Hey! I’m back! Well, like I mentioned in my previous post, I went to the foot specialist today. We talked a lot about my foot:
- Where the pain is
- When I feel it
- How long it lasts
- What it feels like
We looked over some of my x-rays as well. It appears that I have some bone spurring and micro fractures as well as Plantar Fasciitis (triple threat). So, basically my plantar fascia is injured due to over use (marathon training) and that is causing the spurring and micro fractures.
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The plantar fascia is that white band at the bottom of the foot. When you injure it it causes tears in the tendon and those tears can cause the tendon to pull away from the bone, which can in turn cause spurring and micro fractures. Clearly the ice rolling and ibuprofen I have been taking has been helping a little bit, but not enough for me to be running, walking and living pain free. So here is what we worked out:
- I will be fitted for a boot this week to sleep in. It is designed to keep the foot stable in a stretched position so that the PF won’t get a chance to tight up (and therefore pull more and do more damage) over night.
- I will be fitted for orthotics that I will need to run with.
I have a follow up in two weeks, if by then the pain is not significantly better I will be getting a cortisone shot.
So, can I still train and run my marathon? Well, it is up to me. So yes, I will continue to train and run as scheduled. I have been running through the pain so far and these treatments I mentioned above can only makes things better. I will probably have to slow down post-marathon to allow the healing to happen. But, I intended on that to begin with. I have a feeling I will not be super excited about running long distances by the time the marathon is over. My life has been to training focused that a break will most likely be welcomed. 
So that is the skinny on lefty (my left foot, duh!) Look like Chip has a few micro fracture friends now to keep him company. That’s fine, I don’t want him to get lonely.
Have you ever had a running injury? What was the process of healing? How did you deal with it?
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Getting injured is just the bodies way of crying out for help. I have had a sports related injury for years and it’s been a hard recovery.
I wish you the best of luck!
I have a boot and I have to do the orthodics as well. It’s no fun. I don’t run much because the problem is more genetics for me–my achilles tendins are super short and so running anything over a mile usually aggravates them. I have spurs too, but my doctor acts like they’re not a big deal, so he’s right and then you only have to be a 2 and a half threat :O) I would say if you follow the dr’s directions, recovery will be a process, but not so bad. I’ve hurt myself in many ways a lot of times, and other than my achilles, I’ve always pushed through and everything has been fine. You’ve got this! And you can rest after the marathon–I would continue if I were you as well at this point–you’ve put so much work in! Good luck and I hope you feel better soon!!
I’ve had two stress fractures- one in each lower leg. When those happened, I didn’t have a choice- I had to stop running. So I did. I took 6 weeks off for the first one and 8 weeks for the second. I still exercised, but I kept it to no impact. It was hard to not run (although a trip to San Francisco helped with one- I was ok not running those hills) but I knew it was something I had to do to keep me running in the long term.
The injury I was allowed to run through was a tendon injury. I was allowed to run on flat surfaces and had to cut my mileage in half. Unfortunately, I was training for a very hilly half marathon. But, I cut my mileage in half and didn’t run hills. When it came to race day (my physiotherapist and I were working toward getting me to the start line- then my job was to get to the finish), it was actually kind of nice. I had no pressure, no expectations, just the goal of getting to the finish line without pain. And I did! No, I didn’t PR like I had originally been training for, but I had a lot of fun that race and I was so appreciative just to be running!
Injuries can sometimes be a blessing in disguise. They can sometimes make you stop and enjoy yourself instead of being super focused on the goal.
Good luck Ali!
One top – be careful with the custom orthodics. I have them too and I started out running in them, but they are only half of my foot (stop around my midsole) and started digging into my feet. Instead I just bought some Brooks shoes with built in support.
I’m sure it’s not the exact same situation with you, just don’t want to you to hurt your feet even more from running in them!
Injuries stink, no matter when they happen – but you have had an absolute phenomenal outlook for this and I wish you all the luck with the marathon, even though, I know you will rock it! You push through a lot and you are so determined that I know you will push through this!
Good luck with the boot and I hope everything feels better soon!
a few weeks ago I got plantar fascitis. It stinks! I hope it gets better for you! I have never tried ice rolling before though
I had an inkling there was something more going on with your foot! I’m very glad you went to the doctor and got it taken care of…. have fun with the boot!