FWIW, I have many shoes in the back of my vehicle because to me they’re like tools in a tool box. I have different jobs, so I need different tools for these various jobs.
I personally like zero or low drop shoes, low stack height (close to the ground), essentially various forms of minimalist. But that’s what feels good for my feet, I want to “feel” the road or gym floor. I prefer responsive, balanced, flexible shoes.
But some people will want more cushion, stability, and moderate-to-firm shoes. It’s your feet, and body, obviously take care of them.
Your problem may be totally different but I guess all we can do is recommend based on our own experiences!
I developed similar to you and what I diagnosed as plantar fasciitis last winter. Sort of out of no where. It is not a quick fix and it can kind of come and go. And I never felt the pain when I ran. Always later. Often in the evening after being on my feet all day. And first thing in the morning if I went straight from bed to barefeet on the wood floor.
My strategy that seemed to really (and still helps):
Recovery slides after fitness. I know we all keep saying this over and over but honestly Oofos or similar are LIFE CHANGING, the key ingredient in treating foot issues and just being good to your feet! (The Oofos website does have sales. But also, I don’t think these things wear out! )
Morning feet exercises for literally 1 minute before getting out of bed. Flex feet back and forth. Ankle circles both feet, both ways.
Advil round the clock for a few days to allow for any inflammation to settle down.
Well fitted, supported footwear for fitness.
Running really costs so little cumulatively compared to many other fitness choices! Footwear is everything!!
7.3 miles on the elliptical yesterday, but I ended my “close all 3 rings streak” at 180 days. It wasn’t possible for me to wear my watch for many hours during the day, and I wasn’t going to go out into the rain to walk every hour or so.
Today I’m HOPING the rain clears up in time to play pickleball at 1. I can’t recall the last time it rained this many days in a row. Fortunately, the rain is going to clear up in time for our metric century bike ride on Saturday. It will be chilly but dry.
This was a very strange tropical event. Usually they blow through and after 12-24 hours, the sky is BEAUTIFUL! This rain and fog just lingered for days. Very odd. I’m sorry your streak got busted. Boo.
The tricky thing about PF issues is that there are so many things that could cause it, that it can be hard to pin down what happened and what will help. Acute trauma (like mine) or something that’s built up over time (more typical). High rigid arches are bad, but so are flat & flexible feet. Poor ankle mobility can be a cause, or it could be tight calves. Even the hips being out of alignment can cause issues. And I’ve even heard of some cases caused by wearing a heavy purse on one shoulder - or carrying a child on one hip. Or any combination of the above!
But running usually does feel better with PF. It’s when the exercise is done and the tissue is repairing itself/tightening when the pain comes. Fortunately, yours sounds like a very mild case right now. And you probably could run through it, as long as you don’t increase mileage, speed, hills, etc. Resting it for a few days isn’t a bad idea either, but unless you address the issues of why it happened, it probably won’t kick it for good.
@abasket had good tips. For me, massage/foot strengthening exercises were the key. Most people can get by using a tennis/lacrosse ball/frozen water bottle. I found it much better to lotion them up and use my fingers. From a sitting position, pull knee into chest so that the weight of your leg helps exert pressure as you slowly run your finger up along the entire arch length. After that, I would do my foot strengtening exercises. While sitting & bare feet firmly planted on the floor, raise your toes all the way up & down 10x. Then take a sock and scrunch it up under your toes and wriggle it back and forth 10x. Repeat series 3x. Bonus if you also add rasing toes #2-5 while keeping the big toe planted 10x, and then in reverse - only raising the big toe 10x. At first I did this 6x a day, and as it got better I dropped the number of times until I didn’t feel the need to do it anymore. If I ever feel any kind of twinge in my feet, I start them back up though.
I survived the metric century. It was tougher on me than I expected. I got some pain in my thigh that hurt for 25 miles. There was lots of wind, so even though it was flat it was tough going. I also had some knee pain, but that’s normal for long rides.
Yesterday I walked, but stopped at 3.5 (instead of 4+ as normal), because my knee was hurting and I started limping.
Today I played 2+ hours of pickleball. It was tough bending over to get the ball, but otherwise I did OK.
I’m not a hiker, I don’t have a body for it, so all I did was just walking around. I do a lot of core exercises when I’m home. Interesting when I’m home I don’t feel a deep need to get a massage, so it goes to show my core exercises do help. I only do 15-30 minutes daily.
I had two days off Sunday-Monday, as we went to the beach. Thought about running, but sleeping in sounded better. I slept 10 hours Saturday night! It just made it that much harder to get up, especially since i have two more days off Thursday-Friday. Friday is the great colonoscopy and I figure I’d better sleep in Thursday since I can’t eat anything. No need to make me hungrier and the day longer. Now I’m just praying we stay healthy through Friday.
I also signed up for our workplace’s “100 mile United Way Challenge.” You get a month to do 100 miles walk-run-bike. This should not be too difficult even if I don’t count stationary bike miles.
I spent a week at my mother’s house. Food and exercise stayed on track for three days, then all hell broke loose. At least I held it together for three days!
I’ve lost 3 lbs on the third day so far. Even though my body is tired, I still need to go swimming today, this pool will be closing in a few weeks. At least it’s a no cooking day, I’m eating chicken soup that was made this week.
So glad to have the colonoscopy checked off. The good part - my fear of being starving and miserable was unfounded. I wasn’t hungry at all. I felt fine. The prep? It went down like super easy. No nausea, no vomiting. The problem? Nothing happened. After 4 hours I panicked and made H get me some dolcolax after reading online what to do if it didn’t work. A bit better two hours later, but nothing like I was expecting. Tossed and turned all night. Got up and did second prep. Better but now it seemed like I was where I should have been yesterday evening. I was so stressed that it wasn’t going to happen - and would insurance pay for a second. It was a nightmare trying to see if they would cover this one!!! And I live an hour away from the office and not many (any) places to stop along the way if needed.
But, since I called and gave them a heads up… it wound up ok. It’s more of a concern if you can’t get the prep down. They gave me a lovely enema and on I went. Two tiny polyps and don’t have to go back for 7 years.
Just putting this out there because there’s not much out there if you are in my boat. I warned the nurse during the consult that laxatives, fiber, etc have never ever worked on me - I just get bloated and gassy - but she didn’t seem concerned and promised me it worked.
I’m glad your colonoscopy went well @ClassicMom98, I will have to do another one in 2 more years.
Today I went swimming late, it’s cloudy anyway, I didn’t have to wear sunscreen, but I had to leave to go home and make lunch. But my back didn’t hurt, my knee is still not 100%, but glad I got the whole jacuzzi all by myself.
I played 2 hours of PB this morning, and at 5 I get my COVID booster and flu shot. My exercise “streak” is over 185 days. I hope I can keep it up tomorrow. Husband had his shots yesterday and hasn’t been doing great today.
Good luck! I didn’t have much with my booster except a sore arm. I got Pfizer though. My others were Moderna.
I’m debating whether to cave and get the flu shot this weekend. I was trying to hold off until end of October, but as usual I’m waffling. One of H’s coworkers got a message of confirmed flu at her kid’s daycare. Of course 2/4 of them in their household are also currently sick with covid. Ugh. I could not be a teacher. Too paranoid about getting sick.
