A few posts ago, I talked about lacing options. Several of these were stretchy laces that are used instead of regular shoelaces.
Then a few days ago I read a report from a triathlete who said after a marathon: “My left instep is still quite bruised – it took a pounding from the stretchy triathlon shoelaces that I used and whooops! – never adjusted quite properly. Lesson learned: too loose is better than too snug.”
In other words, she put the laces in her shoes and ran in them without adjusting them to fit her feet. This is an easily made and common mistake. When you make changes to our footwear, learn to try… and then adjust as necessary. You can apply this same failure to other parts of your footwear.
· Wearing new shoes for a walk, race or hike without trying them first – it’s easy to miss a bad fit, a rough inside seam, or a wrong fitting arch. Walk around the house in them for a few hours.
· Wearing new socks in an event without first trying them inside your shoes – the socks may be thicker or thinner then your previous socks, making the fit different.
· Changing to a new lubricant without knowing how it will hold up over the long run.
· Slapping a Band-Aid over a hot spot or blister without knowing there are better patches that will last longer and provide better protection.
