By the podiatrist, of course.  I*finally* got a slot to see one about the tearing heel-pain that’s taken me off the road and made me limp for the last six weeks.  As I had previously explained to my doctor’s nurse practitioner, my doctor, *and* the podiatrist, *gasp* it turns out I have plantar fasciitis!  We determined this for absolute certain by him binding up my foot with surgical tape, coaches tape, etc, and me walking around and reporting that the pain was nearly gone, and I could walk normally.

In a matter of minutes, the throbbing was almost completely gone, and I could take full strides with only a slight pull in each step.  It worked so well, it was all I could do to restrain myself from going out for a quick run last night.

The plan was to keep it on for three days, to make extra, extra sure it ‘s really, truly plantar fasciitis, but the plastic bag I attempted to use to keep the bandaging dry in the shower decided to play dirty.  The damp tape had completely ceased to stick by lunch, and I’m back to limping.  I miss it.  I also hope the doctor will start making the appropriate shoe-inserts tomorrow when I go in to get re-taped!

Who knows, I may yet run again!

Don’t get me wrong, the run went great.  I warmed up extra-carefully, and massaged the heck out of my heel before I went.  I had little pain, and even made a pretty good time, despite taking it easy out of trepidation.  When I got back, I took ibuprofen and iced down, and everything was fine. Until the next day…

I’ve been limping for three days since, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better.  Off to the doctor I go…

I’ll be going to the doctor next week, but everything I read boils treatment down to either: a) get a shot of cortisone, and take a chance on worse injury later; or b) stop using that foot for up to three months, and stretch.  Neither of these are promising options.

I really don’t understand.  I’ve spent months honing my technique.  Mid-sole strike, planar knee rotation, more warm-ups than seems reasonable, you name it, I’m obsessing over it.  I was finally making some progress, too.  My shins feel better than at any time since I started running, my knees have calmed down, the sciatica is backing off, my old stress fractures have been quiet, heck, I’ve even mastered my asthma!

And now this.  It’s almost enough to make me believe in supernatural beings.  Malevolent supernatural beings…

It’s been three months since I last ran in just a t-shirt, and boy, did I wish I’d also switched back to shorts this morning!  Strangely, I was slower than usual, nearly 30 seconds off my best time, despite feeling like I was pushing as hard as I have been of late.  I’m wondering if that’s because my muscles don’t work as well when I’m a little overheated…

Not that I’m complaining, mind you, I was shocked to actually enjoy the trip!  Oh, I still grunted and swore on the hills, like every other day, but in between, there were moments of something approaching serenity!

Is that what runner’s high is?  I didn’t feel even a little high, just kind of meditative, and at peace with the whole process of running, and the world around me…

Many months ago, when I was just starting to run, I discovered that pushing too hard was hurting me, and causing me to have to walk more, rather than eating up more distance running.  I had to experiment pretty carefully to figure out where my best balance for effort was, but once I’d found it, I got a big boost.  I learned how to feel when my body was working at a sustainable pace, and keep my effort level there.

That was before I’d even progressed far enough to take my entire course without walking, which I achieved a month or two later.  Now, several months further on, considering the idea that runners are supposed to adopt different paces for different distances and terrains, it occurred to me that perhaps that feeling isn’t a constant, but that my “tolerance” to exertion might also increase over time.

So when I went out this morning, I set a pace that made me a little scared.  Starting about a quarter mile in, I felt like there was just the remotest chance I was going to be sick, but I kept at it.  My last big hill was an act solely of willpower.  Even with the asthma inhaler, my chest felt like it was going to burst.  When I got to my last 50 yards, which I always sprint, I had *nothing* left for the sprint.  I tried as hard as I could, but my body just wouldn’t get there.  It was like I was running in water.

I was quite certain that my experiment was a failure.  I was obviously moving even *slower* than usual on the back half of my run, and my sprint was basically just another chunk at my usual pace.  My legs felt like lead, I was nauseated, and I was pretty sure that if I’d tried to go any farther, I would have felt faint.

Then I checked my watch, and discovered that I actually took thirty seconds off my best time!

I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t do this every run, as it was literally hours until I felt recovered, but it definitely looks like I’ve built up some kind of a reserve for runs beyond my normal endurance.  I’m going to have to experiment more, and see if there’s a middle pace where I can push harder than I was accustomed to, with out going all the way to where I hit today.  If I can dial it in, I bet I’ll start making progress a lot faster!

I’m kinda pumped!

That was a mistake.

It would seem that the asthma drugs did have a large role in my performance recovery.  My unintentional experiment lead to a great deal of suffering, and coming in 40 seconds slower than I’m now accustomed to.

Ugh!

I can’t say for sure that my performance recovery is wholly due to the asthma medication, but it’s quite certain that it’s making my running easier and more pleasant!  I still have the occasional wheeze, but my chest-tightness is all but gone, and I’m just not working as hard to breathe.  It’s glorious…

Since the first day I ran last June, I’ve had a bit of trouble breathing while I was at my maximum exertion.  It’s a problem I’ve seen rarely in my life, cropping up only when I was being unreasonably athletic (swimming across Great South Bay, playing soccer, climbing rock walls, and now, running).  I’ve rarely even thought of it as a problem, just another of the many little quirks inherent in being the child of chain-smoking alcoholics.

Even running, it’s been something I relatively easily overcame through practice.  Once I got my aerobic fitness up a bit, I could run longer and harder without wheezing, which allowed me to increase my aerobic fitness a bit more, so I could run more, etc.  The only time I am really troubled by it now is during extreme temperatures (like during the 104 degree human sprinkler debacle of last August, or my singular attempt at a sub 20 degree run last month), or when I am forced to take a break, and lose some of my fitness edge.

Unfortunately, winter weather and cold season have visited upon me a “perfect storm”, if you’ll pardon the pun, of combined extreme temperatures and breaks from running (the machines I use indoors are better than nothing, but they just don’t get the job done like a run).  The last few weeks, every one of my agonizingly infrequent runs has been marked by tight-chested wheezing for a significant portion of it.  I’ve slowed down so much that I am literally two minutes off the best times I achieved in the fall, for the same two mile run.

So, I gave in and asked my doctor for a medical intervention.  I now join the ranks of the nerd, with my very own asthma inhaler, which I am to use before runs until the problem subsides. Of course, deciding when it subsides will involve a painstaking series of trials with and without it in the Spring, but I’m not thinking about that right now!

I’ve only had the chance to use it twice so far.  The asthma has definitely been seriously curtailed.  My chest isn’t tight at all,  but I’m still slow.  I suppose I’m just going to have to tough it out until the weather improves a bit, and ignore my times until I see whether regular running brings my time back up.

Does anyone know if asthma medication actually counts as a performance enhancing drug for races?  I’d be interested to know…

I think I may have a problem…

The machines may keep your aerobic fitness up, but they don’t keep your feet and joints ready for all that impacting, and there’s just something physically more challenging about actually being on the road, for whatever reason.

My time is way up, by over a minute.  Also, I had a checkup yesterday, and apparently, my blood pressure is high again.  This winter is looking like it’s gonna set me back a lot.

As an added bonus, the light drizzle I ran through seems to have given me a cold.

Yay fitness!