Teal’s Foot Update

Ok so I finally bucked up and went to the doctor about this stupid foot and it turns out I was right all along. Here is a reenactment of our convo since you guys couldn’t be there with me 😉

Dr: “ You know you have Plantar Fasciitis right?”

me “Yep, that is what I thought, but was in denial”

Dr. “ Well great, how much running have you been doing since the pain?”

me: “ Well, ummmmm, well sooo… I ran the White Rock Marathon, and then the New Year’s Double and a couple of other shorter runs in between when I could walk”

Dr: “Well I bet that hurt.”

(source)

The bad news is I have a “classic” case of Plantar Fasciitis, but the good news is there is not a stress fracture or joint damage. He said that because I have had this problem for such a short period of time (about 6 weeks) that I should be able to get it under control. You guys might have seen that I followed a bunch of the things on this post from right after the race and things have been going well. The doctor, as a matter of fact, said that that was EXACTLY what I was supposed to be doing. High five for me – operation stop stubbornness really has paid off a little.

I love this doctor so much. He is also the one that looks at my knees in case you were curious. He said that I CAN keep running but it will be painful at times. He said that PF is mechanical and therefore (on me at least) he said that it is not “dangerous” pain and he stated that as long as I keep it “in check” that I will be ok to keep running.

By “in check” he means a couple of things:

1– ice immediately after exercise especially longer runs for at least 15 mins

2– stretch like crazy, the calves, Achilles, and then arch

3– ibuprofen

4– cross train when the pain is above a 5 on a scale of 1-10.

All doable!

My worry was that I would run myself into a heel spur, which to me looks nasty and he said that my chances of that were veeeerrrry slim! I love him because he said you can run and tells me exactly what to do to be able to continue to do that without beating around the bush and is 100% honest.

He brought in his physical therapist guy who was also AMAZING. He showed me some stretches that I hadn’t seen or done before which was very helpful. After taking me through the stretches he was like – What the heck have you been doing? Your foot is as stiff as a board? He came in and moved my foot around a ton and was like – if I would have seen you before the marathon or before your double I would have told you NO WAY. Whoops?

He gave me this fancy boot that I get to wear to bed at night. SEXY I tell ya, and I’m a little worried that it might scare my dog, but nevertheless I will wear that bad boy until this foot feels better and I will attend the physical therapy. They said I would only need to go once or twice because the real work is done at home and with consistency. I have a follow up in a month so I’ll keep you posted but I am excited for the semi-good news and glad that it is solvable and manageable.

I have learned the importance of stretching! I think I learned it very late but I am sooooo going to get better at this stretching flexibility thing. Yoga will help this too. Oh and on a side note, I was in yoga the other day and just looking around (totally not what you should be doing) but there was this HUGE, I mean HUGE, musclely firefighter dude in the back who he was completely not flexible at all. He couldn’t even do some of the basic moves and I thought to myself that yoga really puts the whole idea of strength and flexibility into perspective and exactly why we need BALANCE! Yoga made him look like a complete weenie. I’ll keep this in mind the next time I want to skip stretching.

Runner Stubbornness

I am pretty sure I am not alone when I say I am stubborn in terms of working out in some sort of pain. I do it basically every time. Some days are worse than others, but I have very few where something doesn’t hurt in a weird way. I basically have gotten used to it. I have been to the doctor a bazillion times, each time for them to basically say the same thing, “Well, if it hurts, don’t do it.” If I followed that rule I would be out of shape. I hate admitting something hurts; I would rather just be tough about it. I have terrible knees that grind and pop and have deterioration of cartilage much more than someone my age should have and arthritis in both. The knee doctor said my IT band was too tight and that he should not be able to see it and he can. This is partially to blame for why my knee doesn’t stay in socket. Recently I have some pain across my lower stomach from running so many miles and being so tight. See… Stubborn – I don’t really stop doing anything.

 

The problem is I think most of the aforementioned problems have resulted in this current one that I can’t make go away. One week before White Rock I ran a super easy 6.2 mile run, symbolic, yea probably, and I was nervous about the race so I wanted to run something. My foot was sore but not in pain. I ran 3 miles on the treadmill that Tuesday and have essentially been in foot pain ever since. The Thursday before the race I was seriously wondering if I could run it, I told Beth that day that it was bothering me but I really didn’t say much. Saying it out loud would be admitting that something was more seriously wrong.

 

I ran the marathon, obviously, but have not run since. We are basically two weeks out from the marathon and I haven’t so much as run a ¼ mile. Something is wrong. My friend Cynthia had foot pain so bad she ended up having surgery. She went to so many doctors and eventually ended up in surgery that really didn’t completely work. She has been lecturing me since I told her my foot hurt. I think it is time to not be stubborn because now I am just scared. Everything else has seemed manageable, but not this.

 

I ran across a blog post from The Trail Jogger the other day and I am going to share with you kind of what it says BUT shockingly enough I have to STOP BEING STUBBORN. You can read the full post here but here is the condensed version.

 

1.      Stop Running: easier said than done, when it stops hurting start running with low mileage.

2.      Ice: This bores me and I hate it but isn’t that rule number one when something is hurt?

3.      Roll it: Use a tennis ball or golf ball and role the arch

4.      Stretch: especially the calf muscles – apparently all of that stuff is connected

5.      Hang your feet off the end of the bed when you sleep:– this is the easiest one! I’m 5’10”- apparently it helps in the morning when it hurts the worst

6.      Support it:– Wear shoes all the time (this one is hard for me. I HATE shoes!)

 

As far as everything else goes- I am foam rolling everything, stretching and going to yoga to strengthen and stretch, and using the “Stick” whenever I can.  Beth has had on and off hip flexor pain that she says has been so much better since yoga, so I am tagging along in that. We both attend Sunstone Yoga.

source

Here are some pics of the recovery process! This really is progress for me in terms of not ignoring something!

icing at home

rolling at work

Thank you to Emily for passing along the Ozarka bottle tip!

 

Yesterday we showed you our December running plan – I have essentially done none of it. This makes me SO nervous because I don’t want to lose endurance! That crap is hard to build. I hope to be able to run the New Year’s Double. My heart and mind say run the race- “How cool is this race, and the medal and the people,” but my body is like- “Really Teal, Why do you hate me?” I am torn and nervous. Essentially I know I will make it!  I ran 26 miles on it already. I know it will work for 26 more especially split into 2 days (see the crazy rationalization) but how long do I want it to hurt, and how do you really stop being stubborn?  

 Beth hasn’t exactly been following the plan either.  She keeps herself pretty busy too and now that the goal of a new unknown distance isn’t looming over her head she’s been enjoying some down time.  She’s still pretty much making it to yoga, Johnny’s or the gym every day with a rest day or two thrown in the mix. 

I can pretty much guarantee that you will see BOTH of us at the race! I’ll run regardless, even if it is slow and terrible, BUT perhaps admitting stubbornness is the first step to solving it?

Do you have any additional advice on treating Plantar Facsiitis?