Recently revved up running miles in anticipation of a half marathon this weekend and Marine Corps. Marathon in two weeks and have issues with toenails feeling like they will fall off, including one that completely fell off today. I have run dozens of half marathons the past few years and keep running mileage between 40-50 miles the past two months and never experienced running without a couple toenails. I am assuming many others have had this issue as well and I was wondering how it felt during the races? Will there be much of a difference? Any pointers on how to decrease this happening in the future (other than constantly cutting the nails which I do frequently)? Thanks
oh man, I was wondering the same things while I was ramping up my milage for the first time this summer. I bruised my second toe which is longer than my big toe after one long run and I was sure I was gonna loose it but I never did. Then, after my IM the big toe, second toe, and pinky toe on my right foot (which is incidentally a little longer than my left foot) bruised pretty bad. Took about a month and the pinky toenail fell off…I never even noticed it. I have been running during all of this and feel no discomfort. My shoes seem to fit me fine, I don’t know what I could have done to prevent this from happening.
Good Luck on both your endeavors.
I have the same longer second toe as you. I personally prefer when they are gone as opposed to them being there. I usually will lose my toenails on my first marathon of the year. My home course is quite hilly and I’ll lose them 2 weeks or so after running it. I’ve only noticed issues maybe a day or two after I lose the nail when it can be tender. Other then that I usually don’t get them back fully until later in the season when I’m taking a break from heavy mileage.
Any pointers on how to decrease this happening in the future (other than constantly cutting the nails which I do frequently)? Thanks
You might want to try sizing up with your shoes. The only times I’ve had issues with toenails is when my shoes were too small. I like to have up to the width of my thumb of space between the ends of my toes to the end of the shoe.
Toenails are overrated. Really, though, run enough miles and you are bound to lose a toenail or two. +1 on trying to size up 1/2 size or so.
I run about eight marathons a year including on occasional back-to-back weekends, plus training, and for anything over about 20 miles, I find silicone toe caps from Bunga Pad keep the damage to a minimum. I still lose toenails, generally about three weeks after a hard effort, but I have less bruising and black toe issues.
My second toe is longer than my big toe as well and I used to have problems losing toenails after marathons a few years back but I did as others have already said and increased my shoe size by 1/2 half size and that did the trick. I also try to stick with shoes that have a larger toe box but for me this isn’t critical. Running marathon #29 this weekend and been good for several years since upsizing shoes. Good luck!
Think of the weight savings!
In all seriousness, I don’t really notice them at all, unless it’s half dead and I catch it on something, drop something on my toes. During a I feel the general friction, but nothing relating directly to the toenail getting ruined, so don’t really worry about it.
I come from an ultrarunning background (lots of 100-milers) and I was always losing toenails. For me it has nothing to do with shoe size. My toes are nowhere even close to the end of my shoes.
The funny thing is they only turn black and get a blister underneath them during races.
I just home from Kona and it looks like I am going to lose three. I have been draining one of the big toenails every night since I finished the race. It will be a blessing when I can rip it off and not have to deal with it again for a few months.
Toenails? I thought runners didn’t have toenails?