foot ankle and calf pain
Hi all
I started my first outseason in November recovering form a foot, ankle and calf problem that had plagued me off and on and to varying degrees since April this year, when I was training for a marathon. It finally got so bad by the end of the summer, I had to abort several triathlons and my fall marathon. I have been doing the beginner os plan, and so far have done every workout, and yesterday I did the sunday run and extended it to 75 minutes and did 15k total for the run. Despite the workouts things have been slowly improving.
Every morning I have become accustomed to gingerly getting out of bed becuase I wasn't sure what part of my foot/calf was going to hurt, and how much (and mornings were the worst- sometimes to the point of feeling that my foot would give way). Usually it was sort of ok after several steps but would come back after periods of inactivity. This morning I got out of bed and s l o w l y took a few steps as this weekend's workouts were tough and I was sure there would be some pain (as there was a bit yesterday during the run... uh oh). After several steps I realized...no pain, no tightness. Quads and glutes sore- as expected, but nothing else. Probably the first time in months. So I am on the mend and am posting this here because some of what I did to fix myself may work for you.
I self diagnosed a combination of peroneal tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, and achilles tendinitis (at the insertion on the bone- or enthesitis), as well as a calf strain. I didn't seek any medical attention, or physio (which I dont recommend by the way).
I was sure some of my problem stemmed from moving to low drop shoes (4mm) in the spring. So I threw those away and went back to 12mm drop shoes (recently back down to 8mm, but I now rotate 12, 10 , 8mm depending on how my foot feels).
I roll my calf with a 'stick' I bought at a sports store, every night, working out the sore spots. I avoid stretching my calves using a runners stretch that most people are used to. When my calves are particularly tight I spend 5-10 minutes doing 'downward dogs' . These always seem to work.
I do eccentric calf drops. Initially to a level surface, now to a level surface and with a negative drop so my heel is lower than the toes. These need to be done really slowly to work. 15 reps two or three times, sometimes with knee bent and sometimes straight ( to get at both calf muscles). Initially I did these three times a day, but now I do them as needed before and after runs and workouts and anytime there is some pain or tightness in the achilles insertion.
Finally I massage the sole of my foot with my thumbs to get at the plantar fascia and foot muscles, working out sore points and I do several plantar fascia stretches (bend my toes back while sitting with the affected foot on the other knee) every night. This seemed to be the final piece of the puzzle for me. I also spend some time doing ankle circles and bunching up my toes anytime I feel like it during the day.
I am pleased that my problem seems to be going away despite the challenging workouts, and hopefully what I am posting here will help someone else who may have a similar aggravation. Now if I can just figure out how NOT to get injured in the first place, everything will be golden 
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