New hope and a brick

Last evening, I went to yet another doctor for my foot and leg. I am trying a taping technique for the plantar fascitis and while I had doubts you could create a strong taping application to simulate strength to the plantar fascia those doubts are dissipating. Today I was able to test the taping out on a run and I have to say that my foot was nearly pain free.

As for my leg, the new doctor is moving away from the diagnosis of sciatica and instead has said that I have severe tendonitis in the piriformis and hamstring. The tests he performed confirmed this diagnosis and were quite believeable. He feels my problem is coming from the bike which makes perfect sense to me. The solutions we are working with are adding a lift to my shoe to give my foot more outward float and changing my cranks from 172 mm to 168 mm. This will create less stress on the hamstring and piriformis. Of course, as long as I have to change my cranks I might as well lighten them too so I am looking into carbon cranks.

As for the physical side, there was some talk about reducing my bike miles--ignored. He added some new stretches that are less likely to aggravate the hamstring and piriformis while still providing some stretch to the area, ice baths after exercise (I'll start with ice packs and accept the title of wimp), and a 4 week course of anti-inflammatories (which admittedly I typically do not use--I hate pharmaceuticals). There are further steps that were suggested but for the moment I am going to religiously stick to these and see how I do. My goal would be to get back to a point in time where I can lace up my running shoes and go get lost on the road for an hour or two without complaint of pain. Of course, thereafter I'll be jonesing for speed but I'm trying to be a realist.

The brick this morning was a tiny bit better on the run but, of course, the leg still hurts coming off the bike. By the weekend ride I hope to have the lift in my shoe and the cranks on order. As for now, I still wonder whether St. Croix will be a DNF.