The more miles I run, the more...
... confident I feel.
...strength I feel in my legs.
... motivated I am to keep running.
... my heel hurts.
Wait, run that by me again? My heel.... hurting.... oh yeah. It's not hurting me now but it definitely has greeted me this morning.
Well, I suppose this heel pain not all directly related to running more miles. Or is it? My heel and I have a history together. Technically it dates back to 1975 but for the purposes of running this "history" dates back to 2010. In spring of 2010 I started to experience a lot of heel discomfort, some pain, to the point where I would limp around the house. It's strange because it has never really bothered me while I run, and not even immediately following a run. But when I'm just minding my own business, at the store or cooking dinner or what have you, I would feel discomfort.
Now, this heel issue started to arise in spring of 2010 mostly because I was running hills. I was training for the San Francisco Marathon as well as the Run Through Redlands, hilly courses both of them, so I needed to train on hills. That and the many miles I was running following my first marathon... well, that was a bit of a volatile combination apparently. About seven weeks before the marathon, I shut it down for one week, ran fewer miles and fewer hills but still did well in San Francisco.
I haven't logged as many miles as I was logging then until now. I believe in May of 2010 I ran something like 130 miles, which was if not my high close to my all-time high.
I have run 153 miles in October already, and I'm in the midst of my first 50-mile week (fingers crossed). I ran 47.85 miles last week and through Tuesday I have run 17 consecutive days.
I love to run. I am setting lofty goals and meeting them. I am entering new territory as a runner and it feels quite motivating to be able to do it.
Will this heel stop me from doing more?
I don't want to overreact. I'm not going to disrupt everything I've worked for because of one or two incidents. But I also need to be cautious.
I thought avoiding hills would help, and I suppose it has. I haven't done any hills with any regularity for a while because of that. Well, I take that back. The Lopers course is a bit hilly. But that's just once a week and it's not as hilly as Mt. Rubidoux and some of the other courses I'd run regularly when I was training for San Francisco.
We'll see what happens. I will, as some of the coaches I interview regularly say about their players' injuries and health and fitness, continue to monitor the situation closely.
4 comments:
L.B. I have foot and heel issues from time to time as well. Most of mine seem to stem from hills and increased mileage. I have found that KT Tape offers me a lot of help and there are lots of video on you tube that show how to apply it for different injuries. I am actually kind of addicted to the stuff. I also keep a tennis ball in my office and roll my foot back and forth on it. It directly helps my plantar tendon, but makes my heel feel a lot better as well.
I read somewhere in Runner's World or Trail Runner that most foot and heel problems are the result of weak glutes and hamstrings. I hope this is useful info for you. Heel pain sucks!
I'm continually impressed by your running accomplishments. It's amazing to me that on your own you've put together such a great string of consecutive runs and with amazing mileage. Looks like you're staying in tune with your body and thanks for your motivation :)
Ah man, a heel is a bad one ... I hope it doesn't bother you. There are a lot of things I can power through, but heel soreness sucks. Hopefully as you run it will loosen up a little. I think I've read that most heel pain is really related to the arches - maybe using a tennis ball on them will help, but I dunno. I know as I get older, little injuries seem to stay with me longer - hopefully this thing passes quickly for you!
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