Hypermobile Runner

Having had such success the first week with running 1.5 miles, I decided to up the ante and run 2.0 miles on Saturday. We took several friends to the 3 mile gravel loop. I ran my two miles with relative ease. As a matter of fact, I marveled at how easy it was for me to feel when I sped up and slowed down. I enjoyed the varying textures under of my feet of the uneven spread of the gravel. It was an elating time for me. I found my friends, and joined them for a walk/jog of the last mile of the loop.

I was noticing that my ankles were getting tired – specifically, the left ankle was feeling sore already. However, my leg muscles and lungs were feeling so good that I decided to do a .5 mile sprint/jog with my friends. I felt really good after that, but my feet were definitely done with exercising that day.

This morning, I woke up and almost fell when my left foot touched the ground. It is seriously hurting. However, my right foot is barely sore! Eureka! My right foot is coming around.

However, the left foot is going to need more support during this transition period, and boy did I over do it on Saturday.

I started to look up information on running barefoot beginning with the Vibramâ„¢ Five Fingers website. That is where I discovered that it can take up to one year to adjust to the barefoot style – especially when you pronate, and probably most especially when your foot pronates as badly as my left foot.

I also looked up the anatomy of the foot to see if I could figure out what the muscle or tendon that was hurting in my left foot was called. Turns out I have injured my posterior tibial tendon, and, of course, it could turn into tendonitis if I do not lay off and let it heal. I certainly am not interested in having anymore tendonitis.

As for the purpose of the posterior tibial tendon, it is apparently one of the main supports for the arch. When it is not functioning correctly, the arch will fall. Hmmm….that sounds familiar. I think that I need to somehow help that tendon help my arch. Can you strengthen a tendon?

I further investigated the two types of running (ChiRunningâ„¢ and Pose Runningâ„¢) that Vibramâ„¢ refers to on their website to see if I could glean any insight as to how to train myself to avoid true long-term injury. Turns out you have to buy their books, and I’m not into that this week. I’ll let you know when I get there. I did find the ChiRunningâ„¢ at the Seattle Public Library with 32 holds on the book. I think I’ll just buy it if I want to read it.

What next?

I am going to ice my ankle each day. I have scheduled my run with my friend on Monday at the 3 mile gravel loop. I do not want to miss it. So, my plan is to see how my ankle feels in the morning. I think I will run/walk around the loop and wear my super stiff running shoes with orthotics if the ankle is super painful or my Five Fingersâ„¢ if it is feeling better.

I do not want to seriously injure myself this early in the game, but I also do not want to lose my momentum. What a fine line to walk.

Tags: barefoot, left foot pain, posterior tibial tendon, sore ankles, sprint

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 28th, 2010 at 11:13 pm and is filed under Training (running, cycling, etc.). 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.