My feet hurt - and I'm sick and tired of it

[Edited and updated 12/4/14] The title pretty much says it all - I've been fighting plantar fasciitis in my left foot and the achilles tendonitis in my right. I had been able to get through a run but then paid for it afterwards, hobbling and limping around.

In my battles to help my feet I have/had established a regular routine which now (November 2014) includes some foot strengthening exercises - I will post something about this once I get a better feel as to what, how, and if anything works.

For the plantar fasciitis:
I think that I can pretty much say that I for me (PF is different for everybody) the magic key to relief of my PF simply involves stretching. Not just my feet themselves, but my calves, hams, and quads. My PF was symptomatic of other issues further up my leg.

• Heal drops and calf raises. Using a couple/three 1x4 boards I do very careful heal drops and calf raises - not to extremes, just enough to loosen up and warm up.
• Modified toe-touch. Standing with legs apart (roughly hip wide), bend knees slightly and touch the ground in front of my toes and then squeeze hams and butt cheeks out. Keep head down and breath easy for about 30 seconds. Release, and do it again a couple more times.
• Kneel on the ground (rug preferably) with the tops of my feet flat on the ground (toes pointing behind me). Breath easy and slowly and gently lean back so that my weight is supported on my feet (my butt is on my heals).
• From that previous position, now curl my toes so that they are under me and holding my weight (still on my knees though).  Hold that position for a little bit, breathing easy.
• Then roll back so that I am literally squatting but holding my weight on my toes.  Hold for a few.... and then stand up.
• Finally, some foam rolling - calves, hams, quads, IT bands.

What kind of helped, but was only temporary, were these:

• Lots of stretching and manipulation of the foot throughout the day, rolling a golf ball under my foot, or a frozen bottle (felt good because it basically numbed everything, but didn't solve the problem),
• Massaging the foot several times a day.
• I discovered a method of taping that has seemed to help some.  I simply did an internet search and watched 2 or 3 youtube videos, went out and bought some rolls of sports tape, and then taped myself up every day (but not for a run).  I wore the tape for 8-10 hours a day but did not sleep with it. A link that was forwarded to me is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jKGDhxcdtzE
• After a run, I iced for 10-15 minutes.
• I did not taking any anti-inflamatories or pain killers (they didn't seem to help and I'd rather not).

For the achilles tendonitis:

• Modest stretching, but no toe lifts, just enough to loosen it up some.
• Wearing shoes (I tend to like to walk barefoot when ever possible).  Shoes raise my heel up just enough to take some of the tension off the tendon.
• After a run, I ice for 10-15 minutes.

The good news is that I believe that I have the plantar fasciitis under control.  I no longer hobble as I get out of bed in the morning.  The incredible pain that I used to get as I try to make my first steps of the day is no longer there - so I see that as progress.

The bad news is that I'm realizing that I'm not going to fix the achilles tendonitis as long as I continue to run - So last Sunday, after aborting a run half mile into it, I made the decision to not run for a full week.  Then I'll ease my way back into it.  If it still feels tight, I'll back off again.  I have to get it healthy.  I read some scary things about popping the tendon and I don't want that to be me.

My feet have hurt so much that I had dialed back my mileage substantially - and the immediate effect that I've notice is that my weight has been going up.  I didn't realize just how much of a calorie burning action running was on me. My understanding was that, as a runner, I might burn 100 or so calories per mile, which isn't that much.  But apparently it makes a bigger difference than I imagined. So now I'm going to try to burn those C's on a bike or walking or doing upper body workouts.

Someone suggested that I stop drinking beer, but are they nuts?  C'mon man....

(If you would like to leave a comment I've been told that it may be necessary for you to temporarily allow 3rd Party Cookies - it's not my thing... it's seems to be that a Google Blogger thing... For example, if you use Chrome, go to "Settings", scroll down to the bottom and select "Show Advanced Settings", select "Content Settings" in the Privacy section, and then un-select "Block 3rd Party cookies...".   I would not recommend leaving your settings that way, so be sure to reset it back to block 3rd party cookies.)

