Ironman Coeur d'Alene - The Report (LONG)

[colby]

Curious to know how you avoided them. < It's extremely rare for me to get blisters when running. But I think my feet swelled a little on the bike, and I ended up with four doozies by the end of the half marathon. > Did your feet swell at all on the bike or run? Or did you feel like your shoes fit you the same way they always do? Did you do anything different to your feet (baby powder or anything like that) as a preventative? Especially since you like me had almost no opportunity to train in heat this year, how did you deal with your feet being so much warmer than on your training runs?

Last year I think I escaped with only a few blisters when I was wearing regular shoes, though the weather was admittedly cooler. The first year I swear I could barely walk. For me, the injinji socks do make a big difference, as I tend to get blisters between my big toe and second toe on the pad of my foot, and underneath my big toe in the same spot. Putting fabric there rather than letting my feet rub did help. Also, I have in the past put bodyglide on my feet where my feet tend to rub - I have also had blisters in the arch of my foot and on the outside of my feet where they rub my shoes, and that has helped.

I was actually surprised to NOT have blisters wearing my Five Fingers. For as much as I love them, not all of my training runs have been blister or hot-spot free (alas, they are not miracles ). One of the things I have been doing after reading "Fixing Your Feet" as OakLeaf recommended was to soften the callouses that have developed on my feet by putting a nice foot lotion on them before bed and before putting on socks as often as I remember (and especially as callouses start to develop). The worst blisters I have gotten were always near callouses and tough skin, or were blisters THEN became callouses and tough skin. The week before Ironman, I did not wear any sandals or bare feet, always socks, which kept my feet from drying out.

My Five Fingers are black, and the pavement was hot. I had hoped to wear the other pair I bought which were white and I might be able to go bare foot in, but I couldn't risk breaking them in so close to Ironman. My feet did definitely swell more than they had in training, and I noticed they had already done so on the bike. I felt them increase a bit on the run at first, too. Last year it was cooler, but I felt the same thing - my feet swelled more than they usually do on the bike, and then by the time I got to the run I had to be careful about tying my shoes. I do NOT use yankz or xtenex laces on my shoes during Ironman, they are not forgiving enough for the amount my feet change - I've even had trouble during hot Olympic distance races feeling constrained.

So, I think part of it is learning to soften callouses, toe socks got me a long way, the nature of the separated toes, and some carefully placed bodyglide in T2. Also, I have had to be very careful to replace shoes when it's time in advance of Ironman, because I start to blister when shoes are over-worn (dunno how that will work with Five Fingers, we'll find out).

ETA: I do not like the hot feet feeling, which I had on at least one long run training day, too, when we had a rare hot day (basically the only other hot day until this last weekend). Running in the gravel/dirt alongside the trails during Ironman (when available) did also help me not feel so hot, but that's not always an option. Cooling off the rest of my body also helped. I think maybe a hat and being able to put a sponge inside of it might have felt good, but I don't like to wear hats when running.

There was a guy in the paper today that described that his feet were so full of blisters he could barely walk. Yikes!! I would bet his feet swelled more than he expected, too.