EVIL ORTHOTICS MUST GO!!!

I have been battling some unknown condition in my left leg for about 8 weeks. One might think that I was just experiencing an overuse condition because of all the running I'd done in the last 2 years. I suspected my back might be out of whack, saw my chiropractor, he said nope that's fine, and he even instructed me to wear my orthotics more often. Meanwhile, it was sometimes hurting for me to sit on one or both sit bones like ischial bursitis. But you know me, I kept right on going, even adding lots of hill work just for fun.

I didn't always feel bad, but there was this hitch in my left leg that just wasn't right. I was icing my glutes after running or biking, and I also have been stretching the hell out of my left hamstring. The stretching is necessary for sure, but why that hamstring tightened up so much went undiagnosed.

Until last Thursday. I had begun noticing that my right foot wasn't enjoying the orthotics that much and that I had to slide my foot forward in my shoe for them to be positioned properly. I was running on Hal, and all of a sudden, I had this flash. What if the orthotics were putting my left foot into a position that affected my running mechanics leading to an overly tight hamstring and all the rest?

So for the last 10' of my short run, I ditched the orthotics and slipped on a pair of running flats. Right away, I noticed that I didn't have that hitch in my left leg, but I thought maybe because I was already warmed up that's why I didn't feel anything.

So yesterday, I just went from my house, no warmup or anything, without the orthotics again, and voila! No left leg funny business!

Today I had a half marathon scheduled--one I signed up for awhile back because the finisher medal is a belt buckle with a skull on it. I am such a sucker for skulls! So this morning I had to decide what I was going to do about the shoes. I haven't run that far without orthotics since last winter, and of course I was worried about my RIGHT foot since that is the one that was injured. But I figured worse case scenario would be I needed to walk a bunch, and so what, I am doing a marathon in 6 days so I really shouldn't be running fast anyway.

So I ran the whole thing without orthotics! While my time sucked because I haven't been able to do any fast running for weeks now, I ran and no pain anywhere, except maybe just my head since I had a wicked hangover from just a few beers yesterday. Also my upper body hurt like a mofo because I raked leaves for like 3 hours yesterday (why would I rest up for a half marathon anyway?). But after 7 miles, I decided to do run 5'/walk 1' just to ensure I didn't really beat the crap out of myself.

Since I hadn't run that far without orthotics, I do have some interesting aches and pains in my legs, but I expected that. Mostly I wanted to test out my hypothesis about the orthotics causing my left leg ailments. And I think I was right!

So now what do I do? Back to the ortho. I think the problem here is that my left leg has no ACL and this automatically puts my left leg and hip complex into a position that "works" for me, and the orthotics put me into a bad position. I probably can still benefit from orthotics, but I think I will need some redesigned ones. The right one is not working for me anymore, either, although it did fix the issue I had in April. I am sure that I am a non-standard patient case, and maybe what we will decide is to just do different things for each foot. It may be that the right orthotic is perfect for my right foot, but because the left one messed up my left side mechanics, the right side then followed suit and I grew to dislike the one on my right foot as well.

I do know one thing, though, that in my case, just scanning my feet is not sufficient anymore to construct orthotics for me. I had been trying to wean myself off them, and my old ones were actually fine, so maybe I can just get those reconditioned and off I go. I am pretty sure that my body has changed, too, so that makes things a bit complicated.

For now, if I can spend some weeks running on treadmill without orthotics and perhaps gradually reintroducing a new set then maybe I will be fine. Last year was not optimal for acclimating to orthotics--I basically got out of the pool, onto the road and within 8 weeks I ran a 52.4 miler in them! I already knew my body was finicky when it comes to keeping me aligned because I have experienced ITBS and other issues and because of that I changed where I run.

So once again it will be time for change, but if I can get my left hamstring happy again, that will be a great start!

In other great news, I got my bloodwork back and I have pretty good cholesterol readings--HDL is 70, triclycerides 76 and LDL 123. The nurse called me with the results and then mailed them to me and she said to keep doing whatever it is that I'm doing! All my other bloodwork looks just fine, too.

So now onto my next challenge which will be to keep both feet AND both hips happy!

Happy Halloween, too!