It's Hard for Me to Say This..."I Have Plantar Fasciitis!" (And no, it's not contagious!)

I'm going to keep this short and sweet. It's a few pieces of advice to people with desk jobs who think they are heroes just because they spend a little time working out after a long day in front of the computer.


Be careful!

Although I can't fully say that I regret my 10-mile run (see the post before this one), I must warn you that just because one or more parts of your body are conditioned to handle a more strenuous workout than usual, doesn't mean ALL of your body is ready for it.

Case in point: My run last week, although completely do-able for my muscles, took a very wicked toll on my feet (or foot, rather). I developed a condition that I believe is called plantar fasciitis, although I have not been to a doctor to confirm my suspicions. Basically, plantar fasciitis is a foot injury, where too much stress/wear is placed on the parts of your foot that support the arch. It is common in long-distance runners, couch potatoes-turned-weekend-warriors, people who spend a lot of time on their feet at work, people who don't spend enough time on their feet at work and then try to exercise, overweight individuals, and people with extremely high/extremely low arches in their feet.

Unfortunately, I fall under the "desk job/super-high-arch" category. I also tried running twice as far as any of my normal runs have taken me. This put me at risk.

My foot has been healing, to be sure, but it has prevented me from doing much good running since last Tuesday. I tried running about a 5K last Saturday with my wife, and I just about died from the pain (although I DID finish, which speaks both to my strong will and my stupidity).

Anyway, it's starting to heal up, and I'm able to do plyometric-type exercises where I stay off the back of my feet, leg lifts that don't put a lot of stress squarely on the feet, and the elliptical. Tomorrow, I might try to run again.

My advice to anyone who is planning on upping the intensity in their workout--particularly a workout that involves a lot of running:

1. Increase the intensity of your workouts gradually. I got really excited to take off on the longest run of my life, but what I didn't realize is that although my muscles were quite prepared for it from my "mix-it-up" routines I love to talk about, my bones, tendons, and ligaments were not prepared for the pounding of tens of thousands of steps.

2. Make SURE you stretch your legs and feet before a big run! This is especially important if you are normally sedentary throughout the day, like me. You need to warm up AND stretch well before running, so that your plantar fascia (look at my big terminology!) are loose and ready to support you throughout your run.

3. If your feet are hurting like never before, you should probably switch to walking. There is a difference between a dull ache and a feeling like you've got a switchblade in your shoe. If you feel sharp pains that are beyond the normal range, you are only going to set yourself back in the weeks to come while you take time off from your workouts to heal. My only exception would be in a race-type situation where you are planning on recovering for a few weeks anyway.

4. Where proper shoes! My shoes aren't amazing; I can feel every little pebble as I run. As soon as I get a few bucks I'll probably drop $100 or so for some decent ones. If you overpronate (usually people with flat feet) as you run, you'll probably have to spend even more for decent ones.

5. Try to run on a nice, level surface, or change up the angle on which you run. I was warned about this, but didn't put much stock in it before my big run. If you "follow the rules" of running, and stay on the left side of the road, facing traffic, during your entire run, you are putting more stress on the left side of your body because of the slant of the road. I did that, and now the left side of my left foot is injured, but my right foot is just fine. If there are stretches when no cars are around, be a daredevil and switch to the other side of the road.


Well, that's all folks.