foot update

Well, last Monday, over my lunch break, I went over to my podiatrist to see where I was in my foot recovery.

He walked in, and started chatting about the stress fracture. Wait, what? He had never mentioned that before. Then I reminded him about the ultrasound, and the avulsion fracture, he mentioned last time. Right-that thing. I was just a little put off by the fact that he maybe didn't even glance at the chart to remember what my diagnosis/plan might be. The ultrasound showed improvement in the tissue/tear/swelling-whatever you want to call it. I had been out of the boot since our trip to Mexico and had worn my running shoes as much as possible while there. I had been feeling relatively good. A few twinges of pain, after I may have done a little dancing at the reception.  :-) He seemed to say rather quickly, time to rehab my foot-slowly. Great news for me, right? We discussed what I should do, and when to do them. He said I could run starting in a week, once again-slowly. I asked what was what more important-time out or distance covered? As a runner, these are two very different things. For example, a mile can be 7-8 minutes, or I can slow down to 12-13 minutes.  He didn't really have an answer. Right there I knew that he is not a runner-he doesn't get it.

I left there feeling happy that I was in rehab-but not happy-because I wasn't completely sure that the problem had been solved.  

So, here we are on Friday. I did a stationary bike on Wednesday for 20 minutes. And, boy, am I out of shape! I also did a very small amount of barefoot running on the football field. Out and back, and 200m on the track. My feet are baby tender. I have been doing some research about barefoot running. Instead of landing on the heel of the foot, the landing is spread out on the ball, and outer aspect of the foot.  This is a good thing for me, since it is the heel that hurts. I am cautiously attempting to "toughen" up my feet. I walked 3 miles of trails yesterday, and this morning did 15 minutes on my elliptical (yes, with shoes!)  

I still have some pain-but it is not worse. I am listening to my body, and trying to not over do anything. If I do need to see a doctor again-I think I will go to the sports med clinic in my office building. The podiatrists there are or have been runners! This may be my next foot wear option: "gloves" for my feet: