Howdy-
I'm suffering from some toe pain and metatarsal pain and am wondering if I'm dealing with Morton's Neuroma or something else - and looking for advice on how to continue training for my first marathon coming up in seven weeks.
I'll start with symptoms and then go to back story.
I'm feeling some pain and tingling in my second and third toes on my right foot, associated with running. When I first started wearing VFFs and using CorrectToes, I had similar pain when I wore them too long (and always took them off when I started feeling the pain). That was over six months ago, and three months into my minimalist transition.
I've been building miles for my marathon (seven weeks from now) at the rate of 1-2 miles on my long run per week. I'm a heel striker and have also been working on Pose-style running for a couple weeks leading up to my injury, although my form hasn't changed much in that direction. On my first 20 mile training run (in VFFs), I experienced the same pain as when I was new to VFFs/CorrectToes during the last two miles of my run. I didn't think much of it at the time, but it persisted, especially after other training runs later in the week. Four days later, I decided to take a week long break as I had a 30k race coming up. My week long break from running didn't impact the pain, and my 30k hurt for the first mile, but then felt great. After, my toes/metatarsal area hurt again, moreso than before the run, but quickly approached my new normal. Going up and down stairs hurts the most, but not too much. Later in the day, when my feet are warmed up, I generally have less pain than right when I wake up in the morning.
I have a hard time describing exactly where the pain is - it feels like my toes are being pulled apart, and the pain is mostly between the toes and into the metatarsal heads, but it's such a generalized ache it's hard to say for sure.
Back story: I'm a minimalist runner. I suffered from plantar fasciitis for years, and more supportive shoes kept helping for a few weeks at a time. I read Born to Run and decided to try transitioning to minimalist footwear, and within a month my foot pain was gone and stayed gone. I've been building up miles for the last 9 months or so towards my first marathon. I'm a heel striker, and really want to improve that, but am worried that forefoot striking might be related to my pain. My daily wear shoes are Vivobarefoot Primus Trail FGs.
Does any of this run counter to a Morton's Neuroma? I'm approaching this with my traditional medical provider, but am stuck in an HMO and their first suggestion was wearing support shoes whenever I walk.
I'm suffering from some toe pain and metatarsal pain and am wondering if I'm dealing with Morton's Neuroma or something else - and looking for advice on how to continue training for my first marathon coming up in seven weeks.
I'll start with symptoms and then go to back story.
I'm feeling some pain and tingling in my second and third toes on my right foot, associated with running. When I first started wearing VFFs and using CorrectToes, I had similar pain when I wore them too long (and always took them off when I started feeling the pain). That was over six months ago, and three months into my minimalist transition.
I've been building miles for my marathon (seven weeks from now) at the rate of 1-2 miles on my long run per week. I'm a heel striker and have also been working on Pose-style running for a couple weeks leading up to my injury, although my form hasn't changed much in that direction. On my first 20 mile training run (in VFFs), I experienced the same pain as when I was new to VFFs/CorrectToes during the last two miles of my run. I didn't think much of it at the time, but it persisted, especially after other training runs later in the week. Four days later, I decided to take a week long break as I had a 30k race coming up. My week long break from running didn't impact the pain, and my 30k hurt for the first mile, but then felt great. After, my toes/metatarsal area hurt again, moreso than before the run, but quickly approached my new normal. Going up and down stairs hurts the most, but not too much. Later in the day, when my feet are warmed up, I generally have less pain than right when I wake up in the morning.
I have a hard time describing exactly where the pain is - it feels like my toes are being pulled apart, and the pain is mostly between the toes and into the metatarsal heads, but it's such a generalized ache it's hard to say for sure.
Back story: I'm a minimalist runner. I suffered from plantar fasciitis for years, and more supportive shoes kept helping for a few weeks at a time. I read Born to Run and decided to try transitioning to minimalist footwear, and within a month my foot pain was gone and stayed gone. I've been building up miles for the last 9 months or so towards my first marathon. I'm a heel striker, and really want to improve that, but am worried that forefoot striking might be related to my pain. My daily wear shoes are Vivobarefoot Primus Trail FGs.
Does any of this run counter to a Morton's Neuroma? I'm approaching this with my traditional medical provider, but am stuck in an HMO and their first suggestion was wearing support shoes whenever I walk.
