Foot pain from road running

summertime_girl

Training for a half, and did a long run yesterday. Longest ever, actually, 13.5. But I live in a fairly rural area, where there are no sidewalks, so running is on the side of the road. My left foot is killing me today, I think because running on the left side of the road (facing traffic) it ends up tipping to the left.

When you do long distances on the road, do you switch sides every other mile? Seems like it might not be as safe, but would certainly help balance pain.

pdworkman

I have heard that this can be a problem, have heard from others who get pain if they don't balance out the camber. Rather than crossing the road every mile, you could run there on one side, and back on the same side. One direction you are going to have traffic behind you, which is problematic, but maybe there is not enough traffic on this rural road to be a problem, or there is a nice wide shoulder.

Google "running road camber" and you will see various discussions on how to address the issue.

I have a significant leg length discrepancy, so even with my lift I am always running on a slant, and I appreciate it if I am running on a surface that slopes down to the right. I can tell you that it made a big (positive) difference to my hips and ankles when I started using a lift.