Temps and sensitivity

JosephTree

Barefooters
Sep 7, 2010
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Near Valley Forge, PA
My feet were much more sensitive to rough pavements today than they'd been all season. I am suspecting that cooler ground temperatures are having an effect on my tolerance. The surfaces are the same ones I've been running on since last July.

Anyone else have an opinion?
 
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yes indeed. and it is a different kind of "sensitive". but it does adapt with time. however, colder is always slower for me. i've been trying to run on chip-n-seal every second time i go running and i really slow down when it is colder. the problem is that it takes me about 5 miles to get the warm and tough feet going. so if you are doing a 3 mile run, it might not get "easier" by the time you stop. again, it will continue to change as the winter progresses. there will come a time when a 29F run feels positively tropical and blazing fast. :)
 
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Agree with everyone else but would add that in addition if your feet actually start to go dumb due to the cold temps that your form can suffer without you knowing it. Even if my feet have been fine running in the 30's, I've noticed if its a few degrees colder to where I start having some numbness here and there that my soles tend to feel like they are on fire the rest of the day. That is on my rough road, probably not as much of an issue on smooth asphalt. But if they go numb at all I must be abrading them without realizing it on the rougher surfaces. Numb feet are dumb feet, as they say.
 
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Agree with everyone else but would add that in addition if your feet actually start to go numb due to the cold temps that your form can suffer without you knowing it. Even if my feet have been fine running in the 30's, I've noticed if its a few degrees colder to where I start having some numbness here and there that my soles tend to feel like they are on fire the rest of the day. That is on my rough road, probably not as much of an issue on smooth asphalt. But if they go numb at all I must be abrading them without realizing it on the rougher surfaces. Numb feet are dumb feet, as they say.
 
I like running in the cold. I find the opposite, my feet are more sensitive on warmer roads then those that are slightly below the freezing point. I do agree with Tristan that the feet will be on the numb side though, but I've never had that burning feeling though at the end of a sub zero run. I do take some time to inspect the bottom of my feet looking for little cuts or nicks from running on sand and gravel that the city here uses for icy roads. Haven't found any yet, and I find that my feet feel more durable this time of the year.
 
Sked, where I live we have winter for 4-5 months. In the 20 years that I've experienced running in winters (shod and sometimes barefoot depending on temps) I've gotten used to carefully foot placements. Frozen ruts are horrible when covered with a layer of snow. I've adapted to this by being light footed and shorter steps. The thing that scares the most is black ice under a layer of snow. I've broken both my wrists (in different incidents) in those conditions.
 
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I here you dutchie, i also have fallen victim to black ice, and agree light footed, short steps. Sometimes it's so hard to see, even if it's not covered in snow.