Last year I had IT band syndrome hit me half way through a, what was supposed to be easy, 3 day 35 mile hike. I ended up hobbling the second half of the second day and the third day I had to use a walking stick as a crutch as my left knee complete locked up. That was the first and only hike of last year's season.
This year's season has been an interesting one. I have done a few overnighters and day hikes so it has been more successful than last year. I switched to running shoes and significantly lightened my base weight which was already fairly light. I also started taking two ibuprofen at the beginning of each hike and wearing a Cho-Pat knee brace. This spring I began riding my bike a lot more; anything to strengthen my butt muscles to help mitigate the IT band syndrome.
I have been butt ridden this past few weeks because I stubbed my left pinky toe, turning the entire toe and a quarter of my foot red, black, blue, and purple. However, a few days ago I did a 7 mile day hike without my toe hurting too bad, which impressed me and put a huge smile on my face, so I decided to do an overnighter this weekend. The trip ended up being a short 17 mile loop and my toe did excellent!
Not everything went well though. Both of my heels ended up with horrible blisters, my right much worse than my left. Moleskin and athletic tape allowed my to finish the hike in not too much pain. After getting home I started to do some research into what caused the heel blisters and how to avoid them in the future.
My running shoes have a hard heel cup and after looking back I don't think that I have worn a pair of shoes with this feature in at least a few years. I found that my heels have a mild form of Haglund's deformity; I suppose I have always noticed it but never put a name to it. With these two observations in mind I am going to try the two following remedies: First, a polypro sock liner. People sometimes complain that these bunch up and are fragile but I am going to give it a shot for myself. Second, steam forming my heel cups.
This morning I formed the cups by rigging a 1/2" ID tube to my tea pot and let the heels of my shoes steam for about 10 minutes each. At the end of the steaming the heel cups were as pliable as a soft leather belt. Quickly I put the shoes on and laced them up using the heel lock technique and then took a quick walk around the block. The heels firm up very quickly so if you use this technique be ready to be quick. Also, take out your insoles before steaming so that you do not form them into flattened pancakes.
Did this make a difference? It is too soon to tell. Even a millimeter of difference in the shape of the heel may help but there is no way to tell if this was accomplished due to the padding, etc, over the cup plastic. There is no way to accurately quantify any change; it will have to be qualified by wearing the shoes once my current blisters heal.
My end game? Stop the Ibu dosing and wearing the Cho-Pat. The IT band pain which was still evident by very reduced at the beginning of this season was completely non-existent my last couple of hikes. In regards to blisters, either the liners and heel forming work or I will just switch to a soft heel running shoe. Anything but return to my 35 ton all leather Vasque hiking boots (which, although rigid, never gave me blisters).
So, after ten years of desk jockeying and school 2.0, I am returning to the outdoors. Surprisingly, not surprisingly, I am not my spry 19 year old self anymore :). Although, I do feel healthier and more fit than any other time in my recent life, especially with quitting smoking over a year ago, and am happier than ever. What is the significance of any of this? Nothing. Just a little mind-dump on my behalf which I find necessary every once and a while for some reason.
