Blister Prevention Advice for 3-Day Walkers

Walking 60 miles in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day® can take a toll on you physically, and the most commonly affected body part is sure to be your feet. Blisters are one of the most frequently treated medical issues on the Komen 3-Day, and a bad blister (or two, or ten…) can sideline an otherwise healthy walker.

The good news is you don’t have to resign yourself to living with blisters. There are steps you can take to stop a blister before it starts and further actions you can take to deal with a blister if you do get one.

What is a blister? – The type of blisters that most 3-Day® walkers experience are friction blisters (as opposed to, say, a blister from a burn or an insect bite). When part of your foot rubs up against something—your sock or shoe or another body part, such as toes rubbing against toes—repeatedly, the top layer of skin will separate from the underlying layer. The separation will fill with fluid, causing a painful blister.

Stay Dry – Moisture can exacerbate the friction that causes blisters, so it’s important to keep your feet as dry as possible. If you’re prone to excessive sweating, consider using foot powder to minimize the moisture. It’s also a good idea to change your socks midway through a long walk (calculate the halfway point of a 10+ mile training walk and stop there, or swap socks at the lunch stop on the 3-Day).

Socks – Speaking of socks, choosing the right ones can mean the difference between blister-free tootsies and a painful walk. Stay away from 100% cotton socks and opt instead for socks made with some sort of moisture-wicking material (look for names like Coolmax® or Dri-Fit on the packaging), which will draw moisture away from your skin. Also, make sure your socks fit snugly and don’t bunch up inside your shoes or around your toes; folds in fabric are a common cause of friction blisters.

Shoes – Good shoes might well be the most important gear for 3-Day walkers, so take the time to get yourself fitted with shoes that are right for your feet. We recommend that you buy shoes from an outfitter who is knowledgeable about athletic footwear, as they will be able to see how you walk and put you in shoes that are right for your particular stride. Consider shopping at a store that specializes in running/walking shoes, as opposed to a “big box” sporting goods store. Taking the time to find the right shoes could ultimately make the difference in whether you get blisters or not.

Preventive Treatments – Aside from the foot powder mentioned above, there are other pre-walk treatments you can apply to prevent blisters before they start. I’ve had great success with the “foot lube” method. Lubricating products such as SportSlick™, HikeGoo BodyGlide® or even regular old petroleum jelly can be applied directly to the skin; slab it on your heels, the balls of your feet, between all your toes and anywhere else that’s prone to friction on your own feet. Put your clean, dry socks on over your gelled-up feet, and you’re good to go (and of course, you’ll repeat the process when you change your socks at the halfway point of your walk). You’ll feel like you’re walking through Jell-O for the first few steps, but before long you won’t even notice it. Meanwhile, the lubricant will keep a slick layer between your skin and your socks, never letting enough friction build up to form a blister. I’ve been using this method for over 10 years and have not gotten a single blister in that time.

Ouch! – What if, in spite of your best prevention efforts, you still find yourself feeling pain in a particular spot on your foot? We use the term “hot spot” to define these pre-blister points, because it will literally feel like a little area of localized heat or irritation on your skin. This is not a full-blown blister yet, so as soon as you start to feel a hot spot coming on, stop walking and treat it by applying more powder or lubricant, or bandaging the spot to protect it from further friction. Many walkers prefer bandaging products like moleskin or molefoam over other adhesive bandages, but as with all of your 3-Day gear and products, you should try them out during your months of training to discover what works best for you personally.

You can find more information about blister care and prevention and blister treatment can be found in your 3-Day Participant Center.

Join us for our second 3-Day Tweet Chat on July 9 – Training Tips!

With the first Susan G. Komen 3-Day^® rapidly approaching, we’d love to hang out with you on Twitter and chat about training. Training is one of the best ways to ensure your success on the Komen 3-Day, so let’s share our best tips and strategies for successful training.

Join us on Wednesday, July 9 at 6:00 p.m. PDT (9:00 p.m. EDT, and 8:00 p.m. CT) for a Tweet Chat all about training. Never done a Tweet Chat before? That’s okay! Some people call them Twitter Parties or Twitter Meet-Ups, but whatever the name, it works like this:

Sign on to Twitter at 6:00 p.m. PDT (or a few minutes before).
Make sure you’re following @The3Day on Twitter.
On Twitter, search for #The3Day, which is the official hashtag we will use for this Tweet Chat.
You can also use the website TweetChat.com. Sign in, enter the hashtag #The3Day, and you’ll be able to watch and tweet in real-time with us.
We’ll ask some questions to get things started, and we will also share tips and tricks from 3-Day veterans and coaches. This will be a great way to meet your fellow 3-Day participants, ask your questions, and motivate yourself to keep your training on track. Our 3-Day Social Media Team, Alyssa and Erin, can’t wait to tweet with you!

