I’ve been having problems with blisters on my toes since last summer. It started when I ramped up my mileage in preparation for Beach2Battleship Ironman.
I was wearing my Zoot Compression socks on my long runs, because I have varicose vein problems, and my left leg swells. The joys of being a middle aged woman! The Zoot socks are super dee duper for circulation support and also for recovery. I tried all kinds of lubes and powders to avoid the blisters, to no avail. The only thing that seems to keep the toe blisters at bay are injinji toe socks. Those work great, but I really need the compression too. Injinji makes compresssion toe socks, but they don’t really have enough compression for me.
I had recently come to the conculsion that my toe blisters are because the Zoot socks don’t have good wicking properties. However, I wore compression sleeves along with good moisture wicking socks at White Lake Half race. And look what happened…ouch. (scroll down if you want to see the gross picture). These blisters hurt from mile 3 onward during that race. And this picture shows my GOOD foot. The other side is much worse.
Funny, when I just look at my feet, I think they just look like blisters. But now looking at this picture I am wondering if it is athlete’s foot? It does not itch. The blisters hurt when the first formed during the run, but not any more. I have had bouts of athlete’s foot over the past year, which itches and burns like crazy and is oozy and much grosser than this. But maybe there are different levels or types? Maybe my toe blister problem has nothing to do with the Zoot socks. I would love that answer, because they are awesome support for running on my bad legs.
scroll down for picture…
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I don’t want to force anybody to look at grossness…
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Keeping going…
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I know, ewwwww…
Ouch! You should try the SIGVARIS Athletic Recovery Sock. They have great cushion to fight blisters. Plus, they provide true graduated compression, which would be another benefit and help flush out lactic acid. The company’s website is http://www.AthleticRecoverySock.com. Click on How they work to find out more about them. I love this sock!
Happy Training!
Damn, those are some nasty blisters :p
Drymax socks http://www.drymaxsocks.com/ ..the best socks ever…i do not work for them or anything, just thought id share this with you
I’m not sure WLH was a good race to judge your blister prevention techniques. I didn’t really have any blister problems at B2B, but between pouring water on me, the wet towels and ice in my bra… my feet ended up soaking wet and I got massive blisters.
Your blisters look like mine did… I drained mine with a sterilized needle and then left the skin on there. They are now all healed and dried up. I am clipping off the extra skin when it starts to peel. I still have a little bit left. Ew.
Never had that type of blisters even on marathon. A good normal pair of socks combined with compression calf sleeve might do the trick. Probably need to check whether your running shoe fir your feet properly. Good luck.
Wow, Carol! Take a look at using Bag Balm on the feet. Also, maybe check out the compression socks that are sleeves (I use them and you can use whatever running socks you want). Check out Injinji socks or a thin wool running socks.
Hope this helps
Wayne
All I can say is ouch. Makes me wonder what these crazy bare foot runners are thinking. If you get those kind of blisters with shoes I can’t imagine what their feet look like.
Look very much like garden variety blisters, very very similar to ones I always grow on my little toes. My (very cheap practical) solution? Any run longer than 10 miles and those two piggies get wrapped in duct tape. Works like a charm. I always have a strip wrapped around my water bottle, too, for on-the-road hot spots. Look, Ma, no blisters!
Look like blisters to me. The only time I got blisters under the toes like that was from too much movement in the shoe. Have you changed shoes to one with a looser/bigger toe box?
When I was in the Army I used this stuff called Mole Skin. It’s adhesive on one side and you stick it on your blisters. We ran miles and miles in our combat boots and this stuff was a foot saver for sure.
Give it a shot. It comes in 3″ X 3″ squares and you just cut it to the size you need.
P.S. 5 weeks until my first Triathlon. June 18th. Can’t wait! 🙂
Wow, those are some ugly blisters. I don’t really get blisters so I don’t have a solution for you, but have you tried the Injinji socks with compression sleeves? That might be the solution. I’m sure those socks won’t be super fast to put on in transition, but the extra time might be worth it if you can avoid blisters like that. It might also be worth buying some athletes foot spray just in case that’s what it is.
Good luck finding a solution. Those look painful.
Those look and sound exactly like the blisters I’ve just started getting! I never really got blisters before, now all of a sudden I get them every run! Very frustrating!