Concept2 Forum

Hiya, today we did 5 x 500m sprints in the gym as our training for our races (4weeks!) and I noticed after every single one that the soles of my feet were quite tight and painful (almost like a cramp, but not the same!). I never get this when erging longer distances and haven't experienced it before when doing sprints (admitedly I don't usually do 5 continuously!!!). My shoes are comfortable, I wear two pairs of thick socks and I made sure that the straps on the foot plate weren't too tight.<br /><br />Any suggestions?! I'm guessing it could possible be due to poor technique (I have also been told by my doctor that I'm fairly flat footed).<br /><br />Thanks<br />Chloé<br />xxx

Hoofbeat,<br /><br />You ain't gonna believe this, but I'm going to tell you anyhow. There is a tendence to grap with your toes when asking your body to raise it's performance. Try concentrating on relaxing your feet when sprinting. Not everyone does this, but it does happen. Just the body's natural reaction when asked to go to a higher level of performance.<br /><br />Yoda

<!--QuoteBegin-Yoda1+Jan 26 2005, 07:34 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(Yoda1 @ Jan 26 2005, 07:34 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Hoofbeat,<br /><br />You ain't gonna believe this, but I'm going to tell you anyhow.  There is a tendence to grap with your toes when asking your body to raise it's performance.  Try concentrating on relaxing your feet when sprinting.  Not everyone does this, but it does happen.  Just the body's natural reaction when asked to go to a higher level of performance.<br /><br />Yoda <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Thanks, I'll try and think about that next time we erg. I seem to have great problems with my feet as in October I managed to kick the footplate so hard to achieve maximum drive that I strained ligaments in my foot. So perhaps sub-consciously I'm tensing my whole foot as my body's trying to prepare itself incase I kick down too hard. Luckily, I think my technique has improved loads since last October and I've had no more problems with my ligaments - I just don't want to go and damage my foots so I can't race in less than 4weeks!

Now we know why you go by "Hoofbeat". Go luck to you.<br /><br />Yoda

Lol - I hadn't realised that!<br /><br />Actually it's because I'm also an incrediably keen horse-rider!

The saaame thing has happened to me, too. (And I'm gonna try the 'relaxing your feet' thing too...) But my coach also recomends focusing on pushing off with your heel. A lot of the crampy feeling comes from arching the foot, because of where you push off. (supposedly) I tried it, and it really helped me.