And I'm back...

I had an appointment with Dr. Lake on Friday and explained the way the pain in my heel felt and where it was located. Without doing anything at all, she told me it was nerve related. So, of course, hearing that I feared the worst and told her I was terrified to let her touch my heel. She said she could fix it without even touching my heel.  Awesome news.  She said that it is all directly related to the sciatic nerve which starts in the low back and travels down the back of the leg and into the heel.  She did her thing in the hip region and instantly the pain went away. Unfortunately, it didn't stay gone for long b/c everything is so inflamed everywhere, but I know with time it'll work itself out.  She has me doing this thing called Nerve Flossing. It doesn't feel like it's doing anything, but she said it's stretching out the nerve so that it glides among the muscles better. I'll buy it. She hasn't steered me wrong yet! She worked on me again yesterday (Monday) and moved further up into my back. Man, did that hurt! Holy moly! But, the pain was gone until this afternoon when I headed out for my run. 


I did 4 miles today. I pretty much ran a half mile, then walked a short bit, ran to the next half mile mark, walked a short bit, etc.  I started out front of my office building, ran across Government Bridge, and took a left down the bike path past the ball diamond and just into Centennial Park, and turned around there to complete the 4 miles. At the half mile mark, my heel (nerve) started acting up, and it kind of felt like my arch was tight.  I stopped real quick and did a fast calf stretch (even though Dr. Lake told me not to stretch...) and it seemed to help.  I did that once more before the bridge on the way out and felt pretty good the rest of the way. At about the 2 mile mark, my left hip flexor was talking. Not enough to convince me to stop, but definitely noticeable. More noticeable than the heel pain at that point. 


Because of my medication, I pay very close attention to my heart rate and tried to keep it at or about 170. I really need to figure out what a safe range is so that I can set my Garmin to monitor it for me instead of me watching it all the time. 


Despite the aches, the run felt very good. I got in 4 good miles and I feel great about it.  Strength training tomorrow, run again on Thursday, Dr. Lake again on Friday, full rest day on Saturday, then a long run on Sunday. Probably do 6 or so miles and build up to 13 before the half on the 8th. 


Well, I suppose that's all. Definitely glad to be feeling so good.  Now it's time to "floss".  Night all!