Hi,
I’m training for my third marathon, shooting for a BQ, and generally it’s going fairly well, with one exception. After about ten miles I start to get pain in the ball of my right foot, usually in the second toe’s metatarsal head. I’m running in Adidas Energy Boost which have been great, but these are the only shoe in which I’ve had this experience. I was worried that the Boost had too little padding/structure in the forefoot and perhaps that was causing the pain. So I tried a pair of Glycerins and while they protected my forefoot, they beat the crap out of the rest of me. I tried New Balance 1080 but the lower drop caused pain in my achilles and calves. I tried Hoka Conquest as well, but that shoe may be the worst torture device ever (in spite of all the praise I’ve read for it - the upper just does not conform to my foot very well. Now if you could put the glycerin upper on the conquest base…)
Stats: I’m 40 yo, 180lbs, PR of 3:15:03. Narrow feet, size 12.5/13. High arch with Montrail insoles. Pain was noticed on the first 13 miler in these shoes, predating marathon training starting.
So, any suggestions on what’s causing the pain, what I might be able to do to mitigate it (besides stopping), or other suggestions or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. I know the Boost2 is out now but I’m not sure what if any differences there are in that version.
I’ll be doing an IM in the fall, so it would be nice to get this cleared up.
sub 2nd met head pain in distance running is VERY common - I see it daily. Generally from overloading. Most common in runners with a high arch foot and exacerbated by: tight calves, hills/speed repeats, long 2nd met or short 1st met and a few other odd things.
Odd pathologies could include Frieberg’s infraction, plantar plate tear. “Capsulitis” of the 2nd MPJ is the common diagnosis given.
You can try a met pad (can order on amazon) and place BEHIND the met heads to offload or a cut out sub 2nd MPJ since you certainly have tried a variety of shoes.
Is it somewhat of a shooting/tingling nerve pain? It could be a neuroma if so. Rest, alcohol injections (sadly oral consumption is not the same), or surgery are the solutions for it.
I had the exact same issue last year. After wasting time in a boot, I went to a chiro who specializes in ART. He had me running after 3 visits. Good luck.
Thank you! High arch: check. Tight calves: check. Long 2nd met: check. The plantar plate tear gave me pause, as my suspicion for the cause was the soft, unstructured nature of the forefoot of the shoe allowing my forefoot to spread. As soon as I take the shoe off, however, I feel fine. I massage the area without incurring any pain, then put my shoe back on (and continue running like the fool I am). Running on grass or soft ground alleviates the problem almost entirely (it’s just not easy to string together 20 miles of even grass).
I have tried a gel pad which goes beneath the entire ball of the foot, but I’m guessing you’re talking about those smaller raised pads that perform almost the same function as the “metatarsal button” that Specialized had in their bike insoles at one point. If I tried this, would it have potential for causing something like plantar plate tear, as that stems from the over-spreading of those bones?
When you say “cutout”, could I simply cut out part of my Montrail insert in an attempt to alleviate that pressure?
There is no tingling or numbness, just a growing dull pain that will max out and become pretty painful. Today was actually the first time I had a shooting pain, but only for two footfalls after about an hour of the ache. Cussing a bit and then jogging across some grass alleviated things and I was able to continue on with the duller pain, so hopefully not a neuroma. The Energy Boost is a snug fitting shoe, but very elastic and I have a narrow foot, so I don’t think that nerve is being compressed from the sides.
Regarding alcohol injections, if I can’t get this sorted out and yet another marathon training plan gets waylaid in the closing weeks, I may indeed start to administer oral consumption!
Great! I was already scheduled to see my ART guy this week, so I’ll definitely bring that up. I’m sure he will inflict sh!t tons of pain for doing so, but if I can run without pain …
All of the shoes you listed have a lot of heel and are more so meant for running heel strike. If you are having pain in the ball of your foot you are probably forefoot/midfoot striking and the shoes listed are high drop so this is only putting more pressure on the forefoot. Look into getting a pair of newtons, they are great for forefoot running and have a very cool design for absorbing shock on the ball of foot. Newton would be your best bet, but if you want to try other shoes i would recommend something with a low drop, these are more designed for midfoot striking though, an Altra, Brooks Pureflow, or NewBalance 980.
While I congratulate those of you who are true forefoot strikers, I’m pretty sure my calves would completely shred if I went to a zero drop or Newton. On my best days I hit mid foot, but I definitely heel strike the rest of the time. My forefoot hurts because that is where my toe-off occurs and the Boost, while being incredibly shock absorbing, is not the most structural shoe in the toe box, thus my foot is taking the torque.