I have my A race coming up in 10 days and have a case of PF. I have noticed some light heel pain over the last week (and very light achiles tightness during runs), but didn’t put it all together until this morning’s run where it got a little worse. It’s probably not a bad case by Slowtwitch standards, but I have a race coming up in short order.
What should I do? Obviously I will stretch, roll, Ice, and use a tennis/golf ball on my foot.
Can I still bike to maintain my fitness? Will that aggravate it? I think this is the most important question. Its not ideal, but if I have to shut down the running but can still bike, i think I will be okay.
Should I completely shut down my running until the Tri?
Or, possibly give it 4-5 days off and then test it with an easy run early on race week?
It isn’t going to get better or worse over 10 days (in my opinion). It is slow to get and slow to get rid of. Do yourself a favor and get a nighttime boot (amazon has a good one I am using now). Mornings suck but for me, on a run, the pain typically subsides a few miles in.
Other than that, stay away from flip flops and anything else that doesn’t have support.
It might get a little better. Use the boot at night and ice it after every run. Keeps runs short and only run on fresh legs (should be easy in taper). You might even be best to run mostly uphill and walk downhill.
Massage it a couple times a day… usually easier with a little cream.
Do NOT walk barefoot at all, and use good supportive shoes at all times.
This could be incorrect, but I actualyl think my eccentric heel drops I do for my achillies actually seem to help stretch out my PF. Mine is always lingering but hasn’t flared up bad in many years.
oh and never let your foot rest (like sitting or in the car) with your heel supporting the weight of your leg. Keep your leg bent and foot on the floor or sit cross legged or something.
after your runs and throughout the day. I like to immediately apply the boot for about fifteen minutes after my stretching routines are finished in addition to using it at night.
With consistency it can be managed until you can afford to take some time off from running completely.
I’m just over it. You’re doing all the right things. I went to a PT 3 times and she did Graston which helped a ton. I water jogged for a week and started back into my normal routine. Keep track of shoe mileage too. Good luck !
This is the boot I am using now. It works well and unlike the one I got the foot doctor, it doesn’t’ feel 1000 degrees at night.
Having used many devices for PF, that is a good one. I like the support under the foot instead of on top of it or pulling the toes.
I hated the Schlossburg Sock, which made my toes go numb during the night. The walking boot type that my doc recommended made my foot too hot throughout the night.
Had a case after Ironman in 2012 in which it shelved me for almost 3 months, walking in the morning or after sitting/laying for an extended period of time was near excruciating. Have been running and upping fairly high mileage since about March and about 6 weeks ago, the PF started again, but this time I have been able to manage it. Some days it hurts more than others and some days it is not too bad, but even with the issue, I have been able to up my mileage since it started and the pain has stayed manageable. I echo what everyone else has said, stretch your calves and massage it, personally I like to freeze a water bottle and roll it with that a couple of times a day. I seem to have the most success doing it in the morning and right after a run. For me I find the PF flares up a lot more when I run hard, so I would recommend keeping your pace down. If you don’t go crazy with your running, I think you will be ok.
The plantar fascia has no elasticity. You have to stretch the muscle belly itself. Work on your calf stretching/rolling/manual massage. We see this alot in the clinic and 9 time out of 10 the patient has multiple trigger points in the calf belly. Rolling an ice bottle might feel good and dull the pain but again you can’t “stretch” the fascia.
I had the exact same issue arise for me earlier this year. Stretch, take the maximum amount of anti inflammatory meds and seek physical therapy. While they can’t make it go away in that time frame, they can get you to a point of pain management.
I raced an IM 2 years ago with PF. Showed up about 4 months prior, trained through it, certainly made it worse, but I used hard, high-intensity cycling as a proxy for running, and limited my running to: “that pain level that allows me to keep running.” At the IM, I had a good day, and a good race, and the biking was a satisfactory, though not ideal, substitute. I’m not saying it’s just as good; just saying that all things being equal, where you are at this moment, it’s not the end of your race. You can still have a good race. But afterwards, you have to fully invest in healing and recovery. Which took me almost a year, because of how much injury I did to it, “training through” the injury. But it’s all gone now, and I maintain stretching as a daily routine. Calf, gastroc and soleus muscles. Good luck.
At 10 days out, your fitness is set. I would run as little as possible (or skip it altogether) from now until race day, ice the Fook out of it and keep a golf ball under your desk / coffee table.
Icing suggestion that I picked up from ST…get a pair of those yellow mud boots you buy at Lowes or Home Depot. Fill it w/ ice and water and you can soak your foot, Achilles and calf in a mini-ice bath. It ain’t comfortable, but it is effective.
It happened to me earlier this season. I knew I was screwed (PF can last for ages) but I really wanted to race (it was an 8k run) anyway, no matter what happened after the race (yeah this is stupid).
I completely stopped all running activities, jumps, etc. the week-ish before the race. So for about 7 / 8 days, no pain. I raced, did a great time, but then couldnt walk anymore after the race and got officially injured for 3 months (therapy, etc.).
Thanks for all the help guys. I took a couple days completely off, and then started back to biking. Lots of ice, stretching, foam rolling, and no running had really helped. Feeling much better already, and decided I am going to skip running until my race this weekend.
I’ve been battling PF on/off for a year. I do find that cycling aggravates my PF, but as someone else said, everyone is different. I’ve found that all the golf ball/ice rolling/crazy socks did nothing I was convinced of in terms of long term help (some of these feel pretty good, but don’t seem to speed long term recovery). Here’s what helped me…green Superfeet insoles all the time, continuous oral anti-inflammatories for a couple of weeks and consistent application of Voltran topical anti-inflammatory. Much better in a few weeks, resumed running and was pretty good. Racing on Saturday, so ramped up intensity and duration over the last six weeks or so. Damn thing is back. Planning for this week off, treating as described with anti-inflammatories and racing…
Try icing it while wearing the Strasburg sock - that was suggested to me by a very good PT in my area, and I found it more helpful then doing either separately. She liked that because you get all the positive effects of the icing while the area is also stretched.
And yes, give a LOT of attention to your posterior chain - calf up through hamstring.
I’ve been icing, resting, and Ibuprofin - haven’t run (other than my Oly Tri) in 3 weeks. Still feel the pain in my heel. I haven’t been diligent in stretching, rolling, trigger point, eccentric heel drops, etc.
I’m starting to feel like that stuff must be pretty important - maybe even the main ingredient why I don’t seem to be getting better?