Forefoot Mania

As you may or may not know I've battled with all sorts of injuries...for a long time. And some "new shit" has come to light and it looks like I may, at long last, have my solution. The answer it turns out was, literally, under my nose the entire time. To fully explain...lets go back in time a little.....(insert Wayne's World "didley-oo" noises)

I came into high school and started doing "repetitive motion" sports...things like running and skiing and biking and found that I was pretty good at "repeating motions" compared to the other kids. I rose up through the VT high school ranks quickly and by the end of my sophomore year was 2nd in the state for the mile - and my first year skiing, my junior year, I advanced from falling over just looking at a pair of skis to finishing 8th overall in the state. I trained for a couple weeks that summer on a bike and got 2nd in a junior mt. bike race.

Then, something happened. At the end of the summer between my junior and senior year in high school all of a sudden I was injured. I was at a running camp in Rhode Island and one minute I was in the best shape of my life, up to that point, and doing plyo's and the next minute my calves were...for lack of a better word, ripped. That senior year in high school everything went wrong, I basically had a walking limp...I called it "leg-idous". I went from injury to injury and found that I couldn't run or ski the same way I had before.

I got into college and had to baby myself through a year and a half of running before I realized how little I could train without hurting myself...about 20-25 miles a week...with LOTS of stretching and strength training. I was running faster, finally, but only because I was keeping myself away from serious injuries by hardly running any distance at all. Why was this all I could handle...

I bombed out of school, the track team got cut, and I left to live and travel in Asia for a year.

I came back and decided to make my fame and fortune in cycling...which I had always thought would be my calling. My first couple seasons I had some pretty serious ups and downs. But, over the last couple years I've been able to become a more consistent rider. What changed was that I started using "LeWedges". Also known as cleat shims they cant the shoe at an angle in relation to the cleat. I started using them and things got better...not great, but better.

I've always sat pretty heavily to one side of the bike (basically, not squarely in the center of the seat). When I first visited Green Mountain Rehab, only a couple weeks after getting 3rd in the Burlington Crit, the computrainer revealed my power output was coming out 60% from my left leg and 40% from my right leg. And as I've done more and more miles I've realized my muscle development is not equal between my two legs...again...why? To make pedaling comfortable for me to climb I had to use 6 Lewedges on my left leg and 7 on the right.

I've gotten back into cross country ski racing over the last few winters, and this season have decided to put more into it and started the season with hopeful ambitions for both classic and skate racing. It soon became quite apparent that my classic racing was going nowhere. I simply couldn't use my legs climbing. Doing intervals in the fall with Eli, classic striding was the only thing I could keep up with him doing. Why couldn't I climb on classic skis on snow?...why?

I did a classic time trial, almost a month ago now, with some skiers from UVM and Middlebury. I raced really hard, but I got stomped. Infact, I raced so hard that I couldn't move my right leg the next day. The area around my hip flexor on my right leg had hardly any muscle there and the little muscle that was there was so strained I couldn't walk straight up stairs for a couple days. That really pissed me of. I'd been putting a lot into skiing and things were just getting worse.

Then, later that same week, like dream come true, the answer came and dropped into my hands. A guy I used to ski with in high school came into the Skirack with some new bike shoes that he'd gotten. He was having some trouble with some pressure on his foot, near where the buckle was located on the side of the shoe. I took out the insole of the shoe, to have a look inside the shoe, and a little plastic piece came bouncing out. He told me someone who helped fit him to his bicycle had put it inside of his shoes, and that it was called a "forefoot" wedge.

Over the course of that afternoon the image of that forefoot wedge stayed in my head...until, at about 4 o'clock, like a ray of light, everything clicked...and it all made sense. My forefoot needed support...basically, if my ankle is aligned with my knee then the inside of my forefoot (the ball of the foot) is raised in relation to the outside of my foot. So, when I pressure the ball of my foot - like pedaling, skiing, and running...my ankle comes in and all hell brakes loose for the muscles and joints above. Also, my forefeet needed different amounts of support. This would explain why I sat to one side of the bike, and why my muscle development was unequal. The problem (my forefoot) had been under my nose the entire time (unless I was laying down).

So, I had my problem figured out....and only 10 and a half years later! Now, it was onto the solution...It was time to fight back!

I immediately went up to get Andy from Green Mountain Rehab to get my feet molded for some custom sports orthodics, and we talked at length about what I was looking to achieve through the orthodic. Custom orthodics take time though...2 weeks to be exact...and I wanted get moving in the right direction. After 10.5 years...it was go time. I found out Specialized made forefoot wedges and ordered enough for a small army. It was time to start experimenting.

I, against Helen's best suggestion, loaded a ton of them into my cycling shoes. I pulled a mirror in front of my indoor trainer and watched how I was pedaling. My knees groaned, my tendons hissed, and my muscles lurched into motion. Everything felt so right...and so wrong. The challenge of "repetitive motion" sports is just that...you repeat motions over and over again, right or wrong, and however you do it - your body remembers. Proper motion patterns, if not done, will feel foreign. I knew it was right, but played it cool....20 minutes on the trainer here...a couple minutes there.

Things are progressing steadily now. The custom footbeds had arrived and I've just started using them. I am seeing immediate improvements in skiing and cycling, and I think I will continue to see improvements for some time as my muscles balance back out. The footbeds initially made my ski boots and cycling shoes fit snugger (vertically) and as I’ve continued to use them my feet have “relaxed” and have both lengthened and widened. My hammertoes are gradually lengthening back out…and it looks like I’m going to have to get some bigger shoes to fill. ;-)

Both Andy and Eric at Green Mt. Rehab are fantastic partners in helping me figure this stuff out. I think far to often we are tempted to either try to do something entirely by ourselves or to completely rely on others. Much more can be accomplished in collaboration though. I really enjoy working with them to improve myself and appreciate their help.

I'll keep you posted on how things are going...and hopefully the results will start doing the talking...and not the long blog posts.