and if you tend towards planter fascitis or achilles pain never... ever... do calf raises. At least not if you have my inflexible calves.

Do your orthotics have a heelpost?

Why I ask is, because while slightly raising your heel (heel posts) takes stress off of the tendon, it sometimes has the wrong effect, because it shortens the range of motion on the Soleus and Gastroc muscles (calf) causing them to go into spasm. You are actually training them to become shortened, because your toe is always slightly pointed. You don't feel the pain in the calf though. You feel in your heel where the tendon attaches to the bone. Kind of like if you pull your hair, you feel it at the scalp, not at the other end.

I've been thru heel pain and it can get quite intense and last for months. I met Julie Donnelly at Ironman Utah. She has a forum at www.julstro.com that addresses these kinds of questions in detail. I ended up throwing my orthotics in the closet, And I stretch a lot now.

What does your podiatrist say is the cause of the pain? I think the difference of opinion on stretching sore tendons depends on how severe the soreness is. Little soreness probably means some gentle stretching is okay. Lots of soreness means don't stretch because you might aggravate the injury.

I too had heel pain when I first started using Orthotics. In my case it was due to the orthotics being so hard and having no cushioning. I switched to a thicker cushioning sock and it worked for me.

Well, I am traveling right now but I will go see him next week to see waht is going on.

Not sure whether it has one or not. I have a high arch but over pronate a lot, which my podiatrist told me is not very common. Therefore the orthodic has a very high arch support. Felt realy strange at first. I am now starting to get used to it.