The Plantar Fasciitis Trials – Part 3 – The Podiatrist

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Robinson — 8 Comments

So.. Picking up where I left off on part 2 – Off to see the podiatrist.

First, lets look at my thoughts/views/experiences regarding podiatrists. I had never been to one (that covers experiences.)

I love research, so I had googled everything I possibly could in regards to Plantar Fasciitis and (when I first got them) Vibram Five Fingers. This had led me to several Podiatry forums. I read everything I possibly could on both topics – after all, these were the foot experts right? Before I looked into Plantar Fasciitis and had been researching VFFs, I noticed a really common theme. Podiatrists hated them. This wasn’t a huge surprise, after all Christopher McDougall had said the same thing in articles and in his book. It was amazing to me the outright vehemence that the Podiatrists posted about them. The more common viewpoint seemed to be that any form of “minimalist” shoe was simply a horrible injury waiting to happen, whether you did “too much too soon” or not. In fact, the whole idea of “too much too soon” as a problem was ridiculed. Read more ›

Tagged with: Barefoot Running, Born to Run, Christopher McDougall, Foot, minimalist running, Pain, Plantar fascia, plantar fasciitis, Podiatrist, Podiatry, Vibram Five Finger
Posted in Plantar Faciitis, recovery, running, running injury

The Plantar Fasciitis Trials – Part 2 – The pain.

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Robinson — 8 Comments

To pick up where my story left off (while providing enough “Catch up” info for anyone that didn’t read part 1), I had stepped on a rather sharp rock in my worn-down (not that there is a whole lot to wear down, but there is a difference) Vibram Five Fingers, while trail running. I think that under the circumstances, most people would assume, as I did, That I had bruised the bottom of my foot.

My ice bottle under my desk at my former job!

The pain really wasn’t horrible at this point, in fact I would call it relatively minor. I avoided running (because slamming a bruise into the ground over-and-over for several miles didn’t strike me as “fun,”) and used an elliptical for a few days. I was even bright enough to avoid running until the pain was pretty much gone, with only a residual tightness remaining. (In hind-sight, I’ve never had a bruise cause “Tightness.” At the time I did not know what this could be indicative of.) While not running was frustrating, I was pleased with myself for learning from my previous year’s experiences. Read more ›

Tagged with: Foot, footlog, Pain, Plantar fascia, plantar fasciitis, The Stick
Posted in Plantar Faciitis, recovery, running, running injury

#janathon – Day 7 – a SLOW REST day!

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Robinson — 10 Comments

OK, So I admit it. I overdid it this weekend. Apparently following a fast (compared to my recent running) 6 mile run with a fast short run wears the legs out.

If it wasn’t Janathon, I would take today completely off from running and give my legs a chance to heal But it is Janathon, so instead, off to the treadmill. While it is only 45 degrees out this morning, I think I have proven that I can’t be trusted to run slowly on my own. But that’s OK.. Why? Because the treadmill will take care of that for me.

I hopped on, did my warm up walk and went to 6 mph. And WOW are my legs tired! It felt like I was trying to run faster than I did over the weekend!

oh wait.. I hit 8 not 6… That is certainly not right! Back to 6 where it belongs, and a nice easy mile ensued, followed by a nice stretching session.

There is no way my legs could do yoga today. They are FRIED! (and sore.)

Tagged with: Treadmill
Posted in janathon, recovery, running, treadmill run

Ratatouille

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Robinson — Leave a comment

So, upon the suggestion of a fellow blogger (thanks Bopspeed!) , I made Ratatouille for dinner last night!

I looked at a couple of different recipes online, and went from them. I have to say, it was incredibly tasty! I don’t know that it was “right” of course, as I’ve never had it before, but this will definitely be on our repeat play to eat – whether it is “right” or not! Read more ›

Tagged with: Bell pepper, Eating Well, Healthy Diet, Helathy Food, Olive oil, Ratatouille, Recipes, Tomato, vegetarian, Yellow Squash, Zucchini
Posted in Healthy Food, Recipes

#janathon – Day 6 – The “rest” run.

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Robinson — 1 Comment

Another gorgeous day here in Crofton, MD. The temperature was a gorgeous 50 degrees. Since I have just moved here, I have no idea if this is normal winter weather or not – but I am certainly enjoying it! Two days outside in a row!

Today is a “rest” day, so I figured a mile or so would be good. My shortest look is around 1.5 miles, so I figured I would just go out and run it slowly.

Oops.

