Plantar Fasciitis - different treatments and where I am with it.

I've been struggling with plantar fasciitis since about the beginning of February. It's...frustrating. I'm used to running long distances regularly, and I've been trying to build up to longer distances for a long while.

But every obstacle is an opportunity and all that, so I'm taking the opportunity to a) do more music practice and b) correct other potential foot/leg problems now rather than have them bite me later.

The following is a list of the things I've been doing to treat the plantar fasciitis and my experiences with each:

• The frozen water bottle
  I've tended to only use this when it's been really painful. It's very effective at reducing swelling, so it provides very rapid alleviation of symptoms.
• The golf ball
  constantly, all day everyday sat at my desk. It certainly improves things. Whether it's improving things enough I doubt
• Stretching - the runners stretches
  The 'back foot flat on the floor, back leg straight, bend front knee' and the soleus stretches are the standard treatment for plantar fasciitis, and undoubtedly help. The stretching has definitely been useful for my general flexibility and my full squat, but has never had a dramatic effect on my PF symptoms (and when the PF is bad I really can't stretch that way)
• vertical toe stretch against a wall
  This, and stretching my toes back by hand, and the calf raises/step stretches have hugely improved the situation in a matter of days. I think all the other treatments were helping, but these were the missing piece in the jigsaw.
• keeping my feet stretched for long periods
  I've been standing with the balls of my feet raised about an inch (on books) while doing flute practice, and about 2" (on top of golf balls) whilst sat at my desk (with heels on the ground). I can feel the constant stretch in my calves. This also seems to be helping a lot.
• Calf raises/step stretches
  Stretching my soles off the edge of a step and strengthening them by doing calf raises has had a huge effect just in a few days.

My calves are now pretty flexible I think. The key seems to be both stretching and  strengthening, so the calf raises are really important and make a massive difference. I've certainly noticed a dramatic difference in the state of my plantar fasciitis in about 3 days of regular calf raises.

High Cup Nick

Over the bank holiday weekend I was up in Dufton for an organised weekend with a load of friends. The plantar fasciitis is still plaguing me, but it's not every day I find myself in such a good spot for running, so I indulged myself a bit.

I didn't think the PF would stand for 30km around Cross Fell & Great Dun, so I planned out a route up High Cup Nick, across to Threlkeld Side, then back down to Dufton.

The weather was utter filth, spectacularly disgusting. I carried a thin packable softshell mid layer, a buff, a pair of gloves and maybe 300ml of water. I was wearing a long sleeve base layer, Paramo windproof and racing shorts, Freet shoes and a hat. I estimated the time needed to be around 3 hours, so nothing else was really necessary, except a map and compass.

Trotting up the Pennine Way out of Dufton I encountered a lot of walkers (including some friends who I totally failed to recognise as they were completely enclosed in waterproofs and I was fighting with the wind). Once I hit the shoulder of the path and entered High Cup Nick the wind got worse. Much worse. Much, much worse.

I missed the PW path somewhere (apparently there's an 'out and back' for a viewpoint, and I kept going instead of going back), and ended up much too low down the slope. Thankfully there was a bit of shelter from the wind here, so I just slogged straight up. Some friends following a similar route an hour or so earlier had done exactly the same thing, as I found out later.

Regaining the PW path, it was a gentle trundle round to the head of High Cup Nick, buffeted by the wind all the way. I'd promised Freet I'd send them some 'in use' pictures of the shoes, and this seemed like a good spot so I paused for a couple of minutes to take some photos.

I took a good look at the map at this point and decided on the next stage. The original plan had been to take a bearing straight for the trig west of the tarns, but I'd stupidly left my compass behind. Looking at the contours, as long as I stuck to the edge of the plateau and kept the slope nearby I was in no danger of getting lost, so I decided to rely on feature nav with the proviso that if I felt it was iffy I'd head straight downhill.



A quick clamber up onto the edge of the plateau and the wind got even worse. Coming up on the wind shelter I spotted some figures and, wondering if it was the walking party from our group, popped in to say hi. It wasn't, it was 3 lads with north east accents who were quite surprised to see a wet loony in shorts. I had a quick chat with them, then back out into the shite.

