Melbourne Marathon Podiatry Tips

At The Podiatry Group we are often asked for our top tips when training for a marathon. With the Melbourne Marathon coming up we have decided to give you a little insight to some helpful guidelines to consider when training and running in a marathon. The internet can provide a whole text book of information from how to carb load before an event to the best anti chafing stick to use. We will let you in on the best advice we provide for runner’s feet during their marathon.

• Get your runners professionally fitted. There are stores like Active Feet who are highly trained to fit running shoes. They can observe your running and walking patterns on a treadmill to better assess which shoe is most appropriate for you. Remember that runners will only last on average between 600-800kms so if you have been training hard make sure that by the time you reach your marathon day, your shoes still have life in them. If you are considering purchasing a new pair of shoes before your marathon, make sure that you have enough time to wear them in slowly before the big day. This means that you should have them at least 2 weeks before your event and begin wearing them in at home for a few hours and gradually progressing to a walk then a run. If you are purchasing the same brand and style as your last shoe make sure you speak with the person selling you your shoes to see if there have been any significant changes between the last and latest model. Sometimes the heel height (heel pitch) of a shoe will reduce or increase compared to the forefoot. This may alter the way that you run and impact the style of running you have trained for. At The Podiatry Group we are able to help assess your runners and ensure they are the right shoe for your running style and technique.

•  Make sure you have the right socks. This may seem a silly statement; some of you may think that all socks are equal. We are here to tell you that they are not. There are socks that are designed to help prevent blistering. A small blister might not seem too daunting, but over a 42km run it can slowly but surely cause you more discomfort then you could imagine. There are socks that are specifically designed to wick moisture away from the feet leaving them dry. Some brands that are able to do this are Thorlo, Wigwam and Injinji.

•  Make sure your nails are cut! Cut your nails before an event but leave 1mm of nail growth at the end (1mm of the white part of the nail), this will ensure you don’t cut the too short and bleed causing a bit of a mess and some sore toes before you even begin running. This will also help minimise the risk of your nails going black from bruising or even losing your nails after a marathon. Sometimes our nails get blackened or fall off after an event like a marathon from repetitive micro-trauma. This can be where our toes hit the end of our shoes when running causing micro damage to the nail. This can also be due to our shoes not being laced properly.

•  Get rid of that build up of hard skin! If you have callous on your feet then odds are you have a lot of pressure and friction occurring at that site. If you would like this professionally removed then contact us. If you only have a small amount and think you can manage yourself then the best way is to use a pumice stone. A pumice stone must be used wet (in the bath or shower), it is best used if you rub the pumice stone on a cake of soap and then on the hardened skin until you have taken enough off.

•  Compression stockings can help aid recovery time. It has been shown that an average persons calf will expand in diameter after standing for 1-3 hours. As such, you can imagine that when running a marathon (which could take anywhere between 3-5 hours depending on your speed) your calf will expand and could cause discomfort and a feeling of fatigue. We recommend that all runners consider compression stockings. Please note that we strongly advise that a runner come in for an assessment before using a high grade compression stocking.

•  Have fun! You may choose to run a marathon only once in your life or you may be crazy enough to run many times. Our most important tip we could give you is to enjoy it. You’ve worked so hard to get to where you are, all those training sessions, all that blood sweat and tears, just don’t forget to enjoy yourself.

If you are training for a marathon and want to speak with one of our Podiatrists then you can contact us. We have Podiatry Clinics located in Cranbourne, Drouin and Warragul.