Steps have to be taken when skin on feet has been made raw and I want to keep running. One raw spot was on a toe pad due to barefoot speed work on an outdoor nubby, rubber track. I made the mistake of forgetting about this toe on my tempo run last Thursday, resulting in some blood left on the path for walkers to ponder. Ironically, the other raw spot was from shoes erasing a toe pad on an hour long run this Saturday. When it was time for our speed work out on Monday, I began getting out the mole skin and duct tape.
The hubby came by and indicated I needed instruction on how to properly duct tape my sore toes,
- so that it would actually stay on and
- would not be irritating to adjacent toes.
He was hands on, double checking my mole skin donuts, tearing me just the right sizes of duct tape and applying them to my toes. He says real duct tape is the most reliable. Everything stayed on perfectly and I was able to get the same results when preparing for my tempo run today.
For similar results, first, gather your supplies:
The mole skin (which can be found at Walmart) is adhesive, but does tend to come off if not supported in place by something else, so it is good to have everything right there. Cutting the mole skin donut requires patience. It is thick and uncooperative. I had to give up my vision of a perfect circle…
Next, place your donut so that it encircles the tender area.
Position a strip of duct tape over the top of the toe, over the mole skin, and on the upper aspect of the toe. The strip of tape should be narrow to avoid adding bulk between toes. (in the photo, the mole skin is showing on one side)
Finally, one more piece of duct tape should be placed under the toe, perpendicular to the first piece, bringing the ends up to overlap on the upper side. This will anchor the whole thing in place.
Now, the duct tape wrap is complete and
and you are ready to run –
I ran 6 miles total today with this set up. I ran fast for me during a training run, managing an 8:30 pace for the first 4 miles, then backing off to a 9 minute/mile pace for the last 2 miles. Here is what the bottoms of my feet looked like when I was done running, but before I washed them:
You can see that the duct tape held up well. It was easy to take off by pulling on the outer piece first. I proceeded to walk around completely bare footed for most of the afternoon, not feeling any pain in the tender areas, so I think they were quite adequately protected!
Feel free to let us in on your secrets for how to use duct tape to help with your running.
Male runners who go on long runs, especially in the cold and or rain, can have issues with rubbing their nipples raw. You may have wondered about that screaming in the shower (salt sweat in an open wound).
Band aids are commonly used for protection, but I find tape to be better and cheaper. Duct tape or masking tape work fine. You can make small squares that are less likely to stick to a bunch of hair (ouch again).
Sounds like everyone needs their own roll in their workout bag!
LOL, wow. I have been doing something similar to protect my blisters and other tender areas on my hands for work, except I’ve been using sports tape that I bought for my rock climbing class at CWI awhile back. It is stretchier than duct tape, so I think it can wrap tighter and I it is probably slightly more comfortable, but also more expensive. I’ll probably end up using duct tape if/when it runs out.
Jesse, I hope you are not wrapping it toooo tightly! Love, Mom
*adds duct tape & moleskin to shopping list*
But, Heidi, DO try avoiding to need it. 🙂
I generally try to keep in mind that my toe might be unhappy if I strangled it. And you know what they say “A happy toe makes for a happy HO HO HO!”
The duct tape is not on tightly, just enough to stay in place. 🙂
I’ve had very good results just using duct tape patches over blisters without the moleskin doughnut. It seems to act as a ‘second skin’, and the duct tape seems to come off quite easily once your feet have sweated for a while.
Hi, Joel. Nice to have you stop by. I’ve tried that a couple of times. Sometimes it seems to pull at the weaken spot in an unpleasant way. 🙂