Blister hell

irlirishkev

Hey,

The last couple of weeks, anytime I've gone out for a run, say between 4 and 10 miles, I've gotten fairly nasty blisters on the sides of the balls of both my feet, and less often, down the insides of my feet.

I've changed sock type since it's happened, but to no avail. I never used to get blisters at all.

I run in Asics Nimbus, and have clocked up just over 400 miles in them. I wouldn't have thought it was time to change them just yet, but what does anyone else think?

Cheers.

Krusty_Clown

Try some bodyglide on the area where you suffer the blisters. I have a doozie on my heel at the moment. It's pretty benign, but these things can affect your long runs, change your gait as you try to keep the weight off the blistered area, and get infected. Seamus Coleman nearly ended his football career when a blister became infected.

neonman

Get yourself some compeed blister plasters if you haven't already. I am in the same boat at the moment and the compeed plasters are the business with them on I can continue to run without pain.

Very important to keep the area around the blister as clean as you can.

28064212

What socks are you using OP? Cotton ones are apparently very bad for blisters. I get blisters in the same places as you, have always been the bane of my running. Different runners made no difference, any kind of distance would bring them out. Feet were always clean and dry. Tried a couple of different socks, trainer liners, athletic socks etc., but they were always cotton-based. Last week, I bought a pair of these in Runways on Parnell St. They actually come with a blister-free guarantee. €15 for a single pair, so they are expensive, but I was desperate, and the difference is amazing! I ran 5 miles on Thursday, even though my blisters from the last run hadn't healed fully (they hadn't burst, but they were still fairly visible). Any other time, those would have grown and burst over 5 miles and I'd be hobbling home. With the new socks, they actually looked better afterwards! No pain at all, they were genuinely amazing. The only question that still needs to be answered is whether they'll be as effective after they've been washed, and if they are (will find out tomorrow), they'll be worth every penny

carlaboi

1000 mile socks come with a blister free gurantee. They are the business.

spaceylou

neonman wrote: »

Get yourself some compeed blister plasters if you haven't already. I am in the same boat at the moment and the compeed plasters are the business with them on I can continue to run without pain.

Very important to keep the area around the blister as clean as you can.

I also have a blister problem and while I find the compeed blister plasters great while they are on the one problem I have is that my blister will have started to heal with them doing their magic job and then I'll have a shower and the plaster walks off taking half my skin with it!!! And I'm left not only with a half-healed blister but also torn skin that hurts lots!!

irlirishkev

Thanks for replies folks.. I'm just using regular cotton (i think) sports socks. The low ankle kind.
I'll see about getting the 1000 mile socks this week. I'm doing the 10mile on Saturday.. hopefully they'll do the trick!

neonman

spaceylou wrote: »

I also have a blister problem and while I find the compeed blister plasters great while they are on the one problem I have is that my blister will have started to heal with them doing their magic job and then I'll have a shower and the plaster walks off taking half my skin with it!!! And I'm left not only with a half-healed blister but also torn skin that hurts lots!!

This has happened to me also, but I've been told that the plaster should come away when it is ready to do so i.e. fall off and should stop this from happening.

I'll let you know how I get on as I've one on at the moment.

niall1980

Use the compeed. Just let them come off in there own time. I usually get the guts of a week out of them and thats ith training and showering.

I picked up a serious infection in a blister and had to take 5 weeks off and skin still hasn't healed but the compeed lets me run on it.

spaceylou

maybe i just got a dud compeed plaster that walked off in shower - I'll try them again if when the next blister shows signs of appearing

AngelaKruger

I used to have major blister issues too.
I managed to get it under control in 2 ways:
- changed shoe brands when my running style changed (which caused chaffing with my old brand), which means I can now run blister-free for up to 21km (13mi), except when its mostly trail
- taped the blister-prone areas (before the blister forms!) with whatever sports-tape or roll-plaster is available locally before my run/race starts. I still get minor blisters from time to time, but most of these are painless and small and heal within a day or two.

Good luck!

C@t

I have Asics Nimbus too, like the OP, and every time I've run any distance in them I've gotten awful blisters on the inside of the arch of both feet. I wear 1000 mile socks with them but they don't help. (maybe I should use their money back guarantee :rolleyes: ) I've tried Compeed patches too but no joy.

I was wondering if anyone else had similar problems with these runners or if it was just my feet not suiting the shoes? I think there must be a part of the shoe chaffing on my foot because the blisters are always in the same place, on both feet.

