The past month has been so-so. Still wearing the huaraches with socks, which has been keeping my feet warm for the most part. One time it was in the 30s and the little toes nearest the cords got Reynaud-ic. On the other hand we've had some pretty warm weekends (except for the freak 2 feet of snow in October), but the road still felt too cool for me to go BF.
My soles have been losing their toughness although the pads still seem thickened. I've had a stiff left ankle for a few weeks now and I just started icing it. We'll see if that helps. When I run in the huaraches it seems I land harder now matter how hard I try to land softly--my feet feel a bit bruised after a run and a little like stumps during the run. The stumpy feeling could be from the cold.
This morning I started with the gravel bucket training. My "bucket" is a flat storage container (with lid to keep the cats out when not in use) from Target just big enough to get my feet in and move around a little. The gravel is about large grape seed size, but sharp. I did 6 minutes on the elliptical, 6 in the bucket and 3 reps of that. Feet feel okay now after showering and massaging with lanolin but at the end of the workout they were starting to feel pretty raw. Not worse than some of the gravel runs I did this past summer. It was also relatively easy to keep the heart rate down using the bucket. Maybe if I do enough I'll be able to do the whole workout in the bucket and it will translate into better cardio.
