First Impressions: Screw Shoes

Yesterday it snowed.  It snowed about 20cm and when I went out the snow was fresh and deep.  "Yes!  This is my chance to try out my new screw shoes" I thought. I put them on and took them out for a test.  I ran 8 km through the fresh snow and this is what I found.  They didn't help much.  When running on that much fresh snow, the snow compacts under your foot and the screws never reach the packed snow and ice underneath.  So if you are over the ice you still slip because the screws can't reach the ice to get a grip.  Also, I found that I could really feel the screws that were placed around where the inside ball of my foot is in the shoe.

Today I ran 8km over rough frozen chunky ground and really FELT the screws in my shoes on several occasions! Ouch!  I had some other words too that came involuntarily out of my mouth.  Words that I'm too shy to put here. Psychologically, it was not good to run with the worry of being stuck!  Whenever I stepped on a chunk of ice, the chunk would push that screw and the shoe would compress enough right there to give me a little prick.  I will have to rethink the placement of the screws around the ball of my foot or take them out right there.  I might also take all the screws out and put them in a pair of shoes with a thicker front.

Diet wise I am holding at around 73 kg I think. I still want to get down to 70 kg but I realize that will be difficult this time of year.  I am happy that I am holding.   We have been staying at my in-laws for two weeks now and I haven't been able to get on my scale at home but my mother in-law's scale said I was at 72.5 yesterday.  My goal for December is to run 200 km for the month and 160 km by Christmas.  I think I will need to do some longer runs to reach my goal.  I am at 95.77 km for the month right now and I have 9 days left till Christmas.  If I run at least 8 km a day I'll reach my goal but I can imagine that there will be a day or two when I can't run.  If it was easier to take care of laundry then I could sneak in some runs here and there but.... no... actually I probably should use that time to get what needs to be done, done.

Oh well, if you want to try to make some screw shoes yourself, check out Matt Carpenter's skyrunner.com page on the subject and as he says "happy screwing and running:-)"

The Screw Shoe: the best way to run on packed snow and ice.

Thought for the day:
The conscious brain can only hold one thought at a time. Choose a positive thought.

Winter Running Ready

I thought about this all winter last year but didn't do anything about it. However this year I decided to get my old shoes winter ready. Actually, until last year, I had never slipped and fallen during a run. Living out in the country the roads really don't get that bad. However, since I had an old pair of shoes at the end of their life anyway, I thought I try it out this year. What am I talking about? Making a pair of screw shoes.

I first came across the idea when searching about winter running and was eventually led to Mat Carpenter's page, The Screw Shoe: the best way to run on packed snow and ice! on the topic.

It looked simple enough. I didn't have an electric drill but I was sure I could borrow one from someone. And the screws I could just pick up down at the hardware store, right? Wrong! I'm living in Japan and I don't know if this is a Japan wide thing but the type of screws that would work best for this project are not very popular here. Almost all the screws here are flat headed plus or minus (philips or flathead) type screws. Some stores had none and some had just a few that were too big. The big stores though, had screw shoe sets for sale! They had 9 mm sheet metal type screws being sold in packets of 6 for about 300 yen! This was clearly too expensive considering the high possibility that they will fall out of the shoe and end up flattening someone's bicycle tire somewhere.

I was finally able to get one store to order me some screws of the size that I wanted, 10 mm. So I ordered 50 and they sold them to me for 500 yen. Still a little expensive but a whole lot cheaper than the screw shoe sets.

I borrowed my father in law's electric drill and Aspen and I set to work on making my first pair of screw shoes. For starters we put 10 in each shoe.

With the power drill it was really easy.  If you would also like to try and make your own and get more details on the whys and hows check out Matt Carpenter's site  at http://www.skyrunner.com.

I also bought an Asics Reflective Tasuki.  It is a band that you wear like a sash.  I got this to make sure that no one hits me on my runs in the dark.  If you buy running gear that was made for running, especially by the bigger brand names, it will probably have some reflective materials on it.  Most running shoes do too.  However, if you buy the cheapest stuff that you can find, then they might not have much if any.  So, just to be extra visible to sleepy motorists I got this reflective band to wear.  I brought it home and proudly showed it to my mother in law.  She then told me that she got one at the 100 yen store!  100 yen?  I paid almost 800 yen for mine!  Oh well. 

My motivation for running this winter is high.  Now if only I can get rid of the sniffles!