Plantar Fasciitis and running

I've been struggling with plantar fasciitis in my left foot for months now and its really affecting my training for the Grand Rapids Marathon.  The part that is uncomfortable is the pain on the bottom of my foot, just forward of my heel, kind of in the arch of the foot.  It always hurts more in the morning as soon as I put weight on it.  And it always hurts after a run, although I never seem to feel it during a run.  But it hurts enough that I think that I should not be running as much.  In the meantime however, I need to get my long miles in.

Plantar fasciitis is an inflammation of the connective tissue between the heel and the forward part of the foot.  There is no quick fix for it.  All you can do is stretch, massage, maybe use orthotics....  One doctor friend offered to give me a cortisone shot, which I quickly declined (I have heard that it really, really hurts - a friend of mine did it and seriously thought that he'd rather have his foot amputated).

So to help myself I have been doing a lot of stretching and flexing for my foot and perhaps these things will help someone else:
- while sitting, grab my toes and towards me with my hands or a belt and really stretch out my arch.
- stand and point my toes back and so as to stretch the top of my foot (oddly enough, it makes my arch, where it hurts, feel good).
- stand on a 2x6 or a door jam or a step and do heel drops.
- while sitting, I will bend my foot in every possible direction, holing it stretched out in place for a few seconds.
- I find that walking barefoot makes it feel really good too.
- before I get out of bed in the AM I manipulate my foot for a few minutes, kind of like waking it up.  Apparently the tissue tightens up while I sleep, so stretching it out and "waking it up" makes a big difference and makes it significantly less uncomfortable when I take my first steps.  I've learned that I don't want to just jump out of bed.  I need to prep my ankle before doing so - makes it a little tough whenever one of my dogs has to go outside in the middle of the night, but oh well....

The more I do those things, the better it feels, but of course the problem is that I keep getting out of a steady routine of doing it.

I don't remember feeling any discomfort while running, but for all I know I'm adjusting for it and don't even realize it.  But I definitely feel it afterwards, not horribly, but it hurts. Sometimes, I'll even take an ibuprofen to take the edge off - but that is not a habit I want to get into - and besides, I'm not sure that it really provides much relief.

My big issue is that I don't want to permanently hurt myself by continuing to run on it, which is why I've been limiting my miles.  But at the same time, I really, really want to run that marathon.  So the answer to that is to pay more attention to my stretching...  Like they say, "just do it..."

My bigger worry is that it's not clear to me from all that I've read that I'll ever really rehab myself out of this issue!  Everything that I read says "temporary relief" - what good is that?

13 weeks to Grand Rapids Marathon and Plantar Fasciitis

13 weeks to go to the Grand Rapids Marathon.  And a new injury of sorts to slow me down.  I've developed plantar fasciitis on/in my left foot.  Plantar fasciitis is a fairly uncomfortable inflammation of the connective tissue on the bottom of the foot and is apparently more common than I realized.  There is no real fix for it; I'm told that not running would really help it get better faster, but that's not going to happen.  Aside from that, the fix is a lot of stretching.

But I've got 13 weeks to go, I need to amp up my miles, and once again I am behind.  I'm behind because I've been baby'ing my foot a bit.  I had a good 11 mile'r last week, and I need to get a 16'er in this week.  I'm in FL right now and it is hot and very, very humid. I did 3.5m last night and then 8m this morning (it was so humid that by the time I was done I was absolutely and totally soaking wet with sweat).  My foot is sore as hell now, but I know that it will pass. 

I'm in FL because my Dad passed - and the runs seem to be very therapeutic. I've had long conversations with myself about my dad, conversations with my dad, or sometimes just I just ran mindlessly.  The last two runs, the 3 and the 8 miler seemed to go by so fast...  At one point on one of my runs I was so engrossed in my thoughts that I missed a turn and wound up confused about where the hell I was.  Once I realized that I had missed a turn I backtracked my route and obviously made it home.

13 weeks to go... I haven't signed up for the marathon yet.  Am somewhat worried about being able to go the distance.  We'll see.  I'm not sure when I'll sign up (or not), but we'll see.  I hate not being 100% healthy.  it sucks.  But maybe that's part of the test.