needs under the insoles and it’s definitely not symmetrical (i was hoping it was more or less in depth and length axis). Left foot was barely noticeable bit right was a bit sensitive and i think that perhaps its more noticeable while walking than running while it breaks in. The most interesting thing to come out of today was that the seams from strobel construction on the insole bottom are mirrored more inwards and opposite on the bottom of the insole than I expected.

Still have some calf pain and letting it recover while i do basic body strength and stretching
 
Took some walking days with the inserts trying to get used to the feeling, make sure i felt like they were in the right place, keep the calf injury from getting worse. Between work, life, weather schedules it was all i really wanted to do.

Finally took a chance last night around 9:30pm to go out for a quick clip. It was cool bjt a bit windy. Calf felt great, inserts felt like they were in the right place and enjoyed a nice quiet run. The windlass flexion points seems to be ok, i can feel the contact on my 1st MTJ.

Over the the 5 miles i could feel the the decent form and the mind motivation versus the body signal to ask to stop for a moment. Kept on going and ended up doing the 5miles in 48mins. Only at the last .1 did my calf start to act up /smdh.

Glad to get out there and shake the legs loose.
 
Ran and walked a couple of 5miles with the inserts and i can feel the difference, the only immediate effects (maybe anecdotal or related to a form change) seems to be the less calf strain and some plantar fascia stretch, but not pain. I am keeping an eye out. I only had 3 pairs of the inserts that I stuck into a the launch6, levitate2, and kinvara11.

however yesterday was beautiful weather for outdoor exercise (high 50°s and sunshine) went back to my original kiger5s (no insert) and did a HM cross country style. Through some forests/beach trails and a bit of hilly road work. Averaged about a 11min/mile and had a great time just under 2 and half hours. No pain and wasnt exhausted, actually felt great and probably could have continued for a more, but not pushing it yet in terms of pace or distance.

i could probably use some planning/goal setting. Just hard to decide what the goals are
 
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