Song Purchases Will Help Relief Efforts in Japan

If you're interested in my goofy running-related parody songs and haven't yet purchased them, I'll be donating 50% of the proceeds to relief efforts in Japan from now until the end of April. Click on the PayPal buttons on the top right of the page (choose the first collection, second, or both). After your order is placed, the songs will be uploaded to you via Pando.

Thank you!

Another Follow Up With The Doc

Hello, my name is Colin, and it's been 121 days since I've run a step.

Yes, I'm still here!

I had another visit with my sports med doc this morning. It went pretty much as expected. Due to the little setback I had a couple of weeks ago, I won't begin a 'walk/run' program for yet another month. I was progressing through the 'strengthening phase' of the program (heel raises; both concentric with both feet and eccentric on each foot, adding a daily set each week, up to 3x10 of each) when I started feeling a persistent, dull ache in my injured heel. I quit doing any heel raises for a week, the slowly started back this past week with no noticeable pain. Over the next four weeks, my goal is to get back to doing the full amount of daily sets of the raises with no pain. If that happens, I'll add three short run/walk sessions per week.

As I've said before, my doctor is very conservative in his approach. I struggled with this idea early on in this process, but have now completely come to terms with it. I look at running as a lifelong activity (hopefully), so rushing to get back to it and risking a complete relapse isn't worth it.

While my doctor hasn't said the "S" word* lately, that's still kicking around in the back of my noggin. It's definitely not off the table. I still have a fear that when I eventually become able to start building up mileage and intensity, I'll end up injured again, since this deformed heel isn't going to un-deform itself. But I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Fortunately, my work has been unbelievably busy, which has kept me distracted enough to not pine away for running TOO much (although the email notices from races I ran last year have been bumming me out a little).

That's it for now. Still sidelined, aside from lifting weights and riding a stationary bike (haven't ventured outdoors yet). Oh, I will begin walking more, though, as time allows (I haven't had a day off from work in 29 days, as I write this).

And to my fellow injured runners, recovery quickly (and smartly)!


* "surgery", not "sarcophagus"

Heel Update

I don't see my doctor again for another couple of weeks, but I thought I'd post about something other than my freakin' abs! Despite recent appearances, this is indeed a running-related blog, so here's wazzup regarding my injured heel.

I've been doing stationary cycling almost exclusively for my cardio training (along with weights, of course). Obviously no running yet, and not much walking, either (although I could do more walking than I do). Overall, my heel has responded well. But I've noticed a pattern. I occasionally get a dull ache in the injured area. It seems to happen after I've been wearing shoes for an extended period of time. Being that I work at home, I wear slippers around the house, which don't put any pressure on my heel. However, my regular tennis shoes, and even my running shoes when I've worn them somewhere, cause my heel to ache for sometimes a day or two afterward.

During one of my doctor visits, my doc commented that I probably wasn't a good candidate for Vibram 5-finger shoes. Given how regular shoes seem to aggravate my heel, I'm starting to wonder if he might be wrong. Biomechanically, I may have some issues...but if this permanent heel bump causes aggravation to my Achilles while wearing normal shoes, who knows? I may have to save up & give the VFFs a shot. Initially, I would just wear them around the house to see how my heel & Achilles responds, compared to my regular shoes.

Hmm...