Has anyone had experience with sharp pain in the arch of their foot? It almost feels like needles in the my arch. I think it is related to my increased running volume lately and am wondering if there is stretching I can do to help. It seems to loosen up as I get into my run but is a dull pain when I’m not running. The sharpest pain is at the beginning of my run. I also started soaking my feet at the end of the day in hot water w/ epsom salts (don’t know if that does anything or not). Thanks for any advice. I’d like to avoid my local foot doctor as last time I had some trouble he told me to quit running for a month…turns out the problem was with the insole he told me to use.
Sounds like you have plantar fasciatis, but I could be wrong as I am no doctor. I had it in my left foot from 1997 to 99 and then in my right foot from 2000-2002. The injury tends to slowly creep up on you and takes just as long to dissapper. I found that I was fine if I avoided all interval training, doing no hills and keeping my overall mileage low. I kept my fitness by doing all intense workout on the bike. Funny how you can still run sub 4 min k’s on race day ! I found if I did once a week aerobic downhill running intervals at race speed (as recommended by Maffetone), I could maintain some semblance of race speed without furthur aggrevating my plantar fascia.
You may want to stop this hot water soak after workouts and ice your arches instead. Stretch, but only lightly as you may aggrevate the injury. The thing that worked for me and kept the injury in control was using a night splint. Then again, doing 6 Ironmans and around 10 marathons in that time frame may have something to do with the length of time it took for the injuries to clear up.