Why I Returned to Running Slowly After Heel Stiffness

 My heel never hurt badly enough to make me stop running. I could still walk normally, and I could still run. Most mornings I’d feel some stiffness in my right heel for the first few steps, but once I got moving it usually felt manageable. Because it wasn’t very painful, I didn’t think much of it at first. I just figured it would eventually go away.

I was paying more attention to whether I could run than to how my heel was actually responding to the training.

I Had Changed More Than I Realized

Around May, I started a new training schedule for my first half marathon in November. Since it was my first half marathon, I was worried about whether I could actually finish it. I didn't want to run out of energy and have to stop before the finish, and that worry made me try to do a little too much in training.

Before that, I'd been running regularly, but speed work wasn't really part of my normal training. I had tried it a few times just to see what it was like.

With the new schedule, I started running three days in a row — Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday — which was also new for me. Wednesday was usually a tempo or progression run on a local middle school track. I was also building up my Saturday long runs, and near the end of June I ran a 15K race and kept training afterward.

None of these things seemed unusual for a half marathon training plan. But for me, as a relatively new runner in my 50s, it was a lot of change at once. I was running more often, doing speed work every week, using a track regularly for the first time, and running three days in a row. I had also planned about an hour for my weekday runs and up to two hours for my Saturday long run. Looking back, I was probably asking my body to adjust to too much too quickly.

At the same time, strength training wasn't really part of my regular routine. Most of my attention was on running and getting ready for the half marathon. I knew strength training was probably something runners should do, but I didn't really understand why it mattered or how it could help my body handle the training.

I Thought It Might Be the Shoes

As I started doing regular speed workouts, I also began learning more about shoes for faster running and bought a pair of Hoka Mach 7s for my track sessions.

They felt firmer than my other shoes, so when the heel stiffness didn't go away, they were the first thing I suspected. But I wore other shoes too, and the discomfort didn't go away either.

I was probably too quick to blame the Mach 7. The shoes felt firmer than what I was used to, so they seemed like an obvious thing to suspect. What I wasn't paying enough attention to was how much my training had changed at the same time. Once I started looking at the bigger picture, I realized I'd been so focused on the shoes that I'd overlooked how much I had increased my training load in a short period.

By July, I Knew I Needed to Back Off

By the middle of July, I realized the stiffness wasn't just ordinary soreness that would fade after a day or two.

I started reading about heel problems and plantar fasciitis because the symptoms I read about were very similar to what I was feeling. I was never officially diagnosed with plantar fasciitis, but based on those similarities, I strongly suspected that was what I was dealing with.

Whatever it was, continuing my normal training schedule didn't seem like a good idea. I ended up taking about two weeks away from running. Part of that break was intentional, but part of it was simply because I had other things going on and couldn't run anyway.

Having those two weeks away from running may have helped, even though I hadn't planned the whole thing around my heel. Still, after two weeks of not running, I really wanted to run again.

I Came Back Too Fast

After two weeks away, my heel was somewhat better, but the discomfort hadn't fully gone away. I knew it wasn't fully recovered.

I started running again with a short weekday run of about 3.2 miles. Even during that easy run, I could still feel the discomfort in my heel. Even so, I really wanted to get back to running, and I told myself it had improved enough and that this level of discomfort was probably okay.

A few days later, I went ahead with my Saturday long run and ran for about 90 minutes. I was able to finish the run, but afterward my heel felt worse. The next morning, the stiffness was more noticeable again. I felt like I was almost back where I had started before the two-week break.

That experience changed how I judged whether my heel was handling the training well. At first I mostly cared about what happened while I was actually running. Over time I started paying more attention to how it felt afterward too, and especially to how it felt the next morning, when I got out of bed and took those first few steps.

I started to realize that being able to finish a run didn't necessarily mean I was ready for that training load. That made me think differently about the half marathon. If I kept trying to get back to my old training schedule too quickly, my heel might not have enough time to recover. I could end up missing the half marathon altogether, or I might still run the race and make the heel problem even worse.

Rebuilding the Long Run, Slowly

My goal was still to run my first half marathon in November, but I stopped worrying about my finish time. At this point, I just wanted to build enough endurance to finish the race without making my heel worse. I put speed work aside and focused on easy running instead. During the week, I usually ran easy about twice and avoided running on back-to-back days. On Saturdays, I focused on slowly rebuilding my long runs.

I cut my Saturday long run back to about an hour and stayed around that level for the next couple of weeks while my heel gradually started to feel better. After that, I gradually added more time to my Saturday runs, eventually working my way back to 90 minutes and then beyond.

By the second week of September, I was able to run for 100 minutes. That felt like an important checkpoint. The next morning, I didn't have the pain I'd experienced earlier in the recovery. Some stiffness remained, but it wasn't worse than before the run.

A 100-minute Saturday run as I slowly rebuilt my long-run time

I didn't take that to mean I was in the clear, but I felt more comfortable gradually increasing my long-run time again.

Taking Strength Training More Seriously

I started taking strength training more seriously. I added exercises such as calf raises, heel drops, single-leg deadlifts, and Bulgarian split squats, along with regular foot and calf massage. I'm also planning to learn and add more exercises to strengthen the muscles around my knees, as well as my lower legs, hips, and glutes.

Before the heel problem, I knew strength training was probably something I should do, but I didn't really understand why it mattered. Now I think of it as part of my regular running routine rather than something to start only when something begins to hurt.

I can't say that any one exercise or recovery routine fixed my heel, but overall, the strength work and massage seemed to help as my heel gradually improved.

Better, But Not All the Way Back

By September, my heel was much better. The pain I used to feel with my first few steps in the morning was mostly gone, although I could still feel some stiffness.

I was able to continue my easy runs and gradually increase my long-run time without the same next-morning setback I had experienced earlier. But I wasn't ready to call it fully recovered.

With the half marathon getting closer, I decided to keep building my endurance gradually and continue paying attention to how my heel felt the next morning. I won't bring speed work back until my heel feels completely back to normal.

What I Would Do Differently

If I could go back to July, I would give myself more time to recover before returning to running, and then I would come back more gradually. After that first short run, I could still feel discomfort in my heel, but I went ahead with a 90-minute long run a few days later. I should have paid more attention to that discomfort instead of trying to get back to my training so quickly.

I would also make strength training part of my regular routine before increasing my running load, rather than waiting until something started bothering me.

For Now, I’m Still Running

I'm still preparing for my first half marathon in November, and my heel isn't completely back to normal. For now, I'm going to keep building my running time gradually and paying attention to how my heel responds.

I also know that my current approach may not turn out to be the right one. It’s possible that taking more time completely away from running would be better for my heel, but I may be continuing to train partly because I don’t want to give up on my first half marathon.

If my heel starts getting worse again as the race gets closer, I'll have to seriously consider whether running the half marathon is a good idea. I would rather skip this race, recover properly, and try another one later than risk making the problem worse. I want to run this half marathon, but being able to keep running afterward matters more to me.