Hillwalking with PF

Plantar fasciitis is the bane of my life, right now - almost 7 months since it started. I've been away from the blog for 2 months, and I've been working with specialists etc, but the pain continues. I made the mistake of googling "I've had plantar fasciitis for" the other day - it would seem 7 months (and longer!!) is definitely not unusual, and who knows how long I'll have it.
But anyway, I need to start doing some sort of exercise to halt the weight gain, and decided trailwalking was going to be good for various reasons. I might be wrong about that, going by how much pain it's causing me, but I simply have to figure it out.

A few weeks back, some of the guys were having a training run on the West Highland Way, and I went along to have a short walk and chat with Andy (who will be crewing James in the WHW Race this summer). It was the two mile section from Beinglas Farm south to Dario's Post, so 4 miles out and back, and wow, the astounding view was well worth the walk, even though it seemed relentlessly uphill the whole time! It was good company with Andy, great to share a cuppa and banter with the lads after a long run, and it really was a bit of a wake-up call for me, fitness wise. I know that I've spent over 6 months doing very little cardio work, and with the mental downslide I've been on with it all, the weight gain has been notable - so, in having a lovely walk on mixed terrain that seemed to go a little easier on my foot, I figured I could work with this!! The issue with my PF is linked to very tight calves and hamstrings, so I made sure to stretch them off at Beinglas after the guys left, and then I drove home stopping halfway and stretching again. My foot hurt later than evening, but I carried on working with the stretches, and rested the next day. Things seemed okay...

The following weekend, I headed to the Pentlands - much closer to home. A while back I bought a guidebook for walks in the Pentlands - there's 30 options of varying distances, from various start points, with maps, pictures, and detailed guidance. I looked for walks of around 4 miles again, and ended up doing a lovely loop walk from Carlops - albeit with a tough climb around Patie's Hill in hail stones and a strong headwind, before the rain stopped, the wind died down, and I was walking around North Esk Reservoir in bright sunshine...! Again, fitness-wise I had found it challenging, but foot-wise it was absolutely fine. Until later that night, and the next morning, when the familiar pain kicked in big time. Partly, I can't help worrying I'm doing additional damage, but I could also feel so many benefits (physically and mentally), so I need to figure out how to keep walking in the hills without doing any real harm to my injury recovery.

Friday morning I woke up early on a fine, dry springtime day, and decided to head for a walk up Arthurs Seat before work. I gave myself a 'warm up', by walking the Queens Drive path up to Dunsapie Loch, before going off-road and heading up the steeper bit to the summit. By the time I reached the top, my calves were tightening, and after a wee bit of photograph-snapping and view-admiring, when I started to head down the difficult rocky bit, my right knee started to hurt whenever I tried to put my weight on it when bent. This is something that has been coming and going the past 7 months, all linked to the same thing as what caused my PF, and it really, really hurts, but I had to get down from the summit, so I took it very slowly, planted every step carefully, and made it safely onto the trail after a short while. The walk down the trail back to the car park went fine, and it really was a beautiful way to greet the city before a day at work, but I suffered painfully in the afternoon after sitting at my desk, so I rolled my foot on my tennis ball, and stretched my calves when I could.

I rested entirely on Saturday, and perhaps should have done so on Sunday too, but the London Marathon was on TV, and of course having deferred my ballot entry I didn't want watch it sat on my bum!! I felt, with one year to go until I will be on that start line, it was important to be doing something that will get me on that path. So I picked another walk out of the Pentlands guidebook, and this time headed to Glencorse Reservoir and Castlelaw Hill. The walk was marked as 8km with an option to head up to the summit of the hill as well - I decided when I reached that point that based on how my lower legs were feeling, it would be the wrong decision to walk that steep short path to the summit, but even without that, the views on the walk were absolutely incredible. I took it slowly, plenty of short rests, and I used those pauses to really be aware of the surroundings. You are right on the outskirts of a city, but you could be in the middle of nowhere.

There were sections as I headed up the boggy path along Kirk Burn where I was all by myself with not a soul in sight, and I started to second guess myself about a fork in the path I'd taken, but the trail eventually led up to the main track, much busier with people, runners and cyclists, and I made it back to Flotterstone without difficulty. I suffered terribly on Sunday evening, and most of Monday, but I try to balance out the beautiful walks, the cardio-fitness benefits, and the soul-enriching majesty of being in the hills, and I'm finding it difficult to decide where to go from here.

I think perhaps 5 miles was a wee bit too far - and certainly a tough hill walk 2 days after summitting Arthurs Seat wasn't good for my injury, so it's about finding a way to continue the hillwalking, without creating more damage to my foot and related issues. And I will find a way. Look at some of these photos (which can be enlarged by clicking, as usual), and tell me you wouldn't do the same... x x