MRI Results Are In

Very little bad news and mostly good news. Thank God!

I have tears in my posterior tibial tendon that won't repair themselves, and that has caused my right arch to begin to fall. However, he said the tendon is still functioning fairly well because my arch still has some flexibility and 'bounces back' a little from a flattened position. He sees that as a good sign.

He also re-examined the tendon area yesterday and I felt no pain at all. Nothing. We both were pleasantly surprised. He said as long as I continue to improve and not feel pain, I can keep doing what I'm doing. He said to come back if two things happen... the arch completely flattens out and does not 'bounce back', or I begin to feel chronic pain again that does not go away despite rest and rehab measures. He said I will feel mostly good days if I continue to improve, and there will be a couple of bad days in the mix while I get stronger. But if there's several weeