R Foot, Plantar Fasciitis
2013-07-20 – 2013-10-11
Grade: 3
After a tempo run in July I finished the run with a sore heal. It felt like I had bruised my heal. The injury didn't feel debilitating but I decided to take a couple weeks off to prevent it from getting any worse. Immediately after taking 2 weeks off, I ran the 10 mile run leg of the Santa Barbara tri and finished strong without any pain. About an hour after finishing the left side of my right heel started to hurt. It hurts when I put weight on it. I can walk awkwardly on the (outside) right side of my foot to avoid some of the pain. I don't know if this is the Planter T I thought it was. I'm planning on seeing a doctor this week.
I came to the conclusion that this injury was cause from introducing calf raises into my workout routine. In the beginning of the summer (4 months ago) I began incorporating weight lifting into my training. One of the exercises was 2 X 15 single leg calf raises holding a 45lb weight. Shortly after introducing this exercise I experienced a "sore heal" immediately after a 6 mile tempo while running on a concrete boardwalk. I've done this run a hundred times without any issues. I believe the calf raises with excessive weight put too much stress on my foot and the breaking point was my during my tempo run. Immediately after the injury I took 2 weeks off and my heal began to feel better but went back to sore immediately after my first hard run. Since then I have started daily stretching before and after workouts and occasional massaging and rolling before going to bed. The soreness is gradually subsiding and I am able to continue my normal 25-35 miles/week with minimal discomfort. I have limited my fast intervals to the treadmill and continued as usual on all my long runs. I just finished a hard tempo last night on the same concrete boardwalk and I felt great this morning. My best advise is to stretch and massage the bottom of the foot daily and make sure your flexibility is equal in both feet before continuing with any running.