I thought it about time that I seek some medical advice about my ongoing shin pain and numb foot, so I visited a sports podiatrist on Monday to see if we could get to the bottom of these problems.
After all the usual back ground questions, inspection of the feet, exercises, and jogging up and down his office/gym with him carefully watching my style, he eventually gave me his plan to get me out running again, pain free ... two weeks rest from all running, lots of ice followed by self massage of the shin with Anti-Flamme and stretching.
I guess I was half expecting that news. I know deep down that the shin pain is not going to go away unless I take some action and give them a decent rest. It is a little annoying, but I'm not totally gutted because I know that it's for the best longer term and that if I stick to the icing & stretching then I have a good chance of coming back a stronger runner.
The other thing the Podiatrist has said to do is to go without the orthotic insoles. Did you ever here of a Podiatrist saying such a thing? He reckons my gait and pronation is not overly bad and that the orthotic together with my structured/control shoe (Adidas Adistar) is too much. I'm even to take out the cushioning insole I had been alternating with and go back to the standard flimsy insole which came with the shoes.
On to the numb foot. The Podiatrist thinks this could be caused by a medical condition known as Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome. Basically the numbness is brought on by the compression of a nerve in the ankle/foot brought on in my case through running. Hopefully rest will also account for this but we will wait and see on that one.
In the mean time I'm restricted to swimming and biking to maintain my fitness. Swimming is something that I do get a bit bored with and I literally had to drag myself down to the pool yesterday. Once in the water though I got stuck in, swimming 1100 meters in 32 minutes (is that slow or what!). The plan over the next two weeks will be to both swim and bike twice a week. One bike ride will be on the road one on the stationary bike.
My comeback run will be May 23. I'll just be starting out lightly for the first two weeks, gradually building up to five or six miles over that time. All going well, that will leave me with six weeks until the Run Auckland Half Marathon on July 15.
My 12 week plan will therefore become a six week plan! It sounds short I know, but I prepared for my first Half last year with only six to eight weeks of decent training so I know I can do it. The one slight concern might be that I would be increasing my mileage too fast and could therefore be risking the shin again?
Happy Running!
P.S. Hope you like the new colours.
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Wednesday, 9 May 2007
Halt all Running
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2 comments:
It's a shame you need a couple of weeks off Bruce. I hope it does the trick, and you can get back into the program for Run Auckland.
As an alternative to the swimming, you could try deep water pool running. Many pools have floatation vests you can borrow, but they're pretty cheap to buy. It's an excellent cardio workout, plus you're duplicating the running action, also working the core and arms to stay in a good slightly forward leaning position.
Good luck with your recovery!
Yes, that's bad news - the sort of news we never hope comes our way.
All is not lost. The rest will do your body some good - your fitness level will not drop much at all.
Have hope. Take care.
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