Old Habits Die Hard

So.  I've been going to spinning class several times per week now, which I've been just loving.  I like my spinning shoes a lot - I can tell that they're making a difference with strengthening my whole leg - hamstrings and quads; and I feel like my pedaling is more efficient.  My toes have been numb a lot, though. 

I asked one of my teachers what was up with the numb toes.  She said that it's likely I've been pointing my toes while pedaling.  Figures.  I point my toes when I do everything.  Twenty years of ballet just makes some things engrained.  When I used to ride on the tube behind my parents' boat, my mom would always tell me I was pointing my toes the whole time. :)

My teacher suggested to really try to lead with the arch of my foot, instead of my toes.  I tried that last night, and it didn't improve things a whole lot.  A guy in my class suggested I adjust the cleat on the bottom of my shoe; so I might try to do that today.  Adjusting it forward a bit might force me to lead more with my arch. 

I think I also need to get new sport socks.  I've been wearing the kinds I jog in, but they've been rubbing my feet weird in my spinning shoes.  There's this one seam that's been bugging me.  Last night before class, I whipped out an old ballet remedy - toe tape:

Toe tape was my best friend when I was in ballet.  Picture that tape on each one of my toes - this would keep blisters from forming or protect blisters already there.  Add a spongey thing on my big toe called a toe cap, a sticky spongey thing called a bunion buster on my bunion bone, and these rubbery contraptions that go over the whole toe called Toe Flows.  And then you would see what my feet looked like in junior high and high school.  They looked something like this:

But with a few more gadgets on there.  It was good times.  Pointe is a painful, but beautiful thing.  So don't judge the picture above of my ugly feet too harshly, eh?  They've been through a lot.

The toe tape did the trick.  And will have to do the trick until I can afford new, seamless workout socks. :)