I just bought gel insoles in Lidl the other day with an extra piece of gel that covers the arch support so I'm looking forward to trying them out soon, when the latest set of blisters go down!
If they don't work though I think it'll have to be new runners

irlirishkev

C@t wrote: »

I have Asics Nimbus too, like the OP, and every time I've run any distance in them I've gotten awful blisters on the inside of the arch of both feet. I wear 1000 mile socks with them but they don't help. (maybe I should use their money back guarantee :rolleyes: ) I've tried Compeed patches too but no joy.

I was wondering if anyone else had similar problems with these runners or if it was just my feet not suiting the shoes? I think there must be a part of the shoe chaffing on my foot because the blisters are always in the same place, on both feet.

I just bought gel insoles in Lidl the other day with an extra piece of gel that covers the arch support so I'm looking forward to trying them out soon, when the latest set of blisters go down!
If they don't work though I think it'll have to be new runners

That's interesting, I get smaller less significant blisters on my instep aswell.. nowhere near as bad as the others but still noticable. Maybe the Nimbus are a thin shoe.. I'll let you know how the 10mile goes on sat!

AngelaKruger

You might want to take your shoes and yourself to a biokinetist or someone similar who can check the wear patterns on your shoes and film you running in them compared to you running barefoot, and analyze your gait to determine if those shoes are indeed ideal for you. It may be that the shoes are too wide or too narrow, too hard or too soft, etc for your specific situation. Every runner is unique, so its best to have someone with a trained eye check you out and advise you accordingly.

neonman

C@t wrote: »

I have Asics Nimbus too, like the OP, and every time I've run any distance in them I've gotten awful blisters on the inside of the arch of both feet. I wear 1000 mile socks with them but they don't help. (maybe I should use their money back guarantee :rolleyes: ) I've tried Compeed patches too but no joy.

I was wondering if anyone else had similar problems with these runners or if it was just my feet not suiting the shoes? I think there must be a part of the shoe chaffing on my foot because the blisters are always in the same place, on both feet.

I just bought gel insoles in Lidl the other day with an extra piece of gel that covers the arch support so I'm looking forward to trying them out soon, when the latest set of blisters go down!
If they don't work though I think it'll have to be new runners

Funny you should say that I've a pair of Asics GT-21XX not sure of the full name and that is where I am getting my blisters on the arch of my foot and the outside of my foot also.

I went into Runways on my way home on Sunday after a 12k run (with more blisters for my troubles) and the guy in the shop said I was the 3rd or 4th in this week with the same runner that had the same problems.

He took the insole out of the runner and showed me the edges of them and they are like blades. He said try cut them back if I could and it might help.

The next pair of runners I buy I'll be checking the insole before I do.

joconnell

I've got the same issue with a pair of brooks runners - they've a pretty tough instep in them to help weak arches but it starts to rub pretty heavily on anything over 5k.

Normally your runners will rub in the same place all the time and you need three things for blisters to happen - Heat, moisture and friction. Eliminate any one of those three and you're set. Moisture and heat are going to happen from normal perspiration so friction is your best bet to go after. It can be something as simple as tying your shoes too tight - your foot expands with heat as you run so it can start to rub as your run goes on or as with myself just a bit of plastic in the runner that gradually starts to irritate over time. I've got the thousand mile socks and they would work to eliminate the friction (they're pretty much a double layer sock, the inner stays with your foot, the outer stays with the runner) but the support plastic bit just pokes through. what I've taken to doing is just using normal strip plaster and putting one in each arch before I go out - I can see the area that gets caught from previous blisters so it targets it quite nicely. Also if you get rained on or run through puddled areas make sure you dry out your socks and stuff some balled up newspaper into your runners to try them out totally before setting out again.

AngelaKruger

joconnell wrote: »

I've got the same issue with a pair of brooks runners - they've a pretty tough instep in them to help weak arches but it starts to rub pretty heavily on anything over 5k.

Normally your runners will rub in the same place all the time and you need three things for blisters to happen - Heat, moisture and friction. Eliminate any one of those three and you're set. Moisture and heat are going to happen from normal perspiration so friction is your best bet to go after. It can be something as simple as tying your shoes too tight - your foot expands with heat as you run so it can start to rub as your run goes on or as with myself just a bit of plastic in the runner that gradually starts to irritate over time. I've got the thousand mile socks and they would work to eliminate the friction (they're pretty much a double layer sock, the inner stays with your foot, the outer stays with the runner) but the support plastic bit just pokes through. what I've taken to doing is just using normal strip plaster and putting one in each arch before I go out - I can see the area that gets caught from previous blisters so it targets it quite nicely. Also if you get rained on or run through puddled areas make sure you dry out your socks and stuff some balled up newspaper into your runners to try them out totally before setting out again.

