July 27th 2009
Argh!!! There is nothing wore than being injured, and there maybe no worse than having a suspected case of Plantar Fasciitis(PF)!! They say running injuries don't just appear out of no where, but this one seems to have done exactly just that. The last two weeks of training have been going just great, I was steadily increasing the mileage and without pushing it I was also increasing the speed. My legs where doing just fine, calves are a little tight but then I've gotten used to that this year. I think what set the PF off is that I started to wear scandals after runs and then as my everyday shoe. This I've come to suspect is not a great idea.

So Last week was pretty much wasted, with little or no training. I did go see about the PF, but it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, I got a 30 minute massage on my calves which didn't really help that much and then I got some ART on my PF foot and on my right hip, which seems to be helping. But the biggest thing that I took away from the experience is that they recommended that I go see the strength and conditioning coach to get some tips on building strength. His tip "come back next week" this is what grates me, you go to these health Clinic's to get ART or Massage and then it turns into a whole other ball of wax and before you know it, you're down $$$. I know these guys are trying to make money, but its the attitude of "well you've gotten PF because of XYZ you know need to do ABCD+E to fix it!!

I know why I got injury, too much mileage + faster running + way to soon = Injury. I don't need someone telling me that I now need a Strength and conditioning coach. Just fix the problem and let me get back to my running, if it flares up again I'll come back.

Reading about Plantar Fasciitis there doesn't seem to be a fixed protocol for resolving it. Some say don't run barefoot others say do. Most people say get orthotics, except for the minimalist crowd that say its the orthotics that cause this type of problem. I also got a tip to run more barefoot, so I'm going to incorporate this into my routine by adding 10 minutes or so of barefoot running a couple of days a week. Rather than run for distance on my second run of the day, I'm just going to run to the Cloverdale hill and run barefoot on the grass there.

I'm my experience the problem is directly related to how tight my calves are, how much stretching I skip out on and how much I sit behind a desk at work. So for me massage does help as does the Foam Roller and the Stick and running in Newtons,as well as (surprisingly)a thermal massager from Dr.Scholls on the foot in question. I ran yesterday for almost an hour and never noticed anything before during or after. I have another Massage planned during the week, so all going well I'll be back to normal training in a week or so.


Thanks for reading