Vibram Five Fingers- #2

Ya, I know, took me long enough!  😆  Last week, my (human) girls decided to spend the week with grandparents around the corner, and I found myself lacking motivation to push.  I did a lot of reading and a lot of napping.  I didn’t get done anything I had planned on doing, but that’s the way it goes.

Click to read why I am going down the path of wearing Hobbit Feet, aka Vibram Five Finger Bikilas. 

Summary

Total mileage for this record: 52.5

VFF miles: 30

Total mileage since getting VFFs: 102.5

Total days in shoes: 21

Pain summary: Taking it slower due to the extensor tendonitis/top of foot pain.  Have also had arch pain in that foot. Doing more stretching (supta virasana) of feet before run has seemed to help.  Plantar fasciitis pain in R heel moderate over all, but there are times (like this morning, for example) when initial contact with the floor was extremely unpleasant.  I have not had to crawl at all since getting the VFFs, so this is marked improvement overall. The blister I developed on the ball of my one foot from the shoe was not bothersome to begin with, and that area has *zero* discomfort and is totally fine.

Conclusion:  Continue to take it slower, adding no more than 1/2 mile in VFFs per week.  I’m almost there, but willing to slow pace of increased mileage to avoid pain.

In my log below, I’ve noted when I’ve taken anything that might affect my interpretation of pain.

Feel free to stop here if the details make you fall asleep.  😆

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Monday– Day 11- ran all 2 ¼miles; L foot starting to get soreish around mile 1; not too bad, but didn’t try to push real hard; took some Tylenol sinus for headache, which started yesterday pm. 

Tuesday– Day 12- ran all 2 ½miles; foot was sore since waking; will stretch and probably ice again later; no knee pain at all today; went a lot slower due to discomfort; some archish type pain in L foot; that one is kind of a mess; Tylenol sinus and ibuprofen since yesterday for headache, so bearing that in mind with pain gauge. 

Wednesday– Day 13- ran all 2 ¾miles; foot has been pretty sore today, including area near the arch; did not ice yesterday, but probably will today.  Went slower and didn’t push at all in VFFs; Ibuprofen in pm for sinus headache yesterday, but no headache since waking; don’t know that I will add anything to the mileage tomorrow, but we’ll see how foot feels. Some R heel pain, but not prohibitive. 

Thursday– Day 14- ran 3 in VFFs; foot a bit sore; took ibuprofen this morning for sore foot; didn’t ice yesterday but probably will today if pain persists; better with meds while running; still some arch pain???

Monday– Day 15- ran 3 in VFFs; foot relatively sore, ibuprofen overnight for sore outer ankles??? Cracked a single time while running, but need more relief; don’t think I’m going to add any distance this week in VFFs; having pain while stretching in supta virasana; much more L arch pain today; also noticed some soreness on the top of R foot over the weekend while wearing flip flops.  

Tuesday– Day 16- 1mile in total VFFs; only ran 1/4; did not feel I could push through the intense pain in arch; R heel pretty sore, too; cannot get this foot to crack and so it’s pretty painful; iced a bit yesterday; I haven’t had this level of pain in quite a while, and I’m not eager to try to work through it- plan on taking it slower this week.  Will try to do a mile tomorrow in VFFs and then walk the rest of the 5, depending on how my feet feel.  Feeling *very* disappointed at this juncture.  I am *extremely* tired of pain.

Thursday – Day 17- ran 3 in VFFs; foot somewhat sore so I went slower, cracked a single time while running, glad I took yesterday off even though I hadn’t planned on it; didn’t go as fast today and didn’t have as much pain.  We’ll see how it stretches out; had to do my supta virasana with warm up. 

Friday – Day 18- ran 3 in VFFs; foot not as sore as yesterday, but still uncomfortable; did not crack at all; pain was not bad today, but I was *so* hot even before running that I didn’t feel like I could push it and not have a heat stroke. 

Tuesday – Day 19- ran 3 in VFFs; foot not feeling flexible this morning, some mid-level pain; didn’t push real hard; plan to add ¼ mile this week if all goes well; upper foot feeling sore at this point.   

Tuesday– Day 20- ran 3 in VFFs, foot not real sore; did my stretching first; some low-level hip pain, more L than R; R heel/foot sore this morning; only ran one day last week because I was tired and needed to take a break. 

Thursday- Day 21– ran 3 1/2 in VFFs; R heel pretty sore this am; R calf still feeling run on Tuesday; feeling the top of L foot a bit. Overall much better.

Share your experience with me, and leave a comment!

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Painometer

I wish I had one.  Since I don’t, I keep track of my pain in other ways.

You may recall that I added more exercises specific to the hips as a means of hopefully combatting the chronic pain I’ve had there.  This has given me mixed results.  Initially, I was very optimistic.  I even had a whole day without the pain!  What I will say is that the hip pain overall has been better.  I don’t have the amount of intense hip pain when running.  Some days, I can feel the ache, but don’t have a lot of hip pain.  This is encouraging.

Foot pain, on the other hand, has long been an issue.  I’ve been paying more attention to this, since some days I can barely walk.  We have long considered this pain to be of the plantar fasciitis variety.  To date, this seems to be the most likely, although there are parts of this pain that don’t fit the profile.  I seem to have more problems in the winter when it’s colder. The high heels seem to help, sort of. I stretch every few hours during the day, etc etc.  This is not a constant pain, but has been sporadic for at least the last 5 years. 

Unlike typical plantar fasciitis, this pain *does not* go away after getting up and walking around a bit.  This can be a near constant, throbbing pain, regardless of whether I’m sitting down or standing up.  And, there are times when heel cushions in my shoes *do* help.  While I can press on the middle of the bottom of the heel and have sharper pain some of the time, what gets me the pain of the back of the heel.  Massage and compression alternately feel painful and good, but massage of the back of the heel can relieve some of the throbbing on occasion.  Basically, that whole area is bad.

What nearly brought me to knees, literally, on Tuesday was the pain in my leg.  While in many regards, this feels like run-of-the-mill shin splints, the sharp, shooting nerve kind of pain in the leg nearly rendered me non-weight bearing several times during my run.  I took it easier; I didn’t run as hard or as fast, and did more walking, which was still painful, but bearable.  I wrapped and elevated until evening, when the throbbing and shooting pain was too much, and I took some ibuprofen.  Twice.  This allowed me to sleep, and the pain in my leg and feet was not as bad.  Normally, I wake up and before getting out of bed, the feet are throbbing. I do several minutes of feet stretches in bed, knowing it’s going to bite when I put my feet on the floor.

I’m keeping my eye on this.  My debate is whether to exercise at all tomorrow, or, given another snow day, to just keep my feet up and knit.  I am leaning towards knitting. 😀 At the very least, I’ll just walk unless things feel really good, and I’ll wrap and wear my ankle brace.  I am not ruling out an issue with my Achilles tendon. In many ways, given the leg pain, this seems to be something that could be likely in the heel, if not the calf, since my pain is more the front of the leg.  If an issue with my Achilles tendon is the problem, the help (wearing heels) for plantar fasciitis is contraindicated, so what to do with that?

In the back of my mind, since I have had the feet pain for so many years, I have to wonder if it’s related to the whole body issue, and is a symptom of that?

I don’t know about you, but I am sick of pain!  When you have issues with pain, it is hard not to have it consume you.  Pain is physically and emotionally draining, to say the least.  Maybe I don’t need a painometer – maybe I just need consistent relief!  I had really hoped the heavy-duty anti-inflammatory I am taking now would have helped something. 

If anyone reading has experience with this kind of pain, feel free to share!

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