The nav was a bit tricky here, and I decided to drop a contour so I was in no danger of roaming up onto the moor. Progress was difficult against the wind and my distance sense was struggling. At one point I thought I'd reached the trig, but it turned out to be a cairn in the middle of a load of rocks. I was very cold and wet and visibility was dropping At that point I hit 7 on the 'fuck-this-ometer' (6 is 'regroup, more clothes, look at the situation calmly and make changes if needed',  8 means 'cut the run short' and 10 means 'head for low ground, even if it means a taxi back'). I halted in a sheltered spot to put an extra layer on, and headed slightly downhill to where the contours were clearer. After a couple of hundred metres I reached Little Rundale Beck and followed it up to the top. A short leg to my left and I hit the trig. Then keeping to the edge again I ran on to Threlkeld Side. I felt a lot better by this point, since shelter was nearby and I was nicely warm from the extra layer.

Threlkeld Side was niggly in barefoot shoes - lots of gravel and rocks underfoot meant short strides and careful foot placement. Once I got to the bottom I decided on a quick bonus trip up Dufton Pike. That was a real bonus, a fantastic bit of landscape. A very steep grassy slog to the top, then a narrow path with fantastic views on either side leading down to the north west. Then back around the bottom of the pike, and back to Dufton for a cup of tea and a hot shower.

GPS track to follow, but around 20km/700m

shoes - Freet Leap 4+1

Shoes are always a problem for me. I have large, very wide feet, I prefer shoes as minimal as possible and my choice of running terrain is fells & moorland. My choice criteria are:

• fit & comfort
• grip
• durability

That makes for a rather specific set of requirements, which is difficult to fulfil.

Fell running is hard on shoes. They're constantly wet, rubbed against rocks & coarse dry heather stems, soaked in acidic peat. Contouring and steep climbs/descents put a strain on the uppers. Fell running often crosses over into ultra-running which means shoes get used for long distances, very frequently.

Recently I stumbled across 'Freet'. I think I saw them on a summary of different types of barefoot shoes. At the time they were selling off last years stock at a very substantial discount, so I thought it was worth a go.

I ordered online on Friday, and they turned up on the following Thursday. Friday morning I wore them around the house to make sure they fit ok.

First impressions: I have never worn shoes this comfortable before. By early afternoon I'd ordered a second pair for everyday wear in the summer as an alternative to my Xero shoes.

I took them for a run to/from work Tuesday. So far they seem better suited to my needs than anything else I've tried.

Grip: Good mud/fell grip in barefoot shoes is tricky. Studs can be uncomfortable under foot, but grooved 'tread' clogs up very quickly. The Freets have something in between, mostly tread, but with blocky sections under the ball and toes. Trying it out on mud/grass, the combination seems to be good. It's the closest thing I've felt to the marketing cliche of the foot with tyre tread on it. The tread doesn't seem to clog easily and the flex of the soles/split big toe shoves the grippy bit into the ground on foot strike.

 

Yes, I do wash my running shoes in the shower; and yes, I do live alone.

The compound seems to be softer under the ball and harder towards the outer toes, which led to me skittering on rocks once or twice, but the grip is certainly at least as good as any other barefoot off road shoe I've tried, possibly better. Infinitely better than the Merrell trail glove, which is comfortable but very slippy on mud.

Comfort: I got a little chafing on my (hammer) little toes over the course of 20km. That will ease I think. They fit closely and well, my foot doesn't move around in them, and they slide on and off easily. They were comfortably warm on a dry morning with a temperature of 5C.

Durability: I rinse my shoes in the shower after every run, then leave them to dry. The Freets dry very quickly and came clean easily. According to the leaflet that came with them, you can throw them in the washing machine at 30C, which I may do occasionally.
Obviously 20km is too soon to say on the longer term durability. I'll update with any information once I've done some distance.

 

Sizing: I'm a 47 (UK 12.5) in most shoes (except Merrell, where I need a 48) with wide feet. Size 47 Leap fit me perfectly.

Addition: On a later run on much gnarlier ground (see High Cup Nick) the grip was excellent on tussock and open moor, and my feet were toasty warm in foul wet conditions with a wind chill of -8. I had a couple of slidy moments on wet mud & grass on Dufton Pike, but no worse than I have with Vivo Neo Trails.