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Originally Posted by LongDTravis
I have an unrelated question or comment. I've got my walking/jogging up to 10 miles per day some days. I feel great when I'm doing it but my toe nails are starting to feel weird. My main girl does a lot of marathons and half marathons and she used to lose nails when she first started. I am deathly afraid of that happening, sounds painful and gross. Does anyone know how to avoid nails falling off from putting in big miles? I wear sandals and flip flops when I'm not working out or in the office so maybe I could start wearing them to run/walk to ease the pressure? I used to only work in flipflops in college so I'm not worried about dropping weights or anything, blisters could be an issue though.
A problem most runners face when changing to longer distance is that they tend to buy their shoes too small. When upping your distance, and in your case you have, you need to buy your running shoes a half to a full size bigger than your normal shoe size. The reason for this is that all of that repeated pounding causes your feet to swell significantly during your run and your toes bang in the front of your shoes, over and over and over.
As a basic rule you should have a thumb width between your longest toe and the front of your shoe. This should give you enough room for your feet to spread out during your run and avoid toe nail issues. Also remember that different brands run either long or short on sizes so the actual size printed on the shoe doesn't mean as much as how it actually fits. When you first put them on they'll feel weird being that big, but you''ll get used to that and be much happier on long runs.
As to blisters while you run be sure to wear non-cotton socks.
This information comes from me, as a guy who just started significant weight loss (Down 17 lbs in 2 weeks) but was previously a serious triathlete and marathon runner. I also worked at a running specialty store and fit and sold running shoes for over 5 years.
I hope this helps.