Treading Rubber

I ran 3 miles on a treadmill today in just over 28 minutes. I was worried about losing my conditioning, but the slow and easy run felt fine cardio-wise. I ditched my custom orthotics for today's run in favor of Spenco ball of foot pads and heel cushions. My left foot, where all the problems originated, felt great, but the right foot was uncomfortable the entire way. I just couldn't seem to get the pads situated in the right places.

Why ditch the custom orthotics? I originally went to a podiatrist due to forefoot pain and numbness in my toes. He diagnosed me with metatarsalgia. He prescribed a custom orthotic that had a bump (pad) that sits in the arch area to absorb the shock before it gets to my forefoot. Along with the bump pad, he also prescribed the orthotic to have a heel lift because my achilles was "tight". Two weeks later, I received the orthotic and was so happy because the forefoot pain was gone. I increased my mileage and intensity, and was greeted by heel pain. I went back to him wondering if I had a stress fracture in my heel. He said there was no fracture but I now had plantars bursitis. He made a modification to the heel of the orthotic--cut the heel leaving a u shape to take pressure off the heels. I got the orthotics back three days later, and noticed a large difference at first. As my long runs increased to over 8 miles, the pain in the heels came back. Until I see the podiatrist again, I'm trying to use the Spenco heel cushions to heal my heels. Eventually, I want to be able to run without any orthotic or Spenco like insert.

I'm kind of in a bad place right now. I returned my Asics GT-2110 shoes to Roadrunner Sports due to a lack of arch support. They were great for runs up to 8 miles, but I noticed that my arches felt like they were collapsing on longer runs. So I am left with my old Nike Moto 6 shoes that already have almost 400 miles on them. I have to wait for Roadrunner Sports to get my return so I can order the shoes I should have gotten first--New Balance 1225. The problem with Roadrunner Sports is that their returns take around 2 weeks for them to get and process. Conversely, when I order from them, I get my order in 3 business days. I also returned a fuel belt that had four 10 oz. bottles because my arm swing kept hitting the lid of the bottles in the front. I then purchased a backpack that carries water in a pouch. It holds 2 liters and was half price at Big 5 sports. I have yet to be able to try it out though.

I think my plan is going to be to run 3-4 miles a day until I get my new shoes. I'll then have to assess where I'm at and decide if there's enough training time left for the L.A. Marathon in March.