My right heel started to hurt after the 2015 SFM. It hurt for the first
few steps each time I got up from sitting or lying down. Bathroom trips
at night or getting out of the car after a short ride always began with
sharp throbs. Running felt much less fun just because I had to go
through the painful first mile in every run in the past four years.
Discussing with friends didn't help. Some did have similar issues but
the details varied. Most would recommend stretching but nobody could
trace the root cause of my problem for me. No stretching seemed to
help, either. Tennis balls, asian squats, seiza sitting, rolfing, yoga, and
trail-run in huaraches were all excellent and I did them regularly. Yet
they all paled in front of the devil.
Early August, I watched a video and took the advice from Steven Sashen
of Xero Shoes and rolled the calf, especially over the painful spots
after running, with the Rolflex Pro that he recommended and saw instant
results. It was amazing that, after a few sessions, the heel stopped bothering
me. That was to say what I had taken for plantar fasciitis for ever turned
out to be more of a tight calf!
The right foot was still weaker and every time I did the downward-dog
in yoga or stepped out of the car, I was reminded of what it felt like
before. Thank you so much, Steven! I'll keep buying your shoes.
Other short-term injuries healed themselves. The calf pain that started
in mid July was gone after a couple of weeks of taking it easy and
didn't come back. My foot-strike became straight again and no bloody
ankles anymore.
Mid-August, I ran a marathon with a much improved time, limped for a
couple of days afterwards but the recovery was fine overall. One
takeaway was to improve the glutes as I realized how they powered me: I
didn't ran but stamped through the race.
Last week as I started to train for a race in Dec, I pulled the right-side
hamstrings during the Thursday 6-mile run. Saturday morning, the same
muscle hurt after 3 miles. So yoga and weight-lifting didn't stave off
this one. I should rest three days before the next run.
