I'm new to blogging in general but thought this story could bear telling for people like me who are tackling their first winter. Over the last few weeks I've been running in temperatures ranging from 25-35 degrees (F) and have had no problems. In fact, a couple days ago I did almost 4 miles barefoot in 26 degrees and by the end my feet felt like they'd been sitting in front of a heater. It's been extremely encouraging to me, as someone who wanted to run as long as possible barefoot I've the winter. Also, a few weeks ago my wife got me a pair of VFF Flows as a "winter shoe" and I have carried them around with me "just in case". All that said, here's a story about my run this morning:
At 4:45AM thus morning I threw on my gear, including my Flows, and hit the road. I started with my usual 5 minute walk to loosen up the sleepy leg and foot muscles. It was more or less a "lake effect" blizzard and we had about an inch of fresh snow. It took a few minutes to warm my core (walking didn't help with this) and after a couple minutes of running I could feel my toes warming up in the Flows. I had planned a 5 mile run and things were going well.
Per my usual strategy, at about the 1 mile mark I stopped and took off the Flows. My feet were instantly cold, but I reminded myself that I just needed to get moving again and they'd heat back up. I started off and fought through the cold. Now, 25 degrees with dry roads is one thing, and I had done this several times, but 25 degrees with snow was quite another, and as it melted on the top of my feet I couldn't seem to build enough heat in my toes.
I read a great saying a while back that went: "ask yourself if your feet feel uncomfortable. If you're not sure ask again in a minute or two. If you're still not sure, the answer is NO". For some reason today was the day I forgot about this.
As my run went on, I found myself checking the status of my feet, and despite the answer being "man my toes are cold!" I kept thinking "just another minute or so and they'll heat up. I went through this for an entire mile (about 11-12 minutes) before it became apparent that my toes were definitely not warming up.
I finally stopped to put my Flows back on. I wiped my left foot off with a glove and tried to put that shoe on. It was difficult, since my toes were pretty numb, but I got them in and they started to feel better. I went to my right foot, which is slightly different from my left and normally has a slightly harder time putting on the Flows, and this is when I actually started to panic. The shoe would not go on. My toes were too wet and numb to dig into the toe pockets, and the foot was getting colder.
I was about a mile from home (my 2 mile course wound quite a bit, so straight-line was only a mile), my shoe wouldn't go on, my feet were frozen, and my family was snug in bed (at 5:20AM). The panic felt pretty real, so in desperation I forced my foot into the shoe, lined up my toes as best I could and headed for home. My toes were scrunched in an unnatural manner and the "arch" of the shoe was misaligned, so the jog home was super uncomfortable, forcing me to favor my left foot, straining my recently "healed" Achilles tendon. By the time I got home my left Achilles and right foot were in considerable pain. On the plus side, my feet warmed pretty well once I got the Flows back on.
Once I got home I got out of he shoes and checked for signs of frostbite, and thankfully it looked like I came away unscathed. My feet warmed pretty quickly and I got on with my morning.
The moral of the story, if there is one to be had, is that (a) the Flows are great for allowing me to continue running in the snow, but (b) they make lousy "rescue shoes" for cold weather on account of the difficulty of getting numb toes into the toe pockets. In the future, my strategy for snow will either be to do the entire run in my Flows, or to take my old asics with me as a "rescue shoe". Also, I don't think I'll be forgetting the saying about foot comfort again (I know we all say this all the time, but Listen to your feet, people!
).
At 4:45AM thus morning I threw on my gear, including my Flows, and hit the road. I started with my usual 5 minute walk to loosen up the sleepy leg and foot muscles. It was more or less a "lake effect" blizzard and we had about an inch of fresh snow. It took a few minutes to warm my core (walking didn't help with this) and after a couple minutes of running I could feel my toes warming up in the Flows. I had planned a 5 mile run and things were going well.
Per my usual strategy, at about the 1 mile mark I stopped and took off the Flows. My feet were instantly cold, but I reminded myself that I just needed to get moving again and they'd heat back up. I started off and fought through the cold. Now, 25 degrees with dry roads is one thing, and I had done this several times, but 25 degrees with snow was quite another, and as it melted on the top of my feet I couldn't seem to build enough heat in my toes.
I read a great saying a while back that went: "ask yourself if your feet feel uncomfortable. If you're not sure ask again in a minute or two. If you're still not sure, the answer is NO". For some reason today was the day I forgot about this.
As my run went on, I found myself checking the status of my feet, and despite the answer being "man my toes are cold!" I kept thinking "just another minute or so and they'll heat up. I went through this for an entire mile (about 11-12 minutes) before it became apparent that my toes were definitely not warming up.
I finally stopped to put my Flows back on. I wiped my left foot off with a glove and tried to put that shoe on. It was difficult, since my toes were pretty numb, but I got them in and they started to feel better. I went to my right foot, which is slightly different from my left and normally has a slightly harder time putting on the Flows, and this is when I actually started to panic. The shoe would not go on. My toes were too wet and numb to dig into the toe pockets, and the foot was getting colder.
I was about a mile from home (my 2 mile course wound quite a bit, so straight-line was only a mile), my shoe wouldn't go on, my feet were frozen, and my family was snug in bed (at 5:20AM). The panic felt pretty real, so in desperation I forced my foot into the shoe, lined up my toes as best I could and headed for home. My toes were scrunched in an unnatural manner and the "arch" of the shoe was misaligned, so the jog home was super uncomfortable, forcing me to favor my left foot, straining my recently "healed" Achilles tendon. By the time I got home my left Achilles and right foot were in considerable pain. On the plus side, my feet warmed pretty well once I got the Flows back on.
Once I got home I got out of he shoes and checked for signs of frostbite, and thankfully it looked like I came away unscathed. My feet warmed pretty quickly and I got on with my morning.
The moral of the story, if there is one to be had, is that (a) the Flows are great for allowing me to continue running in the snow, but (b) they make lousy "rescue shoes" for cold weather on account of the difficulty of getting numb toes into the toe pockets. In the future, my strategy for snow will either be to do the entire run in my Flows, or to take my old asics with me as a "rescue shoe". Also, I don't think I'll be forgetting the saying about foot comfort again (I know we all say this all the time, but Listen to your feet, people!
).
