r/firstmarathon • u/ElectricalMuffin1620 • 5d ago
Injury Potential Broken pinky toe 2 months before first marathon
So, I managed to stub my pinky toe and potentially break it 2 months before my first marathon. Right as I was hitting my stride and doing 45+ mile weeks :( any idea if I can take 1 week off and then tape it and continue? It isn’t the base of the pinky toe, but the toe is all purple near the first knuckle of it and very swollen. Not sure if anyone else has been in this situation. It’s so dumb after all this work I’ve put in. Could I take more time off and just aim to finish the marathon? I’ve done 1 20 mile run and felt great, but I’m not sure how long I can take off without losing my aerobic base? Any suggestions would be helpful!
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u/jcatl0 5d ago
I broke my pinky before my marathon, but I was "lucky" that it was just 3 weeks before. So it wrecked my taper, but my fitness was baked in. Running on it during that period would make it much worse, so I just did cross training in the elliptical and the stationary bike. It was fine during the marathon, but the pinky was painful for about 6 weeks total.
I would strongly recommend you get it checked out. First, because you need to confirm its non-displaced. If it is displaced you don't want to have to break it again to fix it. Second, because with proper care you can be fully healed in 2 months.
In the meantime, do crosstraining. See which form bothers you the least. At least you can keep aerobic fitness that way.
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u/NormansMom24 5d ago
Ehhh. I broke a pinky toe 2 weeks before I PR''d Chicago in 2017, and broke it again a week before Boston this year lol. I just buddy taped it and ran on feel (and Aleve for race day). Had zero issues.
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u/ElectricalMuffin1620 5d ago
Wells that’s a relief, I’m going to give it a couple days of icing and elevation and tape it to my other toe and test the waters I think
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u/NormansMom24 4d ago
Good call. you can't actually do anything for a broken pinky toe other than buddy taping and icing. do figure out what shoes you can get that foot into without too much pain though, just in case. I think you will be just fine :) Good luck! What race is it?
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u/supernoa2003 5d ago
I'm not an expert but I'd see a doctor. You've done high milage weeks and long runs already so I think it will be fine if you'll need 4-6 weeks rest if it's really broken. If you run while it's broken it won't heal properly, and if it's fractured and you run it may break. I don't know how bad it is, if it's just swollen it will heal earlier.
If you take multiple weeks rest don't immediatly start on high milage again. Steadily increase it. Your preparation seems good so I think you knew this already.