Thursday, November 18, 2010

At least SOMEBODY'S sporting life is going according to plan

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. I am officially on the injured list. The suspected plantar fasciitis in my foot has worsened a notch and there is no doubting now that that is what it is.

I kind of suspected that this day would come sooner or later, after living relatively sedentarily up until 6 or so months ago. At least, sedentarily compared to the active lifestyle I lived BC - you know, Before Children. I did occasionally get aches and pains in my earlier days as a runner, but I think this is my first bout with PF.

There are two things that exacerbate PF and as luck would have it, I am guilty of both. The first is high impact activity and I suppose that running would qualify. Right now I am running 4 times per week and had my first 25 mile week in a long, long time not too long ago. The other is wearing heels, and I have been guilty of that, too. I have lost a few sizes since the spring (thank you, triathlon training!) and as a result, have bought quite a few new things lately. All pants legs hemmed for heels now, as luck would have it. Gah!Up until today my foot never bothered me while running... only afterward. But today it felt twingey for the first couple of km and then worse throughout the day than it has been up til now. The thing is, I am really not wanting to cut back on mileage or drop any running days right now. I am targeting an end-of-winter half marathon and am comfortably on track for it.Although I'd said, when triathlon season finished, that I planned to swim and bike (spin class) all winter, neither pursuit lasted that long. I tried a few spin classes but really don't like them as much as I like riding a real bike. And I swam yesterday for the first time in a couple of weeks. I kind of have to force myself to go to the pool once in a while, just so I don't lose my conditioning entirely. I have already had to knock 250m off the distance I swim in order to be able to fit the workout in before work... clearly I am slowing down. But, I've really enjoyed running again lately. And when I'm motivated, I get results.

We'll see how it goes... I am going to try lots of ice and stretching for the next few weeks and take it day by day. Who knows, maybe if I've been good then Santa will bring me a Strassburg Sock for Christmas this year.

1 comments:

Kathy said...

Ice will definitely help...do you know the towel exercise and massage with a golf ball or tennis ball? Go ahead and keep with your training schedule--just ease it back a bit to accomodate. The pain is always worse in the morning when you first get up, but once you get moving, then it loosens up and feels a lot better. If not, then it's chronic and may need more down time.