Shoesday – Kind of
I have a confession to make, but before we get into the revealing tell-all portion of this post, I want to show you a picture. Of shoes, of course.
Those are my sweet, kick-ass bike shoes. I love them. First of all, they are pretty cute for bike shoes. Second of all, I got them on super-duper-wicked clearance for $20 at REI. Go ahead & look at how much bike shoes cost at regular price. I’ll wait.
Expensive, right? And although I don’t mind dropping $100 for a pair of running shoes, $100+ for bike shoes seems steep (I don’t know why, but it does). So $20 bike shoes = win, right?
A few weeks ago, I had a pain in my left big toe joint region. I got X-Rays, thinking stress fracture. I blogged about it. I got referred to physical therapy. The pain went away almost immediately.
During the triathlon, it came back. During the bike portion. Which seemed weird.
I talked to my PT about it last week, and she has a theory. My toes are not flat. If I am standing, there is an arch in my toes so that the balls of my feet & tips of my toes touch the ground. This puts (apparently) a lot of pressure on the heads of my metatarsals (I am totally picturing foot bones with faces now, are you?).
So, if for instance, one had worn high heels, or pointy toed shoes, or done a lot of down-hill running, or, I don’t know, squeezed their feet into a pair of bike shoes that were approximately at least an entire size too small for them, that could exacerbate the problem.
My bike shoes are a size 5. My feet go in them. They are tight, but whatevs, I’m not running, right?
Apparently, I can squeeze my feet into too small shoes because my toes just curl up even more, causing more pressure.
The first time the badness happened, I had done a track workout 2 days before, and had gardened & biked the day before. A lot of foot time in too small shoes. During my 10 miler, there was a little pain in both feet, in that exact spot. During the triathlon – it happened during 12 miles in too-small shoes.
I may have to go buy new shoes, because apparently spending a little extra for shoes that fit is worth it. And I’ll need those shoes! I have another triathlon the end of July AND, the architect has challenged me! If I ride 1000 miles in 2011, I get a new road bike! One that might not vibrate violently at moderate speeds! (Only 866.7 miles to go! In 6.5 months. That’s 133 miles/month average. Dammit. I CAN DO IT, right?)
Follow me on social!
