Fascia fighting Friday

By | July 22, 2017

So I have two pair of running shoes. One that were new models of the regular sneakers I’ve been wearing forever (always preferred to walk in running shoes) and one I’ve been properly fit for. Any guesses as to which gives me fits?

Comfortable, and evil.

Yep, that would be the properly fitted (and prettier) ones. They first flared up on April 10th when they gave my calves pain, but I wasn’t sure if that was due to too much volume. I ran for four days in my old shoes for four days, including a 5K, and noticed decreased soreness.

I decided then that I should probably not run in them and relegate them to walking. I used them during the Great Saunter and they were fine — general soreness was from 24 miles, not any specific shoes.  I’ve had issues finding a store where the staff was willing to actually look at my feet and shoes, and that included the New Balance store at the NYRR Run Center! When I went down to the ASICS store a few weeks ago he immediately wanted to sell me the latest, greatest and $175 shoes. Nope. I really need to find a good running store, but in the mean time have been keeping an eye on a new pair of my beloved ones from Amazon as they’re discontinued.

Occasionally I found myself needing to run in them (they were at work/home where I was starting my run from and purple weren’t, feet too swollen to fit in an 8, purple wet, etc.) and they didn’t cause me further calf pain. I also recalled I’d had early foot cramps in my old ones and wondered if it was just a “growing pain” of the shoes.

When I went to Montreal for work I decided to take them since they were generally in better shape and would work for work walking tours and look better than the purple ones. I noticed some foot soreness after my two outdoor runs in the old city but didn’t attribute it to anything other than different surface, especially cobblestones down by the old port. Advil solved it and it wasn’t the typical agonizing pain when you first stepped.

When it came time for the Yankee Stadium run last week, I was concerned about the concrete surface. I’ve never loved running on hard surfaces, although I found beach sand to be too soft. I don’t actually remember if I wore new or old, but when I went for my rebound run on Sunday I put on the new. I remember second guessing that decision as I headed out the door, but I don’t remember why I stayed with the new ones. As I was on my return loop and debating whether I was going to push for 3 miles, part of me was saying feet, hip, is this a good idea? Did I listen? Of course not. And we know where this is going…

I paid for that when I could barely limp home and wanted nothing more than to take off my shoes. Monday morning was agony and by then I recognized it for what it was. I’ve had plantar fasciitis before and the morning hobble is the worst. I planned to take Monday off entirely and just biked. Tuesday I tried exactly 10 seconds of running and nope, not a chance. Walking it was. Wednesday and Thursday I had after work events that kept me from the gym and Thursday’s heat especially led to some seriously swollen feet. The worst, not surprisingly, is my left which I injured to the point of needing a walking boot two years ago. That is also the one where the plantar fasciitis is the worst, although both were sore earlier in the week. My work shoes are not awful, but nor are they ideal for the ~13K steps I was averaging this week. I really need to think about carrying commuting shoes but really don’t want to do that along with my sneakers.  Maybe I’ll just leave a work pair at work. Or I could not worry about step goal, but that isn’t going to happen any time soon.

By Friday I was feeling better and wanted to try the treadmill. I’d have preferred to run outside on the Great Lawn or Sheep Meadow for a softer surface, but it has been way too hot for that to even be an option. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn’t hurt any more than walking had and while 5.0 was too much at first, 4.8 was fine and I closed out the 15 minutes at 5.0. Yes, irrrationally feared losing cardio fitness in four days.

Could I have gone longer? Probably. But didn’t want to knock myself out of commission for another four days so after the gym I sat in the park and read with my feet up. A perfect summer evening. I also made the decision to stay in my sneakers after the run. Walking in running shoes not ideal, but kept the foot swelling down, which I also think helped with the pain.

This morning? Not so bad. Calves are sore and feet are slightly crampy, but much better than all week. Going to take it easy and probably not run today, but hopefully seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

2 thoughts on “Fascia fighting Friday

  1. Liz Dexter

    Do you have general non-brand-specific running stores there who will help better with fitting shoes, or specific independent runners’ shops? I’ve had good service and a range of brands to try from those. Then I buy duplicates online.

    Reply
    1. cari Post author

      Whoops, missed this.
      I went to a recommended one and came away with something that might work but didn’t buy as I don’t think they did anything but went through the motions (no fitting, no watching me run). Going to one near the office today that is better recommended. I’m willing to break up with ASICS if they give me a good reason. I’m surprised the NYRR one isn’t more hands on.
      On the plus side, ran twice this week and wasn’t in foot agony

      Reply

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