Thursday, November 19, 2009

Bizarre...

Monday I ran a fairly relaxed 8km at lunch...for the first 4 km the pain was annoying but not too bad...for the second half it was really quite painful and I was cringing with each step. I came back to work after lunch pretty bummed and I could barely walk for the rest of the day/evening.

After all of the advice I received from my previous post and from others, I decided it really was ok if I took a full month off from running (and a really good idea) to see if that would be enough to heal it. When I thought about it longer I realized a month off is really not that bad. When I went to Thailand 2 years ago I was off from running for a full month and came back and started back up training for a marathon the next week...albeit I started slow with shorter runs...but it wasn't really a big deal. So that made me happy and I was then fine with the decision to take my month off.

Then tuesday I decided it would be my first day at the gym doing other cardio...I did a half hour of elliptical and my foot felt great. Then I thought I wonder if I just go on the treadmill for a little bit how will my foot feel? I ran for a half hour...absolutely pain free! I was going at a pretty slow pace but had no pain! WTF? I know, just retarded right? The pain often comes after I stop running and is quite bad in the evening and the next morning but it didn't even come back that night or next morning. I'm excited and maybe the treadmill will be the way to go for a while as I try to heal this. I'm sure the nice soft surface is definitely a big help!

Monday night I had slept in my compression socks and spent a good hour with high heat from my heating pad on my calf so that must have been a big help as well for sure. I know a big cause of PF is due to tight calves and I guess that's definitely a big issue for me although I never feel like they're particularly tight! That was definitely the problem last winter though when I had PF for 6 months before Boston...but I did manage to get rid of it with lots of stretching and heating of the calves and wearing compression socks.

Anyhow, I took yesterday off and i'm going to try some elliptical after work to warm up and then try some more running on the treadmill tonite to see how I do. If I experience any pain then I'll immediately stop...I promise :) I was pretty pumped though after tuesday's little run! Wish me luck!

Tomorrow I'm heading off to Waterton with Andrew, his friend and the 2 dogs for a weekend of hiking and camping...i'm pretty pumped! Hopefully i'll come back with some sweet pics to show you next week! Have a great weekend!!

deb

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Holy F(rustration)!!

Hmm...i thought after my last post I'd get better with my blog again not worse...geez. Guess I don't have a lot of stuff going on...well, I do...just not running related I suppose. Aside from running, life is pretty great these days.

I'm kind of depressed about running right now...my foot is not cooperating at all...the thing is, it hurts less while i'm running than after the run and on my days off. I took today and yesterday off from running and my heel just continues to throb while walking around....and by the end of the day it aches so bad I can barely stand on it. It's super frustrating. I've read some other blogs lately of a couple of people also having to deal with plantar fasciitis...and they're managing 100 mile weeks...while I would be happy with a 50km week! Anyways, they've been talking about taping it which seems to help and i've read about the proper taping techinque for plantar fasciistis so I may try that this weekend for my long run.

So far this week I've only done 2 runs...a 20km on sunday where I felt pretty minimal pain for the first 10km and then the last 10 kind of sucked with foot pain. I impulse registered for a 10km race in December...not sure what I was thinking since i'm injured but who knows...maybe it'll be better by then? Anyways, after registering I then decided at lunch to go out and run a fast 10km...managed to do it in 45 mins which boosted my confidence. I also didn't experience much pain at all...not sure if it's because the quicker I run the less time my foot is on the ground? Makes sense. My PB is 42 so I'd love to get closer to 40...although my brother seems to think I could easily break 40 mins...but I don't agree...especially if i'm having troubles training because of my foot. Guess we'll see.

Ok, now I promise to try and blog more...