spam another perspective on feet

Fri Jul 9 10:48:58 PDT 2004

Very interesting. And true.
Sandals with vibram were great for me too. I used trekking shoes for the
first part of the walk (for the first 14-17 km) and then I wore sandals.
Changing shoes was a great idea.
Before starting the Camino I kept training by walking in parks during the
weekends (about 2 hours) and walking to and from my office during the week.
As Rome is full of slopes, hills and..... Roman roads (the famous "calzadas
romanas"!), I was pretty trained before I started the Camino!
I also wore a small backpack, but when I was on the Camino I realized I
should have trained with the backpack I was to use in Spain: the weight has
a big impact on legs and feet, and what doesn't hurt when you walk with a
small backpack, will surely hurt when you wear a heavier one.
Thank you for your interesting contribution.

Claudia

>From: Road to Santiago Pilgrimage [mailto:GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU]On
>Behalf Of Susan Long
>Sent: Friday, July 09, 2004 10:17 AM
>To: GOCAMINOaPETE.URI.EDU
>Subject: *spam* another perspective on feet
>
>
>These are my learnings about feet, shoes and blisters from the camino.
>Some of it is repetive, but I hope it is helpful.
>
>We started walking about 5 months before. We were both in reasonable
>shape but were not walkers (I swim and bike, mostly). Also we wanted to
>make sure we had worn our packs fully loaded so that there would be no
>surprises on the Camino.
>
>As it turns out, we did not walk as much as we intended. we were hoping
>for several walks of 11 miles with our packs, but we probably only did
>up to several walks of 6 miles with our packs. But that was enough to
>make sure that we had no problems with our packs. But it is definitely
>good to practice with the packs, to make sure they sit on your hips
>correctly, to get your back and shoulders  used to it, to make sure your
>shoes give you enough support for the extra weight, etc. We had gone to
>REI to get them fitted and that was very helpful. As it turned out, we
>had no problems with our packs or our backs during the walk.
>
>We used walking sticks (two). We are sure that helped a LOT with our
>knees and hips. We had no problems with our knees and hips and I have
>had problems before on hikes. By far most of the pilgrims use walking
>sticks.
>
>We also made sure to do a lot of walking in our boots. I probably walked
>almost 100 miles in the boots before we left. I had no major problems
>during the training, but as it turned out. I remember I did have a
>problem with my little toe, but since we did not do long walks two days
>in a row, the little toe always had time to get back to  normal before
>the next walk. On the Camino, it just kept getting worse and worse with
>the daily long walks. So I should have been aware that that small
>problem would develop into a big problem on the camino. It is very
>different doing a long walk once or twice a week and doing long walks
>every day. I probably should have gotten different boots. As it turned
>out, after about 4 days of walking, I could hardly walk because the
>little toe was so sore - the way the boot fit it just squashed that toe
>over time. So be aware!
>
>The other thing I found out was that many, maybe more than half, of the
>pilgrims wore sandals and socks to walk the camino instead of boots. I
>had brought Chaco sandals intending to use them in the evening but when
>I decided I couldn't wear my boots anymore I tried walking the camino
>with those, and it worked out just fine! They are very substantial
>sandals with a vibram sole, You don't have ankle support, and dirt and
>pebbles can get under your socks more easily, but on the other hand,
>there is much less surface rubbing on your feet. So if I ever do it
>again, I think I will use Chaco sandals instead of regular hiking boots.
>
>As far as blisters, we were flatlanders, and we did develop blisters and
>callouses on the flat walks and we thought we would be fine on the
>camino because our feet had gotten tough. But there are steep uphills
>and downhills and they stress whole different parts of your foot. So we
>got blisters in places we hadn't gotten before. The only people we met
>who didn't have problems with blisters were these wiry european guys who
>belong to hiking clubs and go hiking in the mountains every weekend. For
>them, the camino was a walk in the park. For everybody else (tenderfeet
>in comparison) we all had blisters. The things they tell you in the
>books - make sure you stop and address hot spots immediately before they
>turn into blisters, change your socks at least once during the day, use
>vaseline on your feet to cut down friction, tape areas that you think
>might be problems beforehand - these are all true. We were not
>conscientious enough. I have a fairly high threshold of pain, believe it
>or not, and something had to be well on the way to a blister before I
>would really notice it. It would have been better if I had been more
>conscientious about taking inventory. You can put duct tape or regular
>athletic tape on areas that might develop into blisters, or areas that
>are starting to get "hot" - it will prevent the blister from forming. I
>did make a practice of changing my socks at mid day, and I think that
>helped a lot. (If the socks are damp or dirty they will tend to create
>blisters.) We got blisters: between the toes, on the balls of the feet,
>on the bottom of the heel, on the sides of the heel. on the side of the
>big toes. So you might consider preventative maintenance in those
>locations. The other thing that we didn't start doing until almost too
>late was using vaseline on our feet. (We also bought this horribly
>expensive salve on the camino called "unguento do peregrino" which is
>vaseline with some other ingredients that make it smell and feel really
>nice, but basically the same as vaseline.) It really does help with
>friction. I highly recocommend doing that. Put it all over your feet,
>especially where blisters might form (like between the toes). And grease
>up again when you change your socks during the day.
>
>Also regarding blisters, we had read in the books that the best thing to
>do was drain the blister with a needle and then wrap it up, and we were
>nervous about doing that (it might hurt! We were afraid of needles!).
>Well, after we got the bad blisters we watched the Red Cross treating
>blisters, and that's what they did, so we got our own stuff from a
>farmacia. A syringe, Compeed bandages and other types of bandaids, and
>Betadine. You can use the syringe (or needle) to drain the blister (just
>puncture the bubble, it doesn't hurt at all, and press the fluid out),
>and then you can inject Betadine into the space, wrap it up lightly, and
>let it mellow out overnight. The betadine will prevent infection and
>help it get started drying out and healing faster. This procedure worked
>really well for us. Then put a compeed bandage on it in the morning and
>let that stay on until it falls off several days later. It turned out to
>be a very entertaining way of passing time in the evenings, as well!
>
>The other folklore is that people swear that going slow and taking lots
>of breaks helps prevents blisters. I tended to walk fast and try to get
>where I was going as quickly as possible. But others who dawdled more
>had less problems with blisters. So take that for what it's worth.
>
>Sorry for the long note, but obviously this is a subject I care a lot
>about! I hope this helps!
>
>
>
>Susan Long
>slongyahayahoo.com

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