A New Plan To Dump The Orthotics & Become Pain Free

In the time that I've been writing here I don't believe I've ever written a new article so soon after posting the previous one. Over the weekend I decided to drastically change (relatively speaking) my approach to getting out of my orthotics and free from Plantar Fasciitis (PF). And I've decided to turn this blog from a place that contains various ramblings about running and injuries into a chronicling of my new efforts to get out of all this shoe and orthotic hardware and really be pain free.

For many months the plan I've had with my podiatrist has been to use my current flexible orthotics to keep the PF in check, while allowing my feet to move and increase their strength. The goal has been to, ultimately, be orthotic free. I've been deeply committed to this philosophy as well as frustrated at the time it seems to be taking to make it happen. The doc has asked I be patient, that it will come with time, and he has said that I can continue to run on a limited basis. This has been going on for a year. On the one hand I'm running 3 miles every-other-day, which is light-years ahead of where I was 12 months ago. On the other hand I continue to deal with heel pain that comes and goes, which leads me to believe I'm not really getting better - totally better. In an effort to get over "that last little bit" I've been doing all sorts of things: hip strengthening, adjusting the degree of arch support, stretching, core strengthening, small amounts of barefoot running in grass, starting to change to a midfoot strike, etc. The bottom line is this: I'm not getting over "that last little bit" and I'm not able to determine if any given effort to make things better is really helping or not. Conversely, I'm not really sure if my small amount of running is too much and, consequently, undoing any progress I might be making.

I've been doing a large amount of reading recently that has strongly influenced my decision to approach this differently:

• The Pose Running Method. Pose is a running form that focuses on efficiency as well as minimizing the stress running typically places on the body - ultimately resulting in lower injury rates. Dr. Nicholas Romanov created this method quite a number of years ago. It has brought positive results to many. Check out http://www.posetech.com/
• Born To Run by Christopher McDougall. Chris searches out the Mexican Tarahumara Indians who are legendary runners. He does this because he has been told by his doctors to stop running due to his age and a variety of foot issues. He learns how the Tarahumara are able to run at levels most runners deem unattainable. When Chris adopts some of their basic principles he not only is able to run pain free, but he completes a 50 mile ultramarathon. If you take nothing else from this or future postings read this book. It's fabulous.

My new project is going to consist of the following plan. Much of this comes from the Pose website. Other components I've added myself.

• Stop running. These two words are what the majority of runners least want to hear, however I think I need to take that entire variable out of the equation in order to see if I can make progress on the foot pain and strength and not wonder if I'm undoing progress when I subject my feet to the pounding of running.
• Do a small amount of walking/running barefoot in grass. Experiment carefully to be sure it's not causing damage.
• Learn and practice the Pose drills. Right now I'm using the Pose website as well as YouTube to learn about them, their purpose, etc.
• Wear a Pose-endorsed shoe. The Pose philosophy, when it comes to shoes, is that a very minimalist shoe should be used - to encourage the foot to feel the ground and fire the right foot muscles appropriately. The belief is that the modern padded running shoe prevents this from happening and actually encourages us to run incorrectly.
• Consistently execute a core and hip strengthening program. I have an exercise ball and will be using it to work on core strength.
• Consistently work a program for improving balance. I think the Bosu Ball is the ideal solution here - but I'm not willing to drop $100 for the privilege. I've purchased a balance "disc" ($20). I'm also going to be doing some work my PT has suggested.
• As I get to the point I can consistently do the above with no foot/heel pain, begin some extremely short (Did I say "extremely"? 200m? 400m?) runs on hard surfaces using the Pose method. If well tolerated, increase at an extremely conservative rate.
  

The first step for my plan is to get a shoe that adheres to the Pose philosophy. This is likely to be the first of a number of odd-feeling steps in this project. I've always run in the high end motion control models (Asics MC-Plus, Brooks Beast, Saucony Grid-Stabil). I like Saucony shoes. I looked on eBay and found a Saucony Bullet for $50. Talk about a shoe that is the exact opposite of a motion control shoe! It should be very interesting to give them a go.

Next Step & Goal: Get the shoes and start doing the Pose drills while wearing them - and see if I can just do them consistently without aggravating the foot pain. I'm not going to attempt any running (besides a very limited amount of barefoot grass running) until I can be sure I can do the basic drills pain free.

I can commit to giving updates here on how things progress. Whether those updates end up being reports of success or failure remains to be seen.

Jim

Running is a privilege.

[Return to the current blog posting.]

Progress - On Multiple Levels

I’m in an awkward place. On the one hand what I’m about to write makes me extremely nervous. On the other hand I’m also very eager to do so. To set the stage, as I described in my last posting, I’ve been putting effort into adopting a midfoot strike with the hopes of easing the forces on my feet and improving my Plantar Fasciitis. I’m nervous because, as I’ve pursued seemingly hundreds of things to have this get better, many times I thought I’d found the cure – only to be disappointed and realize the feet weren’t getting better as quickly as I thought they would. I’m eager to write because I had a run this morning that was just so over-the-top fun – well – I have to tell somebody. :-)

I’ve only been able to run 3 miles every-other-day. What made this morning especially challenging was that I had a phone call for work at 6:30AM. So I needed to be done and back in the house by 6:15. I go out early by many people's standards, but even by my standards this was early. Additionally, the previous two nights I’d gotten very little sleep. As I lay awake at 4:30, 10 minutes prior to my alarm going off, I was searching for a reason to run some other time. Luckily I failed and got out of bed anyway, figuring I’d feel worse about blowing off the run than having a bad run. All the stars were aligned to have this be a complete disaster.

Before I go into the details of the actual run it’s appropriate to describe a bit about my efforts to adopt a midfoot strike. A few years ago I tried Chi Running. Unfortunately – it just didn’t work well for me. I know it has been fantastic for others, but it just didn’t work for me. It felt a bit like trying to simultaneously rub your stomach and pat your head. There were just a few too many things for my simple mind to keep straight and coordinated. So this time I did some reading about Pose. I probably should get the book. (Sometimes it feels like, in an effort to get to running that is less injury prone, I’m spending as much money on gadgets and books as I would if I just stayed injured and paid all the doctor fees.) A friend told me of Pose drills to help one get the feel of the body movements. I searched YouTube and, of course, I found some videos. I studied them and practiced them myself. It was fascinating. For example one drill is simply lifting up your heel close to your butt and standing on one leg. It appeared, while watching the video, that the value of me doing it was close to zero. It just seemed too simple. But I did it and I started realizing “This is where my knee is.”, “This is how it feels to have a relaxed ankle.”, etc. There were some other drills and I did them as well.

So I’m outside finishing my warmup walk and I break into a run. Immediately it just feels fantastic. The sensations from the drills are translatable to the dynamics of running and it feels great. Even though it felt great, I recognized that by the end it might not feel so great (the fitness level has not returned and, of course, I’m carrying a bit of extra poundage around since I haven’t been running at my normal volume). The run continued to feel great. And it continued to feel great. I didn’t hit that wall of exhaustion. Don’t get me wrong – I got tired. But I noticed something else that was interesting: When I did feel tired I was able to use the drill sensations to remind me what I should be doing. It’s easy to have form break down when you get fatigued, but the drills helped me keep the form.

And best of all – the feet feel fantastic – probably the best they’ve ever felt at the end of a run day. Who knows what they’ll feel like tomorrow. I’ll deal with tomorrow tomorrow. As for today, it was a great run. And remember that, even when a horrific run seems “guaranteed”, you never know what you’re going to find until you actually get out there.

Jim

Running is a privilege.