Swimming starts
I was examining my toe and it flap of skin yesterday. It was much worse than I thought it was, but the angle of the wound gave me some insight on my start.
When I do my track start, I believe I twist my back leg, pushing off at an angle about 45 degrees from the center line of the long axis of my foot. This would put the maximum force on the inside edge of my big toe, providing a large amount of force to a small area, and is problably the reason I cut myself regularly on starts.
What should be happening is that I should be pushing off so that my foot is pointing forward through the entire push, putting maximum pressure on the ball of the foot, increasing the leverage that the foot actually provides and increasing the surface area of the foot against the block. This should provide more force with less risk of injury.
Since starts are practiced rarely, hopefully I can remember this bit of insight for the next round of starts. If not, bleeding all over the deck will probably refresh my memory.