After my last post, I was feeling pretty good. The heel was doing pretty well, and I thought that with less running I could turn the corner and gradually get the plantar fasciitis out of the way.
I guess I was wrong. I went out to do a 6 miler on Sunday, but failed miserably. It was the worst run I've had in my life, I think. I went in the late afternoon, trying to avoid mid-day heat - but I didn't realize it had actually been getting hotter as the day went on. I had also mowed the lawn earlier in the day, so my heel was, in retrospect, already aggravated a bit. I was also probably a bit dehydrated, although I wasn't showing the typical symptoms. So with all that, and the fact it was the first real warm run of the season and my body isn't used to shedding heat - it was a miserable time. I was trying to think of a single positive, and couldn't. The only non-negative thing about it was that it was an opportunity for my body to adjust to running in warm weather. Maybe that'll pay dividends.
On my way back (mostly walking), I went through a series of thoughts. Should I just skip the marathon this year? If I do, and with that being the major goal of the year - what should I do training wise (because whats the point)? Should I go back to running 3x per week, like last year? Afterall, I did make it much further, and one could argue that I gave myself more time to recover in between runs. Should I concentrate on cycling this year and give my body a rest from the pounding of running?
In the end, after I had some time to think, I decided on the following:
1) Take 3 weeks of no running. Do some cycling in the meantime to at least have some activity - build cardio capacity, legs, etc. That'll leave me with 20 weeks to train for a marathon. Not ideal, but possible - all depends on how the heel responds.
2) In the unlikely event I'm not able to do the marathon, I dont want this year to be a complete loss - so I can still do triathlons. So I signed up for the Webster Lake and Cranberry Country Olympic. I really should be able to do the 6 miles at the end of August. Hell, I did it last year in the midst of ITB friction.
3) Once I start running again, run 3x per week. Running 5x per week may be optimal for recovery and time training, but I really do not care about time in a marathon - I just want to finish.
4) This will all make completing the marathon that much sweeter.
So - last week I made sure to do the main PF stretches during the week, and by weeks end, things were feeling pretty good (again). On saturday I mowed the lawn (2 hours behind a push mower), and my heel was very sore. With that, it became a trend - so either that much walking, or the boots I wear while mowing are not helping. I had some gel inserts laying around, so I started using those to help cushion my heel. They helped a little bit, but the majority of the soreness and pain wasn't heel pressure, but when the foot is flexed during walking.
This morning I was doodling around the internet, and came across this. Normally, I read these types of columns with a great deal of skepticism, and I did with this one too. However, I had been wondering if getting something to support the arch would help - and, well, I had a roll of duct tape right by the computer. So I tried it out. I was amazed at the results. Not absolutely and completely pain free, but markedly better. In fact, the only pain I've had all day is pressure on the heel - which as I just mentioned, has generally not been the biggest contributer to pain in this whole ordeal.
Now, I am really not one to buy into the whole idea of getting things for your feet because they provide support. At least, not on a long term basis. I'm a firm believer that the human foot has the capability to provide its own support, and that artificially supporting it causes atrophy. However, in some cases - such as this where the support is only necessary on a temporary basis - I think support can be useful.
So we'll see how it goes. Now that I know that the combination of mowing and boots are a major contributer, I can start making adjustments to alleviate that. Hopefully after some time without reaggravating the injury every week, things will fall into place.
1 comment:
Wow, I read that article and that lady is something. She replicated the Straussburg sock and taped her feet with duct tape. I agree that you should be hesitant to try things you find on the web, but duck tape is cheap. If you can't fix it with duct tape...
When I developed the PF it was following / during a period where for months I was walking around in workboots (really old and falling apart) for 8+ hours a day on a construction site and railroad ballast.
I Ran a race on that Sunday and it was hard running conditions - particulary when the temps had not been warm at all until that day, so don't feel bad about bonking. There are bad days and good days. the good days makes us keep going.
There are people who run the marathon on 3 day a week running and then significant cross training on other days. There is program called the FIRST running program that is based on this. It does need tweaking as for instance it has you running your long runs way to fast. You will not run your fastest race, but as you said your goals is just to finish.
Looks like you'll have to hire someone to mow the lawn for you.
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