Attempting a running comeback

My running has come to pretty much a complete halt. The dreaded plantar fasciitis has struck and I don't how long it will take for me to recover from this.

I attempted a run last Sunday and it went fairly well for four miles and then a mile from home I came to a halt as the pain in my left foot returned with a vengence. The pain is around the heel and middle of the sole of the foot. I decided to run on and I did finish my 5 miles in 43.47 . However shortly afterwards I was crippled and I limped for the next 2 days unable to put my full weight on the foot without pain.

After this experience you become very wary of running in case the same happens again. It is difficult to know when to try and run again as after another week of not running I can still feel my foot and clearly there is still some inflamation and tenderness.

This is very frustrating after running throughout one of the worst winters for years and we get to Spring I want to be out running and enjoying probably the best time of the year to run. But I can't!

This morning I decided just to do a mile and see what happens. I added an extra insole to my left shoe to provide a little more shock absorbtion. It was good to get out and run but all I am thinking about is my left foot, waiting to see if the pain gets worse. A mile was enough I can still feel to much pain. I will just have to wait and see what happens afterwards and whether I get a bad reaction leading to me limping again.

What to do If I am not running?! Well after sulking and becoming a hermit from running not looking at my blog or any sites for a week or two I have decided I have gotter snap out of it and at least try and do some all round exercises.

I have restarted from scratch the 100 push ups programme. The week 1 option included five sets of  20, 12,10,7, and 7 push ups with a minute rest between.

After this not feeling that I had done a lot of exercise I took a look at the 200 sit ups logger. I have never really got on with this exercise before and looking at the video of how to  perform these I have always done these wrong. I always used to return my shoulders to the floor after each sit up and would strain from my shoulders and head to sit up.  Instead from the videos I have seen good form sit ups or crunches mean you start with your shoulders raised from the ground. The sit up or crunch is actually a much smaller movement than I had previously been attempting no wonder I had struggled with them previously.


Once I was happy with how to perform a sit up I did an initial test and I managed 40. Following the sit up logger this determines the level of the programme that you follow over the next few weeks.

I then had a go at massaging my foot as demonstrated in the video below


Massage Physical Therapy Techniques for Plantar Fasciitis -- powered by eHow.com
I am hoping there is not too much of a reaction to my short run today and that I can try to run again shortly in the next few days