May 10th, Tuesday, 10 p.m.
?
Well, it looks like I’m off the roads for a while.
My foot has been hurting me since the end of the race on Saturday with no relief in sight. My first belief was that I had a cramp, but it never went away. So I began to believe that I was suffering some form of plantar fasciitis. I contacted Dr. Mirkin and explained my symptoms and circumstances. His response was quick. He thinks that I have a stress fracture of one of the bones in my foot. Over the last two days I have come to agree with him. My pain is very specific. The area is point tender. The pain has not decreased at all in three days. Another thing that makes me believe it not plantar fasciitis is that the discomfort is no greater in the morning after sleeping. It’s just the same as it is all day. That is one of the common symptoms of plantar fasciitis, that early morning pain. Dr. Mirkin’s recommendation was that I stay off my foot for 3 weeks. He says ride and swim but do not run until the pain has completely disappeared.
Today I did get to the clubhouse after being off for 2 days. I rode the bike for 20 minutes, swam for 25 minutes and ran in the deep end for 10 minutes hanging on a noodle. That appears to be the extent of my workouts for 3 weeks. I do intend to do some work in the weight room with the machines and some free weights. I recently read an article that suggests for older folks a good weight lifting routine is to complete 10 very slow reps with a lightweight. Research Studies have shown that has the same effect of doing heavy lifts quicker on strength gain. I will test it out for a while .
I moved my membership start at the Centrestate fitness center to June 1st, so I will have access for the entire summer. They have that new zero gravity running machine that is the only one in the state of New Jersey that I can use. That should help me to come back a little more cautiously from my injury.
So life goes on. Fortunately, I have my new PR and I was not planning any races for a while anyhow.
PS – I just did some research on a concept that is new to me known as the stress reaction. I have heard reference to this from which Rice Refi not long ago and I thought maybe I was in that situation now. I’m going to do some more reading and I will let you know what I found out tomorrow. It seems that the stress reaction is designated as a first stage of a stress fracture.