I had some foot problems during and after 5 continuous day hikes in the DAX in and around New Year's weekend. It was actually day and night hikes, but I slept in a warm bed once every 24hrs. From reading these posts perhaps my lower boot wasn't laced tightly enoungh so the balls of my feet were sliding forward to much on descents. I got a blister in the middle of the ball of my left foot larger than a silver dollar. and a blister pretty much covering the under pad of my right big toe. I wondered if it would be better to drain it with a sterilized pin prick or just leave it and hope it would calm down with a good nights rest as minor blisters did the year before on shorter hikes
The year before I hiked every weekend during the winter with my longest outing for three days, with only minor problems as I said. Suddenly putting 5days of stress on my feet was a problem this year. I decided to drain the fluid then used vaseline, goops and gobs of it. That worked okay. I also tried a foam pad with a hole in it the size of the blister, but on such short notice I couldn't get any really soft foam and after walking on the foam pad for a couple of hours I started to get somekind of electrical or shooting pain around the base of my toes. I took the foam pad off and felt much better the rest of the hike. I covered small bunions on the outside of my feet with bunion pads and that worked well.
My biggest concern was not to end up with a metatarsal stress fracture. I still have some tenderness when I run continuously for 2-3hours. So I have had to blend the nordic track x-country ski machine with the treadmill to continue long run training for road racing.
I will probably see if I can get a softer insole for my boots before my next hiking adventure which will be for six or seven days. I noticed the Koflach Degres' are kind of on the hard side. The running store where I get my sneakers may have some softer insoles that could provide mole protection from impact if they fit well enough.
The year before I hiked every weekend during the winter with my longest outing for three days, with only minor problems as I said. Suddenly putting 5days of stress on my feet was a problem this year. I decided to drain the fluid then used vaseline, goops and gobs of it. That worked okay. I also tried a foam pad with a hole in it the size of the blister, but on such short notice I couldn't get any really soft foam and after walking on the foam pad for a couple of hours I started to get somekind of electrical or shooting pain around the base of my toes. I took the foam pad off and felt much better the rest of the hike. I covered small bunions on the outside of my feet with bunion pads and that worked well.
My biggest concern was not to end up with a metatarsal stress fracture. I still have some tenderness when I run continuously for 2-3hours. So I have had to blend the nordic track x-country ski machine with the treadmill to continue long run training for road racing.
I will probably see if I can get a softer insole for my boots before my next hiking adventure which will be for six or seven days. I noticed the Koflach Degres' are kind of on the hard side. The running store where I get my sneakers may have some softer insoles that could provide mole protection from impact if they fit well enough.
