See Diva Run

Once upon a time I was a runner. I ran and ran. I ran so far away… I ran as many as 200 miles in a month, and I felt great… until I didn’t. There was that time in late 2006 when I went a little overboard with Nike+ challenges and ended up with a groin pull. I took a couple weeks off and then came back with a light schedule, running 30 minutes every other day. Before long I was running even further and faster, with many new PRs. Then one day in June there was an odd pain in my ankle, followed by a pain in my calf. Soon there was pain everywhere. There I was with 3 races in one week, and sub-par. By the time I completed the Seafair Marathon, I was falling apart. With a little time off and a gentle return, I was able to get back on my feet and soon I was racking up big miles. This time the discomfort didn’t really go away, but it was manageable… until it wasn’t.

By December I was experiencing a lot of heel pain, and thinking that I might have plantar fasciitis. I bought everything I could find that was labeled as a potential cure. I was also icing my heels, stretching and taking lots of ibuprofen to relieve the pain, but I was still running. Eventually I realized that my goal of getting my 2,000th Nike+ mile by the end of the year was going to interfere with my goal of running a decent pace at P.F. Chang’s Rock N Roll Half Marathon in Arizona, and I took some time off. This time was different. Time off didn’t help. I vowed to work on core strength, and switched to the FIRST training method so I would only have to run 3 times per week. On the other days I worked out on the rowing machine. I even made an appointment with a podiatrist.

I saw the podiatrist in early February. He X-rayed my feet and assured me that I didn’t have a stress fracture. Based on my ability to pinpoint the pain source as being near my ankle bone, he was able to diagnose peroneal tendinitis. The peroneal tendons are small tendons that extend from your ankle down the side of your foot, and under your foot to the inside of your arch. The podiatrist assured me that it was on the mend, but said I could have a cortisone shot if I wanted to speed the process. I passed on the shot, and ran the Birch Bay Half Ultra and the Mardi Gras Marathon in New Orleans. I was running long, but much slower than normal. The heel pain endured. In the weeks since the marathon I’ve only run a few times, and for short distances. Not running hasn’t made a bit of difference. Sitting, standing and walking are all quite painful and seem to put enough stress on the peroneal tendons to keep them from healing.

Running web sites are full of advice about how to treat achilles tendinits and plantar fasciitis, there is a derth of information regarding peroneal tenodinits. I found myself visiting sites like FootPhysicians.com trying to decipher articles written by doctors, for doctors. I learned that peroneal tendinitis is most common after an ankle sprain. I’ve had many sprained ankles over the years, but none recently. My right ankle is somewhat unstable, and my right foot has a tendency to roll. Perhaps this is part of the problem. I’ve been working on balance exercises like standing on one foot, and using a wobble board. So far I’m not seeing any improvement. Perhaps I’m overdoing it? Overdoing is something I am pretty good at.

My first run for the month of March was the 3.5 mile St Paddy’s Day Dash on 3/16. It was harder and slower than it should have been. My second run was a 1.6 mile outing on Sunday, to try out my new Garmin 305. After several weeks of long days in front of the computer, my body complained loudly about the effort. My abdominals were cramping. I thought I might throw up. How can 1.6 miles at a 10:00 pace be so difficult for someone who rand a 27:17 5K last spring? Today I ran 2 miles with my new Garmin. I discovered that I run faster going downhill, and slower going uphill, and that the amount of slow is much greater than the amount of fast!

I found a web site with information on how to strengthen your ankles. I’m going to keep working ankle strength, but carefully so I don’t make things worse. I’m going to continue to work on core strength. I’m going to keep rowing. It’s the running I’m not so sure about. On the one hand I have all of these cool new running clothes, and a cool new Garmin 305 to play with (an anniversary gift from Mr Diva). On the other hand, the pain is getting old. Even though not running hasn’t given me any relief, I can’t shake the idea that it isn’t helping, either. So for now, I’m going to take it a day at a time. I may run a little, but I’m not going to do anything that might be perceived as training. I probably won’t be blogging much either. I will still try to keep up with my blogging running friends, so I can share in their victories.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at 10:19 pm and is filed under Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.