Blisters crop up when there’s friction between your skin and your shoe. They’re especially common among runners, but all types of athletes are susceptible. Here’s how to treat your blisters and return to training.
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If the blister is in a spot where it will likely tear (like the bottom of your foot)…
Pop it. Wash your hands, use a sterilized needle to drain the blister by poking a hole to one side, and compress the blister to push out the fluid. If the liquid isn’t clear or you see red streaks (a sign of infection), see your doctor. Do not tear off the loose, dead skin, which can lead to an infection. Finally, clean the area with antibacterial soap, cushion with a , which you can make by cutting the center out of a small piece of , and cover with a bandage. At this point, it’s usually OK to run. If the blister becomes irritated again, wait a couple days for it to harden and become less sensitive.
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If you don’t think the blister will tear on its own…
Don’t pop it. Breaking the skin will increase the chance of infection. Instead of popping the blister, protect the area with either a or a donut pad. This will reduce additional friction so you won’t agitate the area further.
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If you don’t see a blister…
Reduce your risk of getting one. To avoid blisters, keep your feet dry with . Sweat can turn skin soft and white, like when you’ve been in the tub too long. Add in heat and friction from movement, and you’ve got the perfect environment for a blister. Also, choose a shoe that fits properly. If it rubs in the store, it’s going to rub on the road.

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Advocates of barefoot running argue it’s the way evolution wants us to run—and they’re right. However, this ignores the fact that we spend the majority of our lives locked into regular shoes. Rarely do we go barefoot anywhere.

Before you start running, let your feet adjust to your new barefoot or minimalist-style shoes by wearing them to the store, the office, and around the house. Next, work to build strength in the tiny muscles on the bottom of your feet, also known as your foot intrinsic muscles. Try these drills:

Short Foot: From a seated position with your shoes off, cup the bottom of one foot— without curling your toes—so that it makes a ‘cave.’ Cup your hand against a flat surface to use as a reference. Once you’ve got this down, the next steps in the progression are maintaining this foot position while standing, while performing a lunge, and eventually while balancing on one foot.
Toe Spreading: Sit barefoot. With one foot at a time, spread your toes apart as best you can, hold for two counts and release. Think of it not as creating a claw with your foot, but rather as trying to move your toes independently from each other.

When you’re ready to hit the road, start with a half-mile run and work up to your regular distance over a two-week period. After you run, take a tennis or golf ball and roll it back and forth along the arch of your foot, focusing on sore spots. Do this for 30–60 seconds per foot to ease soreness and improve your barefoot running.

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Cyclists and runners tend to train only aerobically and only focus on their sport, but by training other energy systems, you can actually improve your aerobic fitness. Mix up your program with weight training, swimming and other endurance activities.

Don’t underestimate the importance of a solid , massage, and , either. Think of them as recovery tools they all factor in to help your body bounce back from your intense training sessions.

Finally, decide when it’s most important to peak and plan your training around those dates. If you try training hard all summer, you’ll end up overtraining and burning out again. Just identify your most important races and schedule your training to peak for those events.

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Anytime you have a lower body injury where you can’t put weight on your feet, you can maintain aerobic conditioning using just your arms with a bike that has moveable arms, like a Schwinn Airdyne.

If your gym doesn’t have a bike with moveable arms, talk to you doctor about deep water aerobic training (so your feet stay off the ground) once your stitches heal. You can do water running and swim laps in about 8 feet of water.

Aside from conditioning, maintain strength by doing your upper body exercises seated on a bench, but take this opportunity to mix up your sets, reps, and rest periods for a new challenge.

And keep your core strong and movements where you lie on your side and on your back, like glute bridges. For bridges, instead of placing your feet on the floor, put a foam roll under your calves, keep your legs straight, and then bridge up. This will help keep your hips and torso strong without putting pressure on your foot.

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Your iliotibial (IT) band is a long tissue that attaches at your knee and to a muscle called the tensor fascia latae (TFL) on your hip. Don’t worry, there’s no spelling quiz, but it’s important to understand the anatomy part because often times the IT band tightens up when your TFL is overused.

In the absence of stability from your glute (butt) muscles, your body turns to the TFL, but it’s a poor substitute. When the TFL becomes overly stressed, it pulls on that IT band. So no matter how much you stretch, it won’t loosen up because your TFL keeps putting tension through the band.

You need to address the root of the problem: weak glutes.

Try gliding your IT band, TFL, quadriceps muscles and hamstrings over a foam roll to loosen them up, and strengthen your glutes with exercises like and . Include both moves in your regular workout routine and do them just prior to running.

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If this is the first time this has happened, then something has changed, and it might be obvious. For instance, are your shoes worn out? Did you significantly increase your training volume? Did you start running on a different surface? If none of those things have changed, then you may be in an over-trained state and pain is showing up in your hamstrings.

Try this:

1. Massage your hamstrings. Use a foam roll or massage stick to loosen up knots in your muscles.

2. Mix up your training. Try cross training in the pool (running in water or swimming) one week a month so you’re not always doing the same thing and putting the same stress on your body.

3. Taper your training volume every third week. Cut your mileage by a third to a half to give your body time to recover. You can still train just as hard.

4. Strengthen your glutes. If your glutes are weak, your hamstrings will have to work overtime to pick up the slack. So include mini band walks in your workout to strengthen your glutes, and make sure you’re feeling it in your glutes and not your hamstrings.

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Improving your ankle strength may not be what you need. Reoccurring ankle sprains often have less to do with lack of strength around the ankle as much as a loss of balance and proprioception the ability to know where you joint is in space.

Here's how proprioception works:

Close your eyes and make a fist. Place one finger up, then two. You can sense where your fingers are, right? That's not because you're looking at them, but because you can feel them due to proprioceptors in your ligaments.

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When you first sprain your ankle, you damage the ligaments, which in turn damage the proprioceptors in that area. When you suffer another sprain, it isn't necessarily a lack of strength that's at fault, but since you weren't looking at your ankle, you had less of a sense of where it was in space, so you turned it. 

Re-establishing balance and proprioception will help you avoid future ankle sprains. Try balance activities that challenge your vision, like the progression below. Do it someplace where you can easily touch to regain your balance if needed, such as a doorway.

1. Single-leg standing: 30 seconds

2. Single-leg standing with eyes closed: 30 seconds

3. Unstable single-leg standing: 30 seconds

4. Unstable single-leg standing, eyes closed: 30 seconds

5. Single leg standing, eyes open turn head to the left, then right, then up, then down. This is one rep. Repeat 5 times.

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