Feb 17 running shoes footwear experiment; and re a Meeting with Fearsome yet impressed and hospitable Wampanoag Braves
Feb 17 Result:
Shoes + full-length foam/gel insole + gel forefoot 'toe bed' + toe tube on left big toe + toe tubes on right middle & index toes + front 3 shoelaces loose + top 3 shoelaces tight + (NEW!) foam tape around heels = almost comfortable run on ultra-hilly around-the-block course, heel looseness problems almost solved.
Logical next steps: use foam tape to create toe-tubes for left index and middle toes; use foam tape to increase padding on right middle and index toes; use adhesive tape to prevent foam tape intended to fit around the heel from sliding to underneat heel.
Tuesday night Feb 17, I ran the course around the block, 12 times around the block = 6 miles, first third and fifth miles jogged, second fourth and sixth miles walked. Time after five miles was 86 minutes, 3 minutes faster than my personal best so for of 89 minutes for this round-the-block course, which was a few weeks ago, less than 8 weeks ago.
The around the block course is different from the Main and Moody streets course. This one is Pond st to Bacon st to School st to Exchange st to Pond st, a loop or circle. It is half uphill half downhill, the hills are steeper than the Moody street hill. The forefeet of my feet apparently slap the ground harder both on steep downhills and steep uphills, this results in greater discomfort.
Tuesday night Feb 17 the footwear was the same as Sunday night Feb 15, except that Feb 17 Mueller brand 'M wrap' ( http://www.muellersportsmed.com/Retail_Tape_and_Wrap.htm ) was used to pad the sides and rear of the foot in the heel area to counteract the looseness in the heels.
The package of Mueller 'M-wrap' cost me $3 about a year ago, I bought it at some place like 'Olympia Sports' or 'The Sports Authority'. It is a very thin non-adhesive tape composed of flexible styrofoam type material. The $3 bought me a 2.75 inches by 21.4 yards piece of it, that would be about 3 inches by 257 inches.
I created three pads about five inches wide and three inches high, each one was composed of 37 inches of Mueller M-tape, folded eight times. I put one of these pads around the sides and back of my left heel and two of these pads around the sides and back of my right heel.
The first jogged mile the tightness in the right heel seemed just about correct, the looseness in the heel having been apparently cured; and the left heel looseness-situation was improved but not as satisfactory as the right heel. However when the run was over I discovered that the pads made of the 'M-wrap' had shifted from being behind and to the sides of the heel as intended to being crumpled up beneath the heel.
Feb 17 this M-wrap around the heel was combined with the foot-wear-add-ons of Feb 15, which were: toe-tubes on the left big toe and right index and middle toes; full length gel-foam insole, 'toe bed' (ball of foot and toes, forefoot pad).
Tuesday night on the round the block course I felt some pain in the third mile in the left middle and index toes which did not have toe-tubes on them, and also in the right middle and index toes which had toe-tubes on them. I attribute this to: the wrap in the heel area tightening up the fit of the shoe in general; and, the round-the-block course being hillier.
I stopped for 30 seconds (not counted in the time recorded) after the first mile to tighten up my left shoe-lace. This tightening seemed to result in slight numbness and tingliness in the left foot. I estimate that if the level of padding in the left heel area is increased, this will tighten things up result being I will not have to tighten the laces to the point where the annoying numbness and tingliness set in.
On both shoes today I tied the front three shoe-laces tightly and the top three shoe-laces loosely.
The 74 inches of 'M-wrap' padding around the right heel cost me only 86 cents; much less expensive in terms of price per unit of padding compared to the ready-made pads such as toe-tubes.
During and after the run Fb 17 I did not feel as good mentally and physically as I sometimes do during and after a run. I suspect that the six-mile jog-walk after one day of rest is too little exercise for me. This despite the fact that a day of rest produces faster times.
Wampanoag Interlude
The reason I did not do the jog/walk Monday night Feb 16: Monday evening I allowed myself to have just 12 oz of beer after having been awake for only 3 hours--I thought I could take it, could not, became too lazy to jog for the next 24 hours. Some 'Wampanoag' 'braves' -- the same people that first met the Pilgrims when they landed at Plymouth rock some three hundred plus years ago, entertained me with conversation and food and I decided to have a beer.
No really--except these were half English ancestry, Martha's Vineyard was apparently named after one of their female ancestors whose last name was 'Golding'. They emphatically told me that I looked like I had American Indian ancestry. I told them about a story I've heard re my ancestors, how due to the wildness of the historic American 'wild west' of a couple of hundred years ago, I have some American Indian ancestry.
