Toenails!

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Toenails!

swrittenb

Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 27

Toenails! Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 12:50 pm

About a week after my my first marathon (CIM, Dec. 5th), I lost the toenail on my right fourth toe. It's now two weeks after the marathon, and I'm in the process of losing another one (index on left foot). My problem is ill-fitting shoes. I wear a size 15, but the 15's I tried on in the running store felt really loose, and the 14's fit pretty nicely. When I started doing longer distances in the 14's, I got some blistering. Changing socks really helped, but I still pounded the toes on the 26.2 miler. I'd wear a 14 1/2, but they stop making half sizes over 13! Anyone else losing toenails like nobody's business? The good thing now is that I don't have to worry about toenail problems for about a year on these two toes, so I hear.. Good thing I'm not a foot model though. :)

Rickshaw
Runworks 2005 5M Racer
San Francisco, CA
Joined: 26 Nov 2004
Posts: 1157

Re: Toenails! Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 1:01 pm

Ouch! I think losing toenails isn't uncommon, although fortunately I've never had that problem myself. My thinking is that you simply need bigger shoes. My running shoes are a full size bigger than my every day street shoes, to give my toes extra room. As long as your foot's not sliding around in the shoe, you should be okay. Did you get your shoes fitted by someone at a running speciality store? That's definitely the way to go in my opinion. A knowledgable salesperson is worth their weight in gold. Also, you might want to try a different brand of shoe. A size 15 of one brand may fit differently than another brand's. And try different shoe widths, they do make a difference.

swrittenb

Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 27

Re: Toenails! Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 6:54 pm

Rickshaw wrote:
Ouch! I think losing toenails isn't uncommon, although fortunately I've never had that problem myself.

My thinking is that you simply need bigger shoes. My running shoes are a full size bigger than my every day street shoes, to give my toes extra room. As long as your foot's not sliding around in the shoe, you should be okay. Did you get your shoes fitted by someone at a running speciality store? That's definitely the way to go in my opinion. A knowledgable salesperson is worth their weight in gold.

Also, you might want to try a different brand of shoe. A size 15 of one brand may fit differently than another brand's. And try different shoe widths, they do make a difference.

I did get them fitted at a running store, and they definitely felt great. The only time I had problems was on those longer runs, say anything farther than 10 miles. I got mild blisters on the tips of my toes, and had one area of friction on the base of my left foot. I was wearing cotton socks early on though, and switching to running socks removed a lot of the problem. However, the pounding of 26.2 miles proved to be too much for them, so I'm minus two nails now. (working on a third, we'll see) :)

When I get a new pair, probably early next year, I'll let them know what happened, and hopefully they can set me up with something nicer.

mfox

South Orange, New Jersey
Joined: 19 Dec 2004
Posts: 367

Re: Toenails! Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 8:17 pm

I also have problems with bruising/losing my toenails. I think I've lost each of my toenails (except on my little toe) on each foot at least once. Also, like you, my problem is with my long runs too. But my problem isn't with my shoes being too small, rather I believe it is from my toes hitting the top of the inside of my shoe. And I think this has to do with how my shoe flexes as I push off. I also think I'm more prone to this if I wear padded socks (on the sole). So I think this problem can also be caused by your toes banging against the top of your shoe (or perhaps more accurately, the top of your shoe banging against your toes) over the course of a long run. Shoe fit definitely plays a role in the cause of this, but so does the construction (how and where it flexes).[/b]

swrittenb

Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 27

Re: Toenails! Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 8:50 pm

Do you think there's a way around that? Is there anything that we can do to prevent such a thing from occurring? Is it worthwhile to get a running coach, or maybe look at different shoes for the problem? It's still early for me, so I'm still kind of stoked to lose a toenail or two (ha!!), but it does suck that it's even a problem at all!

BGibbsLMT

Southington, CT
Joined: 12 Dec 2004
Posts: 68

Re: Toenails! Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 9:05 pm

You may want to try a wider shoe or a different sock.

Rickshaw
Runworks 2005 5M Racer
San Francisco, CA
Joined: 26 Nov 2004
Posts: 1157

Re: Toenails! Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 10:06 pm

Agreed, I think a wider shoe would also provide more headroom (?) for your toes.

swrittenb

Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 27

Re: Toenails! Posted: Sun Dec 19, 2004 11:12 pm

Will do, I'm getting new shoes in the next few weeks. I'll keep this forum posted as to my toenail progress. Haha! :B

Pretender
Runworks 2005 5M Racer
Kansas, OK
Joined: 14 Dec 2004
Posts: 100

Re: Toenails! Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 2:36 pm

You should prolly just go with the size 15's. I read recently (somewhere!) that a study was done where foot size was measured before and after a marathon. The foot at the end of the race was an average of 1/2 size larger than when the race began!

ginger

Cambridge, MA
Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 46

Re: Toenails! Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 4:37 pm

I've lost a bunch of toenails. I don't really mind, usually it doesn't hurt too much, it's just ugly in the summertime when you're wearing sandals. I've found that I'm more likely to lose toenails if my feet get wet while I'm running. So I try to be careful not to pour water on them at aid stations, and I definitely would never wear cotton socks. Of course running in the rain or in a hot race when I need to douse myself in water means for sure lost toenails (for me.)

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