Light pool workout 20mins
Foam roll + stretch
Electroacu in the evening
1/9
Light GS Work
Foam roll + stretch
Electroacu in the evening
1/10
55m Race
Some good points and very crappy points today.
As for my meet, I started out by false starting in the prelims. I have never false started in my life (in track, in football, anything) and I was really disappointed in myself for that. Now, that starter had held us there for 4-5 seconds and the people to each side both twitched, but there is still no excuse for that.
I begged the meet directors to let me run in the final though. There were only two heats of prelims and there were supposed to be two heats of finals, so everybody made it. They let me run in the slow/1st section. I had a great start that time around, but around 20-25m or so I had an extremely sharp pain in my foot that I have had my plantar fascia issues with (right foot). I shut it down before I got to 30m and I hobbled through the line. I went 6.65, which I think is pretty decent given the circumstances. I talked with a guy and got to see his video (hopefully he will be e-mailing me a copy) and my last 10m was around 1.3, so I was slowing down pretty significantly. My start and acceleration was great—my foot just couldn’t handle it I guess. It felt great this morning and in my warm-up, so I was pretty surprised it gave me such problems.
Anyway, now I am finally back home and I have minimal pain in my heel (which had been the issue the past 2.5 months or so), but I now have a significant amount of tightness in the arch of my foot. I really am not sure what the deal is with this—if it is an injury, a cramp, or what. I’ll find out more tonight and tomorrow based on any pain/inflammation/etc.
The meet has really boosted my confidence from a standpoint that I know I am in great shape. I ran a 30m training PR (well not sure if it is PR because FPS is such crap, but it is at worst very close to training PR) and then today I probably went through 20-30m at a significant PR before I dropped off.
It’s good to hear you’ve been making progress even while injured. Way to go.
Be careful with that foot though. The last thing you want to do is get excited and push yourself beyond your limits. Remember, it’s not worth it to waste the whole season on a single sprint or session.
We will see in the coming days the severity (or lack of severity) of the issue, but there is a dull general pain and tightness in the majority of the foot sole (no specific points really like before, just around all of the foot bottom). Before I had one or two spots of fairly sharp pain and that was it versus now where there isn’t really any sharp pain, but a low to moderate degree in a lot of the area.
It could be a rupture of the plantar fascia–I really have no idea and probably won’t until I see the doc and/or get an MRI. My foot held up fine in my workouts and it felt better this morning and during the warm-up than it did since the injury first came about, so I am kind of taken by surprise. I even did multiple fast build-ups (about 4) before my race and not only were they fast, but the foot was fine during them. Then, before I was even close to top speed, I got this issue. It really sucks. All I can hope for is that it doesn’t cause me to miss indoors because I am clearly in shape to run nice PRs, but if my plantar fascia cannot even handle my acceleration to 30m, I won’t be able to do it. I’m only a junior, so I do have time, but I really wanted to do something great this year.
If something bad has happened, don’t let yourself get down in the dumps. Sure you wanted to do something great this year, but if you can’t, there’s always next year. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you. Stay patient, and don’t let your ego turn the foot into a recurring problem.
Get better soon. I don’t want to beat you by default this season. I want my ass kicked, fair and square.
I am seeing my doctor tomorrow. Late last night it started to get painful (to the point I couldn’t walk) and it has stayed the same way through to this morning. I am guessing it is a rupture of the plantar fascia, either partial or complete. I’ll probably be getting a boot and crutches tomorrow, which I’ll have for 1-3 weeks and then another 1-3 weeks in just a walking boot and then start the rehab process.
I still say it was a very bad idea to do the cortisone shot. Like I told you earlier my friend had the same problem and he was immobilize for 8 weeks and it took him about 1.5-2yrs to get back to pain free training without thinking about the injury. Goodluck with your rehab process.
I mean multiple people including one of the therapists to a top sprint group in the world recommended it. It may have been the wrong decision, but its hard to go against their advice.
You have to take the advice in that circumstance but humans always make mistakes and this includes the smartest therapy minds. Because direct observation of pain is impossible you are always guessing as to the cause. I recently had an athlete with suspected stress fracture (everyone agreed) but when the MRI came though there was none and 2 weeks later they were fine! A very strange case that baffled everyone!
Here are a few things I learned from having PF a few years ago (assuming you aren’t damaged beyond this point and you have to look at shockwave therapy):
First, don’t panic. Realize, as tamfb pointed out, that you have a long-term injury. It takes a year or so to get over this, and medical treatment is limited (everything I’ve read about cortisone is that the shot is quite painful and it doesn’t work long). What you have to concentrate on is reducing the stress on the fascia so the body can (eventually) heal itself. This doesn’t mean no training, but it means cutting back. Also, understand that in a long term process there will be steps forward and steps back. When things aren’t going well, take a week or two OFF before letting someone panic you into something dangerous like surgery. You CAN race up to 100m if you give yourself enough rest time before and after.
The best single piece of treatment is to not walk barefoot at all (including in the house) for at least 6 weeks. This comes from Dr. Pribut.
I found that I could accelerate without pain, but had more problems from 60m on. You will probably be able to get in more training with split runs not over 20-40m per rep. Beyond 30-60m look into something more cushioned for your heel. I used the Zoom Kennedy (which had an air unit in the heel, but is no longer made) for 60-150m and it made a big difference in the amount of training my heel could handle. Look into something like a mid distance spike with plenty of cushioning.
Get away from squats: Juast about every podiatrist or PT will tell you that. You can get in some stimulus (admittedly, not exactly perfect) by doing things like CMJ taking off and landing on the balls of your feet.
I have an MRI scheduled for Wednesday and the initial diagnosis from the podiatrist is a partial rupture of the plantar fascia. We’ll see what happens. I am now in a pretty large walking boot.