It surprised me that the 'Wampanoag' 'braves' would be so sure that someone whose American Indian ancestry level is at most less than ten percent of all his ancestry, is 'American Indian'. They were convinced that the Indian ancestry in me is not Asian Indian but American Indian. Naturally I suppose, they appeared to consider 'American Indian', that is the natives of North America type ancestry as a much greater thing than Asian Indian ancestry as in from India.
Reminds me of how Hispanics think I look Hispanic, Whites think I look white, Indians from India think they can see India-Indian in me; people who look like my brother, annoyingly pretend I look like my brother. The price I pay for being so good looking I guess, everyone likes to think they can see their own ethnic group in me, people who are similar to my brother annoyingly pretending that I look like my brother.
I listened to the 'Wampanoag' 'brave' give his long speech--while drinking his Budweiser beer with the noise of the TV in the backround-about matters such as: how his 'girlfriend''s son is the fastest sprinter in his grade, how to cook various meals, his five brothers, someone slipped on outdoors steps he built, his birth and youth in Newton Mass, his ancestry, the dangers of nicotine gum, the famous American Indian rock group 'Red Bone', and etc.
Seemed to me like the man I was listening to compared to the fearsome American Indian warrior braves of hundreds of years ago, was sort of like a cat compared to a tiger. Admitting such to be the case reduces the drama and impressiveness out of the narrative but anyway. At least I am able to omit factoids that reduce the level of 'drama' and 'brag' that the 'first people' of our area think of me as one of them, are hospitable with me, and have invited me back to share with them some barbecued pork that I have quickly become expert in cooking.
I forgot to mention to the Catholic 'Wampanoag' 'braves' a thought that had been on my mind: how can Catholics who disagree with their own church about so many things, be so prejudiced against Christians who are not Catholics? It does not compute. But these particular 'Wampanoag' Catholics were not as far as I could tell prejudiced against non-Catholic Christians.
Note: the barbecue pork recipe can be found in an earlier blog post of this month. It produces inexpensive barbecued pork that I can now honestly say, produces the best barbecued-pork tacos I have ever eaten. It produces barbecued pork that, days after it was first cooked and put in the frig, tastes very good both after re-heating/cooking and even without re-cooking or re-heating. By way of contrast, many high-sales-volume restaurants sell you cooked meat that tastes good while it is warm, but does not taste good when it cools down, a sign of inferiority in quality.
Shoes + full-length foam/gel insole + gel forefoot 'toe bed' + toe tube on left big toe + toe tubes on right middle & index toes + front 3 shoelaces loose + top 3 shoelaces tight + (NEW!) foam tape around heels = almost comfortable run on ultra-hilly around-the-block course, heel looseness problems almost solved.
Logical next steps: use foam tape to create toe-tubes for left index and middle toes; use foam tape to increase padding on right middle and index toes; use adhesive tape to prevent foam tape intended to fit around the heel from sliding to underneat heel.
Tuesday night Feb 17, I ran the course around the block, 12 times around the block = 6 miles, first third and fifth miles jogged, second fourth and sixth miles walked. Time after five miles was 86 minutes, 3 minutes faster than my personal best so for of 89 minutes for this round-the-block course, which was a few weeks ago, less than 8 weeks ago.
The around the block course is different from the Main and Moody streets course. This one is Pond st to Bacon st to School st to Exchange st to Pond st, a loop or circle. It is half uphill half downhill, the hills are steeper than the Moody street hill. The forefeet of my feet apparently slap the ground harder both on steep downhills and steep uphills, this results in greater discomfort.
Tuesday night Feb 17 the footwear was the same as Sunday night Feb 15, except that Feb 17 Mueller brand 'M wrap' ( http://www.muellersportsmed.com/Retail_Tape_and_Wrap.htm ) was used to pad the sides and rear of the foot in the heel area to counteract the looseness in the heels.
The package of Mueller 'M-wrap' cost me $3 about a year ago, I bought it at some place like 'Olympia Sports' or 'The Sports Authority'. It is a very thin non-adhesive tape composed of flexible styrofoam type material. The $3 bought me a 2.75 inches by 21.4 yards piece of it, that would be about 3 inches by 257 inches.
I created three pads about five inches wide and three inches high, each one was composed of 37 inches of Mueller M-tape, folded eight times. I put one of these pads around the sides and back of my left heel and two of these pads around the sides and back of my right heel.
The first jogged mile the tightness in the right heel seemed just about correct, the looseness in the heel having been apparently cured; and the left heel looseness-situation was improved but not as satisfactory as the right heel. However when the run was over I discovered that the pads made of the 'M-wrap' had shifted from being behind and to the sides of the heel as intended to being crumpled up beneath the heel.
