Achillies not Plantar

So the good news is that the heel pain is from Achilles Tendinitis, not the dreaded plantar fasciitis.

Good news because the recovery from AT can be much quicker than PF.

New shoes, ice, avoid hill work for a week or so, the Strassberg sock (thanks IronSnoopy!) and a few visits with my favorite torture artist, er, I mean chiropractor, Dr. Brendon O'Brien and I should be fine.

Dr. O is a cyclist, runner, skier who specialized in ART -- Active Release Technique. My Coach turned me on to Dr. O last year when I pulled a hamstring right before Ironman. Dr. O worked on my hammy a couple times before the race and that is what got me through the bike and on to the run course.

With ART, the Chiropractor will have you shorten the tissue, apply contact tension to the affected area, then lengthen the tissue or slide it to adjacent tissue.

So with the hamstring, this means I bend my knee, Dr. O apples big time pressure contact with the hamstring, I slowly unbend my knee and he continues to apply that pressure all the way up the hamstring to my glute. Then repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

May not sound like much, but it can be incredibly painful (in a good way) while it is going on (and on and on and on).

With the AT, the same ART concepts apply, but this time he was working on my heel, ankle and calf.

YEEEEEOOOOOOCCCCCCH. But again, in a good way!

So -- if you are having overuse injuries, I recommend finding someone that practices ART. Will bet you back up and running (ha ha) in no time flat.