Plantar Fasciitis and training for the Bighorn 100 mile Endurance Run

Panic! At the Disco.

DNF at the Trailfactor 50K on May 28th

I first started feeling the symptoms of Plantar Fasciitis the weekend after the Peterson Ridge Rumble 40 miler. Friday night was 80s Dance night at the Crystal Ballroom. Saturday night was a Timbers Game. Sunday was a 20 mile  run with a fast finish...and then my arch started to feel sore.

Symptom: The soreness starts at
whatever the hell this is.

Symptom 2: The soreness then travels
across the arch. I have NO heal pain.

SUNDAY APRIL 29th - 6 Weeks and 5 Days until Bighorn

My foot didn't start hurting until AFTER my 20 mile run, so I took that as a good sign. Maybe it's just soreness from all the jumping at 80s night and the Timbers game? Regardless, I had two weeks until Miwok to figure things out. The first week consisted of rest and ice. The second week consisted of 3 Chiropractic visits to Dr. Noe Flores. At the first visit with Noe, within a minute he was able to find several areas of tightness in my foot/arch and performed some adjustments that instantly made my foot feel better (but still a little sore). I was very hopeful in that my foot may loosen up in time for Miwok, but there was only one way to find out...

MIWOK - SATURDAY MAY 5th - 5 Weeks and 6 Days until Bighorn

The Miwok 100k started out with an unforgiving hike from the beach to one of the higher points in the race. Soon afterward, the trail turned into a cambered single track with my bad foot on the downhill side of the camber. I should also mention that wearing Hokas on cambered surfaces makes the ankles prone to rollage. And after a few rolls, tweeks, and general aggravation of my left foot, I decided to drop out of the race at mile 12. I wasn't having a good race anyways, and my body was heavily under the influence of Flax...so I was happy to stop.

By crazy random happenstance, a friend of mine was at the aid station where I dropped at Miwok. I've only met Harry Walther twice before while training in Rancho San Antonio near my home in California, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him there (he wasn't running, but supporting 2 of his friends). After some moping and complaining, Harry grabbed my leg and pressed on my Tibialus Posterior near the top of my calf. I almost screamed, it hurt so bad! He then explained to me that there are several tendons in the leg that connect to the bottom of the arch of the foot, and that my tendons were painfully tight. Maybe a good deep tissue massage would cure my ailment...?! After he gave me a ride back to the start (THANK YOU!), I had lunch in San Francisco and went home to Santa Clara to spend time with family. After hearing how hard the new 2012 Miwok course was, I'm glad I dropped! It's a hundred miler in disguise.

CHIROPRACTIC HELP - TUESDAY MAY 8th - 5 Weeks and 3 Days until Bighorn

After discussing possible solutions with Dr. Noe Flores, he recommended I see Dr. Brad Farra (since Noe doesn't specialize in massage, and Brad does). Noe was a big help in freeing up the joints in my foot, and the next step was to take care of the muscles/tendons. I saw Dr. Brad Farra the Tuesday after Miwok. He diagnosed me with PLANTAR FASCIITIS and performed graston (deep tissue massage) on my legs and feet to help loosen the muscles/tendons and break up scar tissue. The experience went something like this. The fact that my legs/feet were so tight was definitely an indication of too much running without paying attention to self maintenance. By committing myself to running up to 80 miles a week, I should have also committed myself to self-massage techniques, core strengthening, and general icing of sore anythings...maybe even Yoga!

I set myself up to see Dr. Brad Farra twice a week for the next few weeks, and he gave me several foot/core strengthening exercises to do throughout the day. This was the 3rd week of minimal running (less than 15 miles) since the initial onset of arch pain, and I was beginning to wonder how I was going to be able to maintain my fitness for Bighorn...

TODAY - TUESDAY MAY 30TH - 2 Weeks and 3 Days until Bighorn

The foot is healing! I had my best training run since April 15 this past weekend when I ran 26 miles via the rocky Eagle Creek Trail with minimal foot soreness. My training has just peaked at about 50 miles last week, and that's going to be as good as it gets. I'm now resting my foot and doing some foot and core exercises, chiropractic massage from Dr. Brad Farra, and icing the hell out of it. I plan on doing some weekend Larch Mountain hikes to keep my legs active, as well as some biking over the next couple weeks.

My goals for Bighorn have been slightly altered due to my less than ideal training, but I'm still hoping to break 24 hours. It's a tough course, but I feel I can persevere as long as my foot stays strong. My fitness won't be perfect, but I only need to run the first 50 miles since the last 50 miles are all mental...ha!

So...how do I feel? I feel like Faramir when he rides to take back Osgiliath knowing that he's going to die. Courageous, but full of angst. I'm going to finish this race, I just don't know how. If I'm forced to walk because of my foot, I'll walk. Que sera sera. We'll see what happens...

THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE

• Wyoming! Woohoo!
• Gorgeous course!
• Moosen!
• Thomas O'Toole!
• Adventure!
• Race Experience!
• My NSPIRE Racing Shirt!
• Friends galore!
• Character Building!
• At least I have feet!
• Killing Inner Demons!
• Lessons Learned!
• New Perspective!
• Running should not be taken for granted!

THANKS

Thanks to all those who have been supportive and have had to listen to me mope about my foot for the past 1.5 months. As Yassine so eloquently put..."It's your turn." Everyone goes through periods of injury, and now it's my turn to learn from my mistakes and work to make myself a healthier and stronger runner. So if you hear me female-dog and complain about my foot, just say "Shutup, it's your turn."

Indeed it is.

The next blog post will be the Bighorn 100 Race Report. Cheers!