After last month’s debacle, I’ve finally started getting back on track. I’ve put out the smoldering flames on the wagon, fixed the wheels, foot health has been upgraded from “poor” to “fair,” and ready to push on at a “steady” pace (while working my way up to a “strenuous” pace).

Here are 5 steps I’m taking to getting back on the trail.

1) Tending to the injury, actively.

The achilles/plantar fascia is almost back there. After a couple workouts I still feel soreness in the arch/heel, but it’s different than when it was injured. It’s closer to regular muscle soreness and more of the dull pain than any sharp pain. So I need to make sure to keep that healthy.

I’m keeping it healthy by going at a moderate pace on the treadmill, and if I feel the discomfort coming back, I’ll hop onto the elliptical. After a couple days back, so far so good, I’ll talk about that more in the next section.

I’ve also been doing a TON more stretching. Holding calf stretches, achilles stretches, plantar facia stretches, icing. Every day, multiple times a day. Since my weakness seems to be in the calf/ankle regions, I plan in integrating more calf raises and ankle strengthening exercises, especially balancing exercises. Hopefully, this will serve as sort of a “pre-hab/rehab” to actively work it and prevent the injury from coming back!

I’m beginning to realize that I’ll have to start treating my body similarly to professional athletes. Otherwise, what’s the point of all this if I’m unable to walk.

2) New gear.

Specifically, new shoes. My current shoes are maybe 7-8 months old, less than when most articles I’ve read say to replace them. But I’m a big guy, who knows. These shoes have served me well, but time to at least try on a new pair and see how they feel.

I went to DNA Athletics in Crest Hill, Illinois and immediately upon trying on new shoes, I knew that my old shoes were worn down. The guy helping me described the old shoes as “getting there,” but I definitely decided on getting new ones.

He watched me walk, immediately saw I used to be flat footed, and helped me choose the right shoes for me. I had a really hard time choosing between two models: ASICS GT-2000 3 vs Saucony Omni 13. Both were really good, really comfy. The ASICS had a more natural support on my foot while the Saucony’s felt so light and comfortable. After trying one of each shoe on one foot, doing a quick jog, and switching them out, decided on the ASICS.

The next day, I was reading up more ways to prevent overuse injuries like I had, and something many recommended was to rotate between multiple pairs of shoes. Not only do they allow the shoes to last longer since they’re used less, they’re more effective as a shoe because it takes 24-48 hours for the cushion to decompress back to it’s original shape.

Also, the subtle differences in shoes may work the muscles foot slightly differently and can help strengthen the foot overall. Plus, the small differences in shoe will help make the difference in an over use injury.

Makes enough sense to me, so the next day I went back and got the Saucony’s as well! Luckily, both were in Chicago Bulls colors, so that’s an added bonus!

I immediately felt the difference when I stepped into the gym. I was able to jog with pretty much no discomfort. Now I need to learn how to….

3) Pace Myself!

This may be the the most difficult part for me. As I mentioned in a previous post, when I made the jump to jogging from power walking I started to increase my pace. I increased my “push pace” by 1.5 mph and my “sprint pace” by 2 mph over the course of 10 days…no wonder I got hurt!

I got too cocky and impatient. I wanted to make a PR every time in every way. While better than being lazy and not pushing myself at all, definitely not the smartest thing and something that’s not sustainable long term.

So I’ll slow it down, allow my body to catch up, then increase intensity and speed at a much more reasonable rate, which leads to….

4) Listen To My Body

I didn’t do this enough the first time around. The achilles was hurting for a while and I pushed through. File that under “lessons learned.”

The interesting thing about getting back into the swing of working out is that I’m sore in places that weren’t even sore the first time around! Hip flexors, forearms, lacking grip strength were issues I’ve NEVER had before and it’s incredibly frustrating having them now because it doesn’t make any sense to me.

In any case, it is what it is, lots of stretching, ease off the gas if I need to, get plenty of water, sleep, and nutrition, which leads to the most important step to getting back on the wagon.

5) NUTRITION!

While during the injury, I got depressed and eased up on the nutrition. Overuse injuries like I had are best treated/prevented in two ways: get stronger to support the stress and lose weight so there’s less stress to support. I couldn’t do one, so I should have been doing the other more, but didn’t and I’ve suffered the consequences of these actions.

So, I made my grocery list. Making turkey chili tonight for my work lunches (sodium content was higher than the other soups I’ve made, however, it was the one I definitely enjoyed the most), and chicken breast for lean quesadillas and lettuce wraps for dinners

addition: I bought everything for the turkey chili except the turkey….even with the grocery list I was in too much of a fog after the gym, something to remember for the future

 

For those stumbling on this article, something of note is I’m not a doctor and I’ll never pretend to be one. I’m just a fat guy figuring out this whole weight loss thing while battling injuries and learning nutrition etc. So if you have any advise, I’d love to hear it in a comment below!