Very well said!
Since changing from stability shoes to neutral (going through a long 'rehabilitation' process to 'cure' my over-pronation) cured 90% of my blister issues (becuase the neutral shoes do not have that extra support under the arch causing additional friction)
Also taping the blister-prone areas with strip-plaster solved the final 10% of my issues and I now run worry free. My only blisters now are usually small and painless and usually only pop up on longer runs (30km+) or uneven terrain (gravel/trail runs)

Don't be afraid to try different 'cures' - what works for one person may not work for another, so experiment until you find what works just right for you. Good luck!

AdamAntsy

I never liked the double sock, but I picked up a rake of these about 7 years ago and they are still trucking. Only time I got blisters was after a 24hr event and I doubled up with sealskinz on top! May not work for anyone else, but I refuse to put one foot in front of the other unless I'm in them. They were a little pricey though, but do look cool.

Just in case - I'm in no way affiliated with this brand and/or product

joconnell

AngelaKruger wrote: »

Very well said!
Since changing from stability shoes to neutral (going through a long 'rehabilitation' process to 'cure' my over-pronation) cured 90% of my blister issues (becuase the neutral shoes do not have that extra support under the arch causing additional friction)

Just curious - how did you go about doing that? Did you find that your arches physically started raising up over the course of the training?

irlirishkev

Well the Compeeds helped bigtime today. Finished the 10mile blister free. Definitely be using them again for the 13mile. Gonna have a look at getting some better socks too, though from what I could see, most of the people running around me had the same kind of socks..

strummer_ie

joconnell wrote: »

I've got the same issue with a pair of brooks runners - they've a pretty tough instep in them to help weak arches but it starts to rub pretty heavily on anything over 5k.

Normally your runners will rub in the same place all the time and you need three things for blisters to happen - Heat, moisture and friction. Eliminate any one of those three and you're set. Moisture and heat are going to happen from normal perspiration so friction is your best bet to go after. It can be something as simple as tying your shoes too tight - your foot expands with heat as you run so it can start to rub as your run goes on or as with myself just a bit of plastic in the runner that gradually starts to irritate over time. I've got the thousand mile socks and they would work to eliminate the friction (they're pretty much a double layer sock, the inner stays with your foot, the outer stays with the runner) but the support plastic bit just pokes through. what I've taken to doing is just using normal strip plaster and putting one in each arch before I go out - I can see the area that gets caught from previous blisters so it targets it quite nicely. Also if you get rained on or run through puddled areas make sure you dry out your socks and stuff some balled up newspaper into your runners to try them out totally before setting out again.

I have the Brooks Cascadia and recently on runs over 5k, I start getting
a blister just behind the ball of the foot on both feet.
It looks like a bit of the insole is rubbing against them.
I tried tightening the laces to stop any foot movement in the shoe,
but that didn't work.
If anything that just caused pain on the top of the foot.

Will have to try the plaster jobbie

ThisRegard

Has anyone been successful in the search for large compeed ? Again yesterday all I could find was medium or bunion ones in about 4 different pharmacies, do they even exist ?

C@t

ThisRegard wrote: »

Has anyone been successful in the search for large compeed ? Again yesterday all I could find was medium or bunion ones in about 4 different pharmacies, do they even exist ?

I got large Compeed plasters in the pharmacy in the Jetland shopping centre in Limerick, which probably isnt much good unless you live in Limerick but at least you know they do exist. I think it's a Unicare Pharmacy so maybe your local one can order them for you?

plodder

ThisRegard wrote: »

Has anyone been successful in the search for large compeed ? Again yesterday all I could find was medium or bunion ones in about 4 different pharmacies, do they even exist ?

The ones I used to use were called "heel" plasters. I think they are the biggest size. When I used to get mega-blisters, I'd have to put two or three on overlapping to cover it. Strangely, since I switched to the current shoes (and socks) I haven't had any problem with blisters.

ThisRegard

Just had a look at the Compeed site, it seems for the blister range small and medium are indeed the only sizes you can get
http://www.compeed.ie/bgdisplay.jhtml?itemname=blisters&s=4

Unless large have just been discontinued and C@t was fortunate to get some of the last ones ?

Plodder, the heel ones you mention are the ones I've got before. I use them as a preventative measure, I stick them on the hotspots on the arch of my feet and they usually work quite well. However after Gaelforce there was a bit of slippage and I got a small bit of soreness around the edge which is why I think a large size would be ideal.