Plantar Fasciitis

I'd heard about it. Even knew some people with it. But in almost fifty years on this planet, never experienced it for myself.

Except now.

Compared to the hamstring tendinitis, which has plagued me on-and-off for the past fifteen years, this one takes the cake. Not only is it painful to run, but even if you manage the pain, it changes the way your foot lands on the ground, altering your stride, forcing you to use more effort with each stride and get exhausted, tired much quicker.

Plantar Fisciitis is a pain in the Plantar tendon that's on the sole of your foot. It's tendinitis of the Plantar but could be more than just overuse. In my case, I switched shoes from my regular Saucony Ride (8mm toe to heel) with a comfortable instep a couple of years ago. My new shoe for the past couple of years was the Saucony Kinvara 4's (4mm toe to heel). It's a flatter shoe, lighter and now getting close to minimal, but not quite. Finally took the leap to an even lighter shoe, a shoe that makes your foot feel like it has no shoes at all! The New Balance Minimus

This is the Kinvara, by Saucony. Look closely at towards the heel and you can see the instep support.

I have flat-ish feet and this instep was perfect. With my previous Saucony Ride's, the 8mm was a bit too supportive so my foot wasn't working properly. Probably the reason for the numerous hamstring incidents.

A closer look at the instep on the Kinvara's to the right.

Now here's the Minimus, by New Balance. The first New Balance shoes I've ever bought and when I bought them in the store, they felt really good and light. I thought they'd be a great next step, because I really was trying to get to the most minimal shoe.




The Minimus

The sole is made by Vibram, same company that makes the Five Fingers shoe, the ultimate in minimalist running.

On this sole, you can "feel" the ground. It's really like you have no shoe. All the tiny bits of gravel on the pavement.

And it really is a very, very light shoe.

And I must say, this is the shoe that did me in. I think the lack of cushioning meant that my instep was working much harder, even though there's a 4mm heel-to-toe for both the Kinvara's and the Minimus, the total lack of cushioning was the difference.

So I'm back to the Kinvara's. I'll keep the Minimus for walking around in, but the amount of mileage I do requires a lot of cushioning.

Conditioning

It takes a really short time to lose conditioning. I didn't run from September 15 till October 2, that's 2-1/2 weeks of no running.

Before September 15, I was running 16.5 K at a 5:30 split and finishing in about 1 hour and 30 minutes.

When I got back to running on October 3, I decided to start with a shorter distance, I knew that I needed some time to build back, and so I was running 14.5 K. However the splits were really slow. Over 6 minutes per K and I was finishing just over 1 hour 30 minutes. I lost 2 K in that 2-1/2 weeks.

It's incredible to me how quickly you loose conditioning if you stop an activity. I suspect this conditioning loss is much faster as we age. If I were in my twenties, then a 2-1/2 week hiatus would mean nothing. Now that I'm closer to fifty, a week of no activity is a lot to lose.

I've been running consistently for about the past two weeks. I recently climbed back to 16.5 K but don't know if I will maintain this throughout the week. I suspect that I need one more week at 14.5 K, then try to run the rest of October, into November at 16.5 K. Once the snow starts, things will be decidedly very different.

Lessons learned:

• Even when injured, keep some level of activity. Walking, swimming and dancing.
• If the injury doesn't mean you have to stay off your feet, then don't keep track of the distance, pace or time.
• Meditate, sleep and eat well.
• Always take care of your legs, they are your greatest asset (at least as a runner).
• Stretch.