Category Archives: Blog

02.20.12
by

Recovering from Plantar Fasciitis

Hello runners, and injured runners..

I had been in a boot cast since 3 weeks, and most likely will be in it for another week. Its been really helpful as it helped me stabilize my foot. My Plantar fasciitis had gone worse, as the pain had spread to the metatarsals in the foot, pain in the side of the foot. It had become really difficult to move with just regular shoes and orthotics.

The boot restricted my foot movement, keeping it stable. Regular stretches and icing helped a lot.

One another thing that doctors here do not advise is to dip your foot in luke warm water with epsilon salt. This advise comes from Indian doctors. Reason being warmth gets the blood flowing to your foot. It softens your tissues, and then a soft massage helps a lot.

So here is what worked for me-

1) Warm water massage in the morning, or whenever you head out to walk softens  and

2) Icing after you come back or after any workout, helps relieve the inflammation and pain.

3) keeping the foot in boot cast, wearing orthotics always.

4) No running around.

 

Life is happy, so start running…

 

11.20.11
by

Casting the runner’s leg

How does it feel to be in a cage ??

How does it feel if your legs are cast in a boot ?? 😦 ..

Well, that is what I am going through, after further messing up my foot. The Plantar Fasciitis became worse, as I worked out in the gym.

To get some cardio during the upper body workouts, I did steps and jumps, but unfortunately a good workout turned into a bad foot. It became difficult to even walk normally. A visit to the podiatrist, resulted into a boot cast for immobilizing the foot.

Well, all this has happened in the midst of when there is a step count competition going on in my company. And my pedometer count has really gone down 😦 …

I was never patient with my foot, never allowed it to heal 100%

I under estimated the extent of how bad the foot can become… 😦

10.02.11
by

Run to kill cancer

It was such an awesome team to work with. The American Cancer Society, I ran the San Jose Rock N Roll this year with them. Awesome support, superb coach, and some great athletes.

Every thought of soreness in the heel kept me pushing – to kill cancer…. Damn Cancer!!

Moments of the day !!

All happy, goofy, running team… few virgin half-marathoners…

Heading to the start line

Alexis plans on running to the start line… to take a spot with the elite !! And Linda is the COACH

Linda is all serious, is it!! Its COACH’s style 🙂 !!

the ladybugs !! 🙂 No they were fantastic… Alexis, Rosa and Arikka (R to L)

This the team camaraderie !! 🙂

This is my blog, and ought to have my picture 🙂 !! heading for the finish line !!

Not possible without these two !!  Awesome Jenny and Jess ..

The Post Race .. Stan on the extreme right made sure that we all make to the finish line…

10.02.11
by

Run on Pain 13.1 miles

I read somewhere ‘Training is a reward’ … but for me it wasn’t because training runs were becoming painful, and so had to scrap my runs for 2 months.. Seriously I did no running for last two months, and straight on into the San Jose Rock N Roll Half Marathon.

When I signed up for this race, I was aiming for my PR, this being a flat race course. But severe plantar fasciitis, has almost killed my running. It is one of the most common running injuries, and the one which needs complete rest. Hard to rest because it is on the foot.

Anyways, come the race day, I was thinking of taking the run easy for the first half, and then doing fartleks in between. My first half was pretty good , completing 7 miles in an hour, and I was running on pain :). It was beyond the 8th mile, where the killing started. Felt like my right heel was swelling up, and I was all the more making sure that my each foot strike was on the toe. This caused extreme pain in the calf muscles. Muscles were contracting, feet inside the shoe was contracting with pain. Never ever in my runs I have felt this extreme pain.

But rather than totally giving up, I thought to walk for a while. Rather than totally giving up, I walked most of the stretch between mile 11 and 12.

A little ahead mile 13, my team mates started pumping me, and as the adrenaline was gushing through for a strong

finish, I said, ‘FUCK’ the pain, ignore there is something going on in the right foot, and just RUN.

Do not know my official finish time yet, but this was the worst finish time ever- 2:10. SCRAP THIS!! BUT WILL REMEMBER THIS!!

1) Respect your body, if you don’t respect the wheels of your car, they are going to give up somewhere on the freeway.

2) Be mature in your decisions, a run in pain, will cost dearer to you than you think.

3) We all know the line ‘You are stronger than you think you are’ but be intelligent too- points 1&2.

09.03.11
by

Train while you are strained..

Doctor’s, in this case it was my podiatrist, who has asked me not to run for the next two weeks… its bullshit, I freaked out.. 🙂 ..

Already annoyed at myself for hurting my heels, and the residual pain is not relieving, inspite of new pair of shoes 😦 .. regular icing.. and now am taking anti-inflamatory pills.

Well, instead of sitting on the couch, I have started biking more, hitting the gym for circuit weight training, and just started swimming yesterday. Off all this I feel that swimming is the best to keep the heart rate healthy.

While you are suffering from a running injury, you can utilise that time to give most rest to your legs, and exercise your upper body, and cross train. For a runner nothing can be more frustrating than not hitting the pavement or the trails. But it is always best to respect your body.

Listen to your body, listen to your doctor, read and talk to other runners, and check this out- http://runninginjuryfree.org/2008/09/foot-strike.html

Certain things that one can do at the gym-

  1. Do elliptical
  2. work on the glute muscles
  3. work on the quads  (do the first three depending on the injured area on your leg)
  4. do planks, and side planks
  5. with moderate or low weights do more reps for shoulders, biceps, and chest
  6. Rowing is a great way to keep the heart rate going
  7. spinning and biking are amazing, but again depends on where you are injured
  8. Lastly, swimming is always a great alternative
the upper body is as important for a runner as the lower body, one realizes this with his right hand movements while running uphill. Plus right strength exercise builds motivation during runs, and makes you feel strong.
One thing, I have read, and been told is that always rest the injured area 100%, before starting fresh.
So happy training, and happy running.. !!