Feb 17 this M-wrap around the heel was combined with the foot-wear-add-ons of Feb 15, which were: toe-tubes on the left big toe and right index and middle toes; full length gel-foam insole, 'toe bed' (ball of foot and toes, forefoot pad).
Tuesday night on the round the block course I felt some pain in the third mile in the left middle and index toes which did not have toe-tubes on them, and also in the right middle and index toes which had toe-tubes on them. I attribute this to: the wrap in the heel area tightening up the fit of the shoe in general; and, the round-the-block course being hillier.
I stopped for 30 seconds (not counted in the time recorded) after the first mile to tighten up my left shoe-lace. This tightening seemed to result in slight numbness and tingliness in the left foot. I estimate that if the level of padding in the left heel area is increased, this will tighten things up result being I will not have to tighten the laces to the point where the annoying numbness and tingliness set in.
On both shoes today I tied the front three shoe-laces tightly and the top three shoe-laces loosely.
The 74 inches of 'M-wrap' padding around the right heel cost me only 86 cents; much less expensive in terms of price per unit of padding compared to the ready-made pads such as toe-tubes.
During and after the run Fb 17 I did not feel as good mentally and physically as I sometimes do during and after a run. I suspect that the six-mile jog-walk after one day of rest is too little exercise for me. This despite the fact that a day of rest produces faster times.
Wampanoag Interlude
The reason I did not do the jog/walk Monday night Feb 16: Monday evening I allowed myself to have just 12 oz of beer after having been awake for only 3 hours--I thought I could take it, could not, became too lazy to jog for the next 24 hours. Some 'Wampanoag' 'braves' -- the same people that first met the Pilgrims when they landed at Plymouth rock some three hundred plus years ago, entertained me with conversation and food and I decided to have a beer.
No really--except these were half English ancestry, Martha's Vineyard was apparently named after one of their female ancestors whose last name was 'Golding'. They emphatically told me that I looked like I had American Indian ancestry. I told them about a story I've heard re my ancestors, how due to the wildness of the historic American 'wild west' of a couple of hundred years ago, I have some American Indian ancestry.
It surprised me that the 'Wampanoag' 'braves' would be so sure that someone whose American Indian ancestry level is at most less than ten percent of all his ancestry, is 'American Indian'. They were convinced that the Indian ancestry in me is not Asian Indian but American Indian. Naturally I suppose, they appeared to consider 'American Indian', that is the natives of North America type ancestry as a much greater thing than Asian Indian ancestry as in from India.
Reminds me of how Hispanics think I look Hispanic, Whites think I look white, Indians from India think they can see India-Indian in me; people who look like my brother, annoyingly pretend I look like my brother. The price I pay for being so good looking I guess, everyone likes to think they can see their own ethnic group in me, people who are similar to my brother annoyingly pretending that I look like my brother.
I listened to the 'Wampanoag' 'brave' give his long speech--while drinking his Budweiser beer with the noise of the TV in the backround-about matters such as: how his 'girlfriend''s son is the fastest sprinter in his grade, how to cook various meals, his five brothers, someone slipped on outdoors steps he built, his birth and youth in Newton Mass, his ancestry, the dangers of nicotine gum, the famous American Indian rock group 'Red Bone', and etc.
Seemed to me like the man I was listening to compared to the fearsome American Indian warrior braves of hundreds of years ago, was sort of like a cat compared to a tiger. Admitting such to be the case reduces the drama and impressiveness out of the narrative but anyway. At least I am able to omit factoids that reduce the level of 'drama' and 'brag' that the 'first people' of our area think of me as one of them, are hospitable with me, and have invited me back to share with them some barbecued pork that I have quickly become expert in cooking.
I forgot to mention to the Catholic 'Wampanoag' 'braves' a thought that had been on my mind: how can Catholics who disagree with their own church about so many things, be so prejudiced against Christians who are not Catholics? It does not compute. But these particular 'Wampanoag' Catholics were not as far as I could tell prejudiced against non-Catholic Christians.
Note: the barbecue pork recipe can be found in an earlier blog post of this month. It produces inexpensive barbecued pork that I can now honestly say, produces the best barbecued-pork tacos I have ever eaten. It produces barbecued pork that, days after it was first cooked and put in the frig, tastes very good both after re-heating/cooking and even without re-cooking or re-heating. By way of contrast, many high-sales-volume restaurants sell you cooked meat that tastes good while it is warm, but does not taste good when it cools down, a sign of inferiority in quality.
Labels: adidas running shoes improvement problems mistakes possibilities, Massachusset, pilgrims, plymouth, toe bandages, toes, Wampanoag
posted by David Virgil at 4:43 AM
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