Unhappy Toes and Happy Vests
The countdown to race day is officially on! With just a few weeks until my first ultra marathon, I'm overthinking the final challenges of training, including obsessive concern about my big toes. I have nailed down my race-day gear, with two pairs of chafe-free shorts and soft, comfy shirts and gratitude that I bought a different vest because not all hydration vests are created equal. I share my hopefully practical advice for fellow new ultramarathon runners, pat myself on the back for testing every piece of gear before race day, and celebrate the support and wisdom from the more experienced running community. With one last big training week ahead before tapering begins, excitement, nerves, and anticipation build toward my ultimate goal: showing up healthy, enjoying the day, and crossing the ultra finish line in one piece.
How I Procrastinate
- Sleep with Rock Stars, the Gen X Sleep Podcast
- Country Fried Rock, Podcast Archives from 2009-2020
- Music Playlists
- Support This Podcast
- Dive Bar Music Club, the Low Key, High Taste Happy Hour for Music Nerds
Chapters
- 00:15 - Training Challenges: The Struggles with My Toes
- 01:47 - Training Gear and Outfit Selection
- 02:46 - Preparing for the Race: Gear and Strategies
- 04:04 - Choosing the Right Running Vest
- 06:07 - Preparing for Race Day
Recommended If You Like
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Transcript
Welcome to Mama Runs and Ultra.
Speaker A:I'm a runner on the downhill side of my 50s, training for my very first ultra marathon.
Speaker A:And this podcast is me saying all the quiet parts out loud of what the hell am I thinking?
Speaker A:So I think I've mentioned a few times throughout this that in my training I have had some issues with my big toes.
Speaker A:So my toes sort of curl up at the end and they are hitting the tops of my shoes.
Speaker A:So I sized up and I went for men's shoes so they were wider and had a bigger to toe box and it's mostly helped.
Speaker A:And again, none of this is an issue for me on flat ground.
Speaker A:It's only when I'm going up and down hills.
Speaker A:So obviously I've been doing that in my training here and I'm now getting a little worried about the whole toe situation.
Speaker A:So I'm very carefully taking care of my feet.
Speaker A:I have the book about how to do so and I've done all the things that are suggested, but I have not been doing things like pre taping because I'm not dealing with blisters, knock wood or anything like that.
Speaker A:It's just my concern of my toes hitting the tops of my shoes.
Speaker A:So not the ends of my shoes, they're not too short, it's the tops of my shoes.
Speaker A:And I guess I probably need some suggestions on which shoes have the highest volume toe box because it doesn't seem to be a width issue.
Speaker A:I have a pair of shoes that are those like foot shaped shoes, you know, I'm talking about not the toe shoes but those, they feel good.
Speaker A:Like it's not the width, it's how high it is from the front of the shoe to the top of my foot.
Speaker A:And I really honestly don't know how to figure out which ones have more volume in the front.
Speaker A:That doesn't seem to be something that any of the shoe review places seem to really cover.
Speaker A:So fingers crossed on this and I'm hoping that it doesn't get any worse, but I am into my last like big long runs back to back in the training block and I don't have a ton of time to problem solve this at this point.
Speaker A:So fingers crossed and that's kind of where we're stuck at this point.
Speaker A:I have been training in the outfit that I plan to wear during race day and in fact there are three different outfits because I was concerned about rain and Let me back up for a second.
Speaker A:I used to normally run in like bike shorts kind of things, but as it has been hot and Sweaty.
Speaker A:Here in South Carolina, I discovered that after about 15 miles, I can't pull them back up again when I'm hot and sweaty and extremely tired mentally.
Speaker A:So I've decided to stick with my regular running shorts.
Speaker A:And I do have two pairs of those that I typically run in, and they are different.
Speaker A:So I wanted to make sure I wasn't getting chafing, that there weren't just uncomfortable things around the waistband, things like that.
Speaker A:And so I have nailed it down to these two pairs of regular shorts that I'm gonna wear.
Speaker A:One is a little floofier.
Speaker A:I don't really know how to explain that.
Speaker A:They're.
Speaker A:They're kind of baggy, but not in the legs, so, like, they don't ride up or anything.
Speaker A:And then the pair are.
Speaker A:They're not as cute.
Speaker A:And I'm a big fan of like bright colored clothes and cute patterns and that sort of thing.
Speaker A:But they're really, really comfy and they're soft.
Speaker A:So I have already packed all of my stuff for my race that's in like, what, three weeks?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:I have packed it so that I can change clothes at the halfway mark.
Speaker A:Because even if it's just a mental shift, I want to be able to have a plan I don't want to have.
Speaker A:If for some reason I am chafing at that point, which, knock wood, will not be the case, I have really worked hard to come up with what might help prevent that.
Speaker A:I want to have a plan so nailed down.
Speaker A:I have my favorite shirts.
Speaker A:Not because they're cute, because they're not.
Speaker A:They're just super, super, super comfortable.
Speaker A:And as someone with a history of chafing along the back of my neck, I've been really glad that I replaced my vests with a different one A few months ago.
Speaker A:I think I talked about it anyway.
Speaker A:Sent my old vest to a friend of mine who loves the one that I didn't love.
Speaker A:And this new one seems to be perfect.
Speaker A:So, yeah, if y' all are in search of a vest.
Speaker A:And because I didn't know this, I thought you buy a running vest, you're good.
Speaker A:But nobody told me and I didn't know.
Speaker A:So the first vest that I got was one that is.
Speaker A:They're both really highly recommended, very, very well known brands.
Speaker A:Like, not.
Speaker A:I wasn't going for like off brand Amazon or anything like that.
Speaker A:So it's not that the vest was wrong, it's that the vest was wrong for me.
Speaker A:And I live in a place where you can't go try those on.
Speaker A:We don't have a place that sells running vests around here.
Speaker A:And so I just ordered like the most popular one that I could find from the various running boards that I'm on.
Speaker A:And that wasn't a good idea.
Speaker A:I didn't know though, I thought if it was a good brand, it was a good thing.
Speaker A:And so if you are new like me and you are thinking of getting a new vest, it is absolutely worth your time to go to a place that has multiple different ones and try them on.
Speaker A:You may feel silly, but believe me, you'll be so happy.
Speaker A:So like fill it up with stuff and stand there in the store and tighten it down and run around and see how it feels.
Speaker A:Because that empty vest doesn't give you any information of how it's going to feel when you've got all your crap in there.
Speaker A:So my two cents worth that I wish somebody had said to me because I genuinely was just relying on reports of people who have lots of experience with this and I figured if they do this a lot, this works for them.
Speaker A:And it just didn't occur to me that tiny little differences in the curve on the back of the neck or how low it goes in the back of the neck versus how high it goes and how different people's perceptions of materials would make such a difference.
Speaker A:So there's one that, and I'm not here to trash it, it's just, I now know is a common experience the material is perceived as soft by some people, and for me it was like sandpaper on the back of my neck.
Speaker A:And I thought you were supposed to just suffer through that.
Speaker A:And I kept like pulling the back of my T shirt up higher and all this sort of stuff.
Speaker A:No, just get a different vest with different material.
Speaker A:Everyone reacts differently.
Speaker A:And I should have known because I'm one of those people who like has to cut the tag out of everything I wear anyway.
Speaker A:And I have multiple seam rippers and I can tell you exactly where they're located because if suddenly a tag is getting me, it is gone.
Speaker A:So now I know.
Speaker A:And I hope that that is helpful to someone else who is new to trail or ultra running or is just sick of holding the handheld.
Speaker A:I can tell you my one of my running partners is all about the handheld for water.
Speaker A:And there I'm sorry.
Speaker A:I am so glad to have my hands free and not have to be holding that stupid water bottle.
Speaker A:Whether it's a hard one or a soft one, the vest is so worth it.
Speaker A:So if I'm out there in four miles with my vest on.
Speaker A:You just mind your own business because I'm happy.
Speaker A:Anyway, definitely looking at taper after this week and is that right?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:One more big week and then taper.
Speaker A:Oh boy.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:I'm not gonna let myself worry about that.
Speaker A:So yeah, I very much appreciated the folks who have reached out to me through the various different channels, mostly dming me on Instagram, which is funny because I hate social media as I've repeatedly said.
Speaker A:But thank you for reaching out.
Speaker A:You've given me some excellent recommendations over the course of this podcast that has been very, very helpful to me and I think is gonna help me set up well for showing up and finishing in one piece for my race day.
Speaker A:And I'm very much looking forward to that.
Speaker A:As always.
Speaker A:The thing that helps this podcast reach new people is leaving those five star ratings and kind reviews in your favorite podcast app.
Speaker A:It makes such a difference.
Speaker A:Comments on YouTube are always fun as well.
Speaker A:I do reply to those that is me.
Speaker A:So feel free to stop on by cuz Mama runs an ultra.
