Woohooo!!!! I'm running again folks and boy does it feel good to be back out there running.

It's been just over 6 weeks since I hurt my foot and I decided yesterday was the day to finally head out and test how my foot has recovered. I can say it was a great success. I took a gentle 1 mile out-and-back run and all felt good. I could feel a slight niggle on the top of my left foot during the early stages but this soon disappeared as my muscles relaxed and I adjusted my form. As I was feeling so good, I threw in 4 sets of 10 burpees with each set immediately followed by a fast 50m run. Wow these felt good. It was tough towards the end but quite exciting to feel what it feels like to run on legs that feel like jelly again.

Surprisingly, my legs and feet all feel tip-top this morning, so 6 weeks off hasn't de-conditioned me much. That said, my feet are a bit more sensitive now.

The time not running wasn't all lost time. During this time I have discovered quite a bit about my stride, feet and legs.


Top of the Foot Pain Relief

This is quite an obscure one, but I found that using a pair of lovely pink toe separators - yes the type ladies use for painting their toe nails - actually relieved some of the pain I was feeling on the top of my foot. I have no idea why, but it works and whilst it got uncomfortable after prolonged use, it was a brilliant way of relieving the pain at it's peak. I'm going to continue to use the toe separators each night whilst watching telly to see if it has any effect on spreading my toes and thus giving a wider more stable platform to run on.

It Twists

The niggle on the top of my foot showed me that my left foot twists ever-so-slightly when pushing off when walking. I could feel it with each stride. My heel twists inwards as I roll over the ball of my foot. As I couldn't run when I discovered this, I can't say if I have this same "feature" when running, but it wouldn't surprise me if I do, especially as concentrating on NOT twisting and NOT pushing off whilst running seemed to ease the twinge I felt at the early stages of yesterday's run.

Knee Bone Connected to Toe Bone

I also got my hands on a 15cm x 90cm foam roller and was very surprised to find I had quite a few tight spots in my hamstrings and calves. My legs generally feel good and well relaxed so I was quite surprised to find these deep hidden knots. What is interesting is relaxing some of the knots in my calves, particularly my left calf, also relieved some of the pain in my foot; I could actually feel the tension easing away from the tendons on the top of my foot whilst pressing on one of the knots.

So whilst having an injury isn't the best thing in the world, it's turned out to be quite beneficial for me. I now know that my left foot probably has a tendency to twist as I run and hence the possible cause of the injury. I now know that toe separators aren't just for girls and I'm also aware that I have unknowingly tight muscles, or more specifically tight areas of muscle fascia which will benefit from regular and consistent deep tissue massage or "foam rollering".