6wks off running

ok. actually not ok.

went to a podiatrist on tuesday, 20100126, and an xray was taken on my left foot. the result came back negative, but an injury was not ruled out because of the tenderness and pressure-pain on the area of concern. made an appointment for an mri-scan...

had the mri scan the following tuesday morning. the result was forwarded to my attending podiatrist, and he called me in the afternoon to confirm that there is a stress fracture on the (3rd?) metatarsal bone. bad - no running for 6 weeks. good - i got clearance to do other aerobic activities like biking and swimming. still felt bad thinking about the idea that i have to wait at least 6 wks before i can resume running again. and what kind of running can i do after 6 wks? how do i prevent it from happening again?

i did some google, found lots of links, good, bad, garbage (garbage because the article or link serves as an advertisement for a service or a product) . here's one good article about stress fracture i'm keeping.

metatarsalgia, metatarsal stress fracture?

i'm totally bummed out today. did not sleep well last night. kept thinking about this injury that i'm hoping is not there. there is pain on top of my left foot, on the 3rd metatarsal bone. didn't even know the term metatarsal/metatarsalgia until last night when i googled 'foot pain running'. metatarsalgia is explained as pain coming from the ball of the foot. mine is different, it's coming from the top of the foot. the explanation of metatarsal stress fracture (or whole fracture) is what i am feeling - pain in the forefoot aggravated by walking or running, pressure pain on the metatarsal bone. is this what i have?

here's a short history of my activities that might have caused this. i started shifting to forefoot/midfoot running in sep/oct 2009, bought a pair of newtons in oct to help me with my switch to this running style. i liked the experience because it alleviated the heel/knee pain i would usually have after a series of runs. i also started doing barefoot running on the treadmill. i also liked this experience and bought a pair of vibram in dec, because of some redness in the sole of my feet during barefoot-treadmill-session. my running style has changed, and even when using my regular shoes, i could feel that my heels were like floating and/or not hitting the pavement hard. and during this transition, the only soreness i'd have was with the calves, which i took as normal for this style of running. i also enjoyed running more, that i started to increase my mileage per week.

on monday, mlk day, i did my usual long run. for some reason (perhaps to give my newton some break), i decided to use my regular shoes, asics 2140. midway in my run, i started to feel some blister building up on the arch part of my right foot (this is the on/off discomfort that i get when switching shoes). i guess, unknowingly, i started to favor this leg, and putting more pressure on the left leg. i managed to finished my run (12.25mi), and true to what i felt during the run, there was redness/blister on the bottom (arch part) of my right foot. my left leg/foot was fine. i thought the blister on my right foot would be the problem. morning after, i woke up with some discomfort, not pain, on my left foot. i shrugged this off thinking that it was just a normal soreness and stiffness in the morning. i skipped my run on tuesday to get some rest (although i was thinking of doing a short/easy jog).

on wednesday, i still have this discomfort on my left foot. but i decided to do my after-office-run nevertheless. boom! i never hit .5mi - the discomfort became pain. i walked if off, and resumed jogging. it didn't go away. i turned back and walked home. i hit google after dinner and that's when i learned the term metatarsal/metatarsalgia.

today, i couldn't even walk straight. not sure if i'd just give myself some rest, or call in the cavalry and seek help...

vibram run #2 + barefoot run #n

this is both for my 2nd run with my vibram on tues, and my barefoot run on thurs, on treadmill.

i did 5 miles on tues, and again, the experience using the vibram was great. it was like natural running 101, with the reaction coming from balls of my feet pushing up the legs to go forward. no signs of blisters nor pain after the run.

my thurs barefoot run was different, though. i did not plan to run on this day so i just did an easy 30-min jog. however, even with an easy jog, there was some redness on the sole of my feet after.

with this, i'll keep my vibram handy all the time. and if i really find this experience better than doing-things-barefoot-or-with-regular-shoes-on, i might even get another pair :)

vibram run #1

i just wrote a short entry about my experience with barefoot running, having some minor blisters on my last run because of the direct contact between the treadmill belt and my feet. on that same day, i went to a vibram five-fingers local retailer, and bought the fso model. fitting was important. after trying both size 45 and 46, i settled with the former. i also bought a pair of injinji socks to go with my kso.

on friday, i had my first run with this attention-getter footwear. i logged about 4.25 miles before deciding to stop. and my initial take? wow! i did not feel like i've run 4miles at all. no discomfort of any kind. it looks like i found another instrument to keep me motivated to run. i can't wait to try this outdoors.

Barefoot running

I just wanted to start this year's blog with an intro into my jump to barefoot running. I've started doing this on the treadmill since december 09 and 2 days ago was my 3rd session, adding some speedwork to my regular run. I've reached 8mph without any discomfort, although the belt seemed to get hot on contact. As a result, i got some minor blisters after the run. Bummer. I am very pleased with my new-found way of running, and i am thinking of getting the vibram five fingers to serve as some kind of protection. And when the weather permits, i'd definitely run 'barefoot' outside. - iBl0g

overdue update on newton motus

I have amassed ~100 miles on these shoes since i got them in oct. By now i could fairly say that they have changed my running style, even when switching back to my other shoes. Landing on midfoot is now more natural, and strides are shorter and quicker. The only concern i have is that after doing a long run, my calves really hurt. I have never experienced this with my regular shoes. Still, i will run a marathon with these shoes. And that's another update. - iBl0g

less riding :( == more running :)

i just wanted to blog about this - the difficulty (or the acceptance to an impossibility) of squeezing a late afternoon to an early evening bike ride now that dst comes to end. being a typical 9-5 weekday matrix-world worker, getting home around 7p does not provide enough window even for a short ride. more than once i did manage to do a past 5p (dst) ride, and still ended up pedaling in darkness on my way back home, relying mostly on the familiarity with the road + some help from traffic headlights. i do have some bike lights, but this is not enough to warrant a night road biking (my 'dik buddies and i do mtb night/dawn riding, which is also a fun experience). so there, road biking comes to an end this year. from a different perspective though, that means more evening runs - cold, rain, snow, and all.