Concept2 Forum

I am new to rowing. I was a marathoner but told I had to hang up the shoes. I have been rowing about a month now but have not been able to find a shoe that doesn't rub the back of my foot. My heal pulls up slightly in my running shoes and it irritates after a few minutes. I don't own a rower, I use one at my local YMCA so going barefoot is generally frowned on! I tried just socks but the footholds irritated me as well.
Ideas?

CHBLACKMON wrote:I am new to rowing. I was a marathoner but told I had to hang up the shoes. I have been rowing about a month now but have not been able to find a shoe that doesn't rub the back of my foot. My heal pulls up slightly in my running shoes and it irritates after a few minutes. I don't own a rower, I use one at my local YMCA so going barefoot is generally frowned on! I tried just socks but the footholds irritated me as well.
Ideas?

Lately I have been wearing an ancient, thin-soled pair of bedroom slippers with duct tape across the backs to keep them from getting worn through by the straps. I also use socks with them at my wife's insistence. The emhasis here is on the thin sole so that it doesn't compress very much under pressure.

This morning I got got on it wearing a pair of crocs (without socks) by mistake. I had the crocs on because I had gone out to do a bit of work in the garden and forgot to change before I got onto the erg. Now that felt very strange, especially with the two straps in the back. I start that daily wake up row at a very low rate, 12spm, so it was easy enough to slip them off between strokes and just continue with bare feet to complete the 10' piece.

Bob S.

I wear running shoes on my erg. You know, when I first got back on the erg after some years off I remember some rubbing too. Esp. on the longer rows, 10K and up. I wore band-aids on the sore spots and took a day off here and there until it stopped bothering me. I suspect if you wear comfortable shoes that bend well at the toes and build up just a little bit of toughness on your heels, you'll be fine. You won't really get calluses on your heels (at least I never did); they will just stop bothering you eventually. Go easy; as with any new activity your body isn't used to it yet. But be consistent; find shoes that breathe and feel good and stay with them.

One other thought is that possibly you're coming up too far at the catch (overextending your reach, which causes your heels to come up farther). But again if you're new to rowing I suspect it might just be that your heels aren't used to it yet.

I know some people row barefoot - all I can say is oww!

Edit: I think I recall at least 2-3 weeks of band-aids on each heel, if that helps. That was 18 months ago or so; haven't had a problem since, even on half-marathons.

haus wrote:One other thought is that possibly you're coming up too far at the catch (overextending your reach, which causes your heels to come up farther). But again if you're new to rowing I suspect it might just be that your heels aren't used to it yet.

That could be due to having the footplates too high. Easy rules of thumb are a) that the bottom your ankle bone should be level with the top of the rail or b) the strap should go over where your shoe bends.

That was my other initial thought, but upon reflection I would think rowing with the footstretchers in the wrong position would just be painful (and not just in the heels!), so I sort of ruled it out. I just did a test on my erg - putting the model C/D footstretcher a few notches too high actually prevents me from coming up too far at the catch due to the pain of the strap crossing the tendons in the foot. But rowing that way would be so painful I can't even imagine doing so.

OP, if you're using relatively new shoes, you might try an older pair that has a bit more flexibility from use. Also, how much rowing are you doing? If you're a marathon runner and you hop on an erg doing half and full marathons immediately you might not be giving your body enough time to adjust to rowing.

I look for bargain shoes on the closeout rack at athletic shoe stores...running, trail running, or cross training/fitness. It may be that your regular running shoes are a bit big, to allow for foot swelling with running. I buy shoes for the erg a size or so smaller, so that they are snug. That may eliminate your heel slippage. A few other points...I am not sure that it matters much if the heel is cushioned. It is possible to initiate the drive from the heel, but I start with the ball and toe, as my heels are lifted off the stretchers. Also, I have had shoes where the heel slides up and down in the stretcher; very annoying. Now I stick with shoes where the sole flares out at the heel (most running shoes). The flared heel holds things firmly in place.

Typically I wear older tennis shoes. I was a runner in the past as well, but never found running shoes comfortable on the erg. Plus all that cushy stuff on the bottom makes your contact with the erg less direct. You don't have impact, so a shoe with minimal sole and one that fits snug and comfortable is preferable.

Thank you all so much! I do wear running shoes slightly bigger to allow for my foot to swell on long runs. I also wear orthodic arch inserts which do raise my fet in my shoes just slightly. I have pulled out a pair of old, snug tennis shoes and left out the inserts. Doing much better!!!
Gotta come up with a new excuse for not breaking any records now!!!

I ordered a pair of these (in taupe) http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/produc ... rint_m.cfm. They look quite weird but a good friend runs in them and loves them, so I thought they might be good for rowing. I figure they'd be almost like rowing barefoot or in socks.

I've been rowing in Crocs and have found them to be excellent -- they breathe, they deal well with the force from compression, and they stay put! It's a near-barefoot experience without the rubbing.

I find that Converse Chuck Taylor high tops work very well. They don't have as much padding so you feel in close contact with the rower and they fit nicely in the foot straps.

This thread got me thinking, but is there anyway to buy shoes from vespoli? like the kind they use in their boats? I imagine those would make nice erging shoes.

Used to wear sneakers, switched to Puma Mostros (velco strap, easy on/off, very comfortable, little cushioning)

http://www.zappos.com/n/p/p/7196230.html

I use Chuck Taylors sized about a half-size smaller than I would wear to walk around all day. I bought them sized a little small for weightlifting, but they work great for erging.