My first mile was done at an 8:29 pace, and the second .6 of a mile was done at 8:36. Read more ›

Tagged with: Crofton, crofton md, Health, healthy-living, Road running, running, Running in Vibram Five Fingers, Vibram Five Fingers
Posted in janathon, running, vibram five fingers

The Plantar Fasciitis Trials – Part 1. Background

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Robinson — 5 Comments

So, I’ve recently had several discussion regarding my experiences with Plantar Fasciitis both in comments on my blog, and with several people in person. This made me realize it might be worth taking the time to really take a look and explain what I have done, and why! I’ll start with the background.

My first pair of Vibram Five Fingers

It all started with my switching over to Vibram Five Fingers. I didn’t know at the time that it could contribute, or why. Looking back, I suspect that a big part of it is the old “too much too soon” problem combined with my complete lack of flexibility. I don’t know that moving into the five fingers slower would have prevented this – but had I been stretching my calves/Achilles/hamstrings – the additional time would have helped. But I might be getting ahead of myself. Read more ›

Tagged with: Barefoot Running, Chenango Valley State Park, Christopher McDougall, Marine Corp Marathon, Plantar fascia, plantar fasciitis, Vibram Five Finger, Vibram Five Finger Bikila
Posted in Plantar Faciitis, running, running injury, running shoes, vibram five fingers

#janathon – Day 5 – The long run!

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Robinson — 2 Comments

I used to hurry a lot, I used to worry a lot
I used to stay out till the break of day
Oh, that didn’t get it,
It was high time I quit it
I just couldn’t carry on that way
Oh, I did some damage, I know it’s true
Didn’t know I was so lonely , till I found you
You can go the distance
We’ll find out in the long run
(in the long run)
The Eagles, The Long Run

So today was on the schedule as my long run. Of course, I don’t really have a schedule, as I have found that I stress it when I miss something, then get hurt trying to play catch-up. I suppose it was more of a “plan.” A plan based on the fact that its Saturday, so I can run while it is still day light out, which means I can GO OUTSIDE!!!!! We ran our assorted errands (See the previous post for details,) got back to the house – and I gave my phone a chance to charge (after all, if it doesn’t get logged in Runtastic, and posted on Facebook – a run doesn’t really count!) and got ready to head out the door.

And my neighbor stops by. I love my neighbors. Read more ›

Tagged with: Eagles, long run, Road running, running, Running with Orthotics, Saucony
Posted in Hill Running, janathon, Plantar Faciitis, running, running shoes

The Joy of Cooking (and shopping?)

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Robinson — Leave a comment

I love the weekend. With it is a new-ness, even if it is the “end” of the week. There is the joy of being unfettered from what we do every day, of avoiding the “work” requirements.

For my family, Saturday means some of the same things every week. We are going to go out to breakfast, followed by shopping and then cleaning the house. Shopping has gotten so it is taking much longer than it has in the past back in NY. My family is starting to eat much healthier and we have a lot more choices of stores to shop at. We are buying far more produce (which means Wegmans, or if we go to Annapolis – Whole Foods Market and the Fresh Market), and some items specific to health food stores (Mom’s Organic Market if we didn’t go to Whole Foods), and then probably Safeway for the remainder. If we need some basic essentials, we might also hit Aldi’s.

Hitting multiple stores has become even more important with our new outlook on the New Year. While we were at Wegmans, we had a cart that was around 2/3 full (the full size cart) of produce. The cart was topped off with tabouli, hummus (spinich-artichoke,) black bean dip and the like. It cost around $100.

After Wegmans, we headed over to Safeway to pick up some things we need that were on sale there – and it was around $100. Now, if eating health is supposed to be so much more expensive – shouldn’t that have been the other way around?

While I generally dislike shopping for to long, this one was kind of exciting. Why?

1) Tonight’s dinner – Confetti Enchiladas. We haven’t had these in ages, and they are sooooo good!

The Road Not Taken, By Robert Frost.

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Robinson — 3 Comments

Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.

1. The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; 5
Read more ›

Tagged with: Road Not Taken, Robert Frost
Posted in running

#janathon day 4 – Serenity

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Robinson — 4 Comments

se·ren·i·ty

[suh-ren-i-tee] noun (From dicitonary.com)

1. the state or quality of being serene, calm, or tranquil; sereneness.

Synonyms – composure, calm, peacefulness, peace.

Day 4 of Janathon! As you might recall (or be polite enough to pretend to), I ran a 5k in my Vibram Five Fingers on the first. Now fore thought apparently is one of my strengths, in the same way that using the kinect is (total sarcasm there, just in case it wasn’t dripping out of your screen.). This is definitely shown through my choice of foot wear that day. You see, I hadn’t worn them on a run over two miles in 6 or 8 months.

My Five finger Collection!

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31

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se·ren·i·ty

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