The Incredible Lift My Podiatrist Gave Me

Many of you have applauded me for being very enthusiastic about my fitness quest. But there was a dark cloud for me. It was the pain in my lower legs/ankles (mostly from tendons, I'm told) during jogging. It happened a few minutes in and caused me discomfort that subsided a few minutes after I finished.

This was a barrier to me being all I wanted to be physically. Now, I'm over 300 pounds still, and jogging probably could have been a bit much for me, but I suspected that it was something else. The rest of my legs did fine. This part of my leg would fatigue long before the rest of my legs.

I have high arches--very high arches. You can limbo under them. They've never really been addressed, until now. I decided to take advantage of my wife's work medical coverage and seek out an opinion from a foot professional.

Right away he saw significant problems with the way I walk. Friends have been telling me that I walk funny ever since I was in high school. Shoe salespeople could do little to help me.

I got my custom orthotics yesterday. They cost me $420! My insurance will pay for most of that, but boy, that's a lot money. A computer scans the bottom of your feet. They send the data away, and in a couple of weeks you get custom insoles to put in your shoes. They last a couple of years. I plan on mine lasting a hundred years.

I took them for a jog and I couldn't believe that I for once didn't feel discomfort in my lower leg tendons. The lower legs felt as the upper parts of my legs did. My legs were getting a work out, but there was no pain. I felt like I could go on forever.

This is huge for me. It opens up the potential for me to progress physically with no boundaries. I no longer have this problem holding me back. In short, I need feel I can get as fit as I want to. My jogging time can now start increasing up to a length I'm happy with, say twenty minutes or so, for now.

I've said before that there are probably a thousand things that led to my severe obesity. Bad feet was probably one of them.

New Shooz

Nike Air Pegasus, Livestrong (about $130 in Canada)

I decided to buy some new running shoes yesterday and, after some research, found that one of Nike's most popular runner (Air) is one of the shoes commonly recommended for someone like me who has high arches and/or is heavy. The reason these shoes are good for me is their high amount of cushioning in the heal. They happen to have been my running shoe of choice over the years but I rarely splurge on expensive runners except when I'm on a fitness kick.

But let me tell ya, it's worth it!

What a huge difference they make, especially when I'm jogging. I really noticed their benefit when I started trotting on the treadmill this morning. It seemed like gravity had been reduced slightly! (P.S.: I'm all for having gravity reduced if for no other reason than to stop the sagging.)

The difference was so noticeable that I was repeatedly surprised to see my heart rate at the top end of my training zone (85% of max.) because my lower body felt so good. It didn't feel like it was working as hard as it normally does when I jog. And my ankle pain was more or less non-existent.

I set a new personal modern day record for jogging time by doing 12 minutes on the treadmill at incline 1 (to match real-world exertion.) I felt pretty good afterwards, considering it's twice as long as I normally jog.

Today was my last workout at my clinic for some time as I wait to get my 3 year old daughter into a preschool in the fall. Hopefully when she starts somewhere in late September, I can have the time and the freedom to get back to the gym. (We have absolutely no childcare support because we have little surviving family left in town and no other options that we can afford.)

The gym at my medical clinic was made available to me to support my lifestyle changes. Some day I hope to write a nice long post about how amazing my medical clinic is and how I think everyone should have access to the services they provide free of charge.