Not on Twitter yet? Here are a few quick tips to get you started:

It’s free and easy to join at Twitter.com.
Go to twitter.com/the3day and click “Follow” to make sure our messages show up in your feed.
A hashtag is a way to “file” tweets and collect them under a certain topic, so you’ll be able to see everything everyone is tweeting under this hashtag. Just search for #the3day in Twitter and you’ll be able to see everyone’s messages about the 3-Day, not just ours.
When writing your own messages, keep in mind that tweets can only be 140 characters at a time, so it’s best to keep things short n’ sweet.

If you can’t make this Tweet Chat, you can always search #The3Day on Twitter to see all of the tweets that came from this Tweet Chat. Do you have any questions? Ask here, and remember, the 3-Day coaches are only a phone call away at 800-996-3DAY!

Tips for Planning Your Own 3-Day Training Walk

All seven of the Susan G. Komen 3-Day® cities are now 24 weeks or less from their events, which means that walkers everywhere have jumped into their training schedules. Depending on where you live, there may be official Komen 3-Day training walks that you can attend (go to The3Day.org/trainingwalks to find one), but even so, chances are good that at some point, you’ll have to initiate some training walks on your own. Here are a few tips for planning a pleasant and successful training walk.

Map Your Route – The 3-Day® suggested training schedule recommends certain mileages, depending on how many weeks you have until your event. Taking a 3-mile stroll around your neighborhood is usually done pretty easily, but when you start to get up into the higher mileages, you’ll want to plan your route ahead of time. There are several websites that allow you to plot out a walking route using online maps – a few that I’ve used are MapMyWalk.com, RunKeeper.com and USA Track & Field. These sites are great because they will track the distance of the route you plan, so you never have to second guess whether or not you got all your miles in, and you can even browse routes that other users have already created. Most of these websites sync up with GPS-enabled mobile apps as well, so you can plan out a route in the comfort of your home, and it will be right there on your phone when you’re ready to hit the road.

Recruit Some Buddies – If you’ve registered to walk in the 3-Day with friends or family members, great! You have training partners at the ready. But often we hear from walkers who don’t have anyone to train with, and that requires a little bit of creative thinking to solve. For instance, say you have a 12-mile training walk to complete. It might be a tough sell to get one of your non-3-Day friends to go hoof that whole distance with you. But could you get 2 friends to each walk 6 miles with you? Set up your route so that the halfway point is back where you started, and let your friends “tag-team” in and out. Friend 1 will be back at her car and free to head home while Friend 2 is just meeting you, ready to attack the second half of the walk.

Motivate with Music – Have you ever been walking and heard a song with a tempo that matched your stride perfectly? I found a really cool website called Jog.fm which organizes thousands of songs by beats-per-minute, so you can find tunes that fit your pace. You could make a whole playlist of songs that will keep you moving at the speed you’re comfortable with. (Note: For safety reasons, the 3-Day recommends that you do not walk with headphones/earbuds, because they limit your awareness of your surroundings. However, since most mobile devices have built-in speakers these days, you can safely rock your walk with tunes to keep you moving.)

Pack for the Trek – We recommend that 3-Dayers wear a pack of some kind when walking; waist packs that hold one or two water bottles and hydration backpacks are the most popular styles. Training walks are an excellent time to get used to how your pack feels, so you’re not wearing it for the first time on the 3-Day. For your training walks, you’ll want to carry with you whatever you might need: bottles of water and/or sports drink, snacks, sunscreen and lip balm, foot care items, extra socks, your phone, ID and some money. I like to plan stopping points into my longer training walks (Starbucks, anyone?), but in the event that I’m walking someplace without a lot of on-route stopping options, it’s good to know that I have one I need right there on my fanny.

Know Your Limits – Ideally, your 3-Day training will work up gradually, and your body will respond positively to the increase in miles with no issues. But we all know that things happen. On the 3-Day, you’ll have sweep vans available to pick you up if you need to quit, but when you go out for longer training walks and you find you’re just not ready for the distance you’ve planned, have an exit strategy. Make sure friends or family members know where you are and will be willing to pick you up if necessary, or be prepared with the number of a cab company (or Uber/Lyft services, if you have those in your area), just in case.

Remember that your Participant Center has lots of training resources, and your 3-Day coaches are always there if you have questions.