8 Tips To Prevent Sore Toes After Running

Sore toes after running long distances really hampers a training schedule. Solve your toe pain from running w/ 8 simple tips to get ready for race season!

Every runner has issues with their running toes at times.

When you first start running, developing calluses on your toes is unavoidable. These calluses help protect toes from blisters in those areas.

These tips are for those of you with bigger problems

Mainly, the throbbing, painful, blisters under your toenail sort of problems. If you would have told me about this stuff before I started running, I may never have started. I certainly would have wondered why in the world anyone would keep on running?

When I started running further distances, I ended up with big blisters and bruising under my toenails. Ouch.

When I ran my first full marathon, I ended up with horrible throbbing in my first two toes on each foot. I could not wear shoes for days.

Related: 10 Simple Tips to Lose Weight for Good

After experiencing this, I dived into articles about running and toe problems, and I asked questions at the local running shoe store. I came up with some information to help, along with trial and error.

I am so happy to say that after running my second marathon– following these tips- I had zero toe problems. I was pain-free and thrilled. I  hope they help you too.

8 Tips To Prevent Sore Toes From Running

1. Make sure your socks are big enough
   • Now, this might sound dumb, you are not going to wear a sock that doesn’t cover your foot. Your socks need to cover your foot with extra room to stretch and still not be tight. Your feet swell, especially with long runs. Pay attention to how your feet feel in your socks. Make sure there is room in the toe area to accommodate for this swelling.
2. Keep your toenails cut short
   • This seems obvious, but make sure your toenails are short and square. Sorry, but you can’t run with long nails. Pedicures still look great on short nails:)
3. Buy at least a size up from your regular shoe size
   • Go to a running shoe store and get sized if possible. Due to your feet swelling as you run, you need to go up at least one size in your running shoes. I have found that 1 1/2 sizes up works best for me. Yikes. Comfort over fashion:)
4. Check to make sure your shoe toe-box area does not have stiff trim or other stiff areas running across the vamp portion of the shoe over affected toes.
   • I changed brands of shoes to avoid this issue. There was a seam running across my second toes that may have contributed to the {extremely} sore toes.
5. Check your laces
   • While you do not want to have your shoes tied too tightly, you want to make sure your shoelaces are tight enough so your feet don’t slide forward. I found this hard to tell and learned that if I tightened my shoes halfway through a run it helped. I eventually learned how to get the correct fit for my feet without having to re-tie them. Finding the right way to tie your shoes is an important item to consider.
6. Vaseline is your friend
   • While I am not sure this makes any difference, it is now part of my pre-long run ritual. While applying Vaseline to other problem areas (Vaseline is cheap and works just as well as all those other fancy anti-chaffing products) I also slather some on the toes that always blistered. As an added bonus, you get extra moisturized toes:)
7. Check your posture
   • I found that I was leaning forward when I got tired. This caused a lot of added pressure on my toes. Concentrate on making sure you are looking ahead, not down at your feet. Adjust your posture and stand tall with shoulders relaxed. Continue to think about this and check your body posture at each mile marker.
8. Relax
   • Make sure to let your feet relax. I found when I tensed up during a race, my toes would tense up as well. Uncurl your toes and let your feet do the work the way they should.

Have you found other ways to fix toe issues? I am also curious about other runners’ pre-long run rituals. Please share!