Toe nails (Read 2354 times)

Am I the only one who has never had so much as a discolored toenail, much less lost any...?

I have trained for and run four marathons, have run numerous half marathons and races of other distances.  In 20 plus years of running, I have never had any issues whatsoever with my toenails.  I sometimes run slow, sometimes fast and my races - at least in the past - generally were not slow.  I find that in general running shoe sizes are just different from street shoes.  I wear an 8.5 in street shoes and a 9.5 or 10 in every pair of running shoes I have ever owned.  I'm with Nobby, not sure why your toes would take a pounding while running unless you are doing an awful lot of steep downhill running in very small shoes.

I don't know - my shoes have lots of room at the end, so I don't know why I get black toe nails.

nail polish? 

 

  Besides, I really don't know how "toes" get pounding from running unless you are a ballet dancer...

 I think that's what my toes were attempting! I was told I over-pronated and needed stability and support ( custom orthotics) in my shoes. I kept getting injured - but everytime I came back from an injury, I ended up with less support in my shoes. I am now in completely neutral shoes( no orthotics)  and I realize that all that support under my arch was not allowing my forefoot to flatten out properly, so my toes ended up grabbing air and I was likely pushing off on the tips of my toes. Now that I know what to look for, I can feel the difference. I also realize that the problem all along was not so much over pronating, but muscle weakness/imbalances in my hips.

 I think that's what my toes were attempting! I was told I over-pronated and needed stability and support ( custom orthotics) in my shoes. I kept getting injured - but everytime I came back from an injury, I ended up with less support in my shoes. I am now in completely neutral shoes( no orthotics)  and I realize that all that support under my arch was not allowing my forefoot to flatten out properly, so my toes ended up grabbing air and I was likely pushing off on the tips of my toes. Now that I know what to look for, I can feel the difference. I also realize that the problem all along was not so much over pronating, but muscle weakness/imbalances in my hips.

I have recently recovered from a hip stress fx.  I was in stability shoes before.  I had a few black toenails, too.  I got some great advice from Nobby, TChuck and my Physical Therapist.  Now I am wearing more neutral shoes and I do core and hip strengthening exercises 4-5 times a week.  Toes are healing up.  Hip is great.  I feel better every single day.  Yay!  

I would think so.

I lost my first toenail (after about 7 years of running) last Saturday.  I had injured it in the Gate River Run (15K) back in March and it took 3 months to come off.  There's an oddly shaped nail already underneat it and I just finished my first run with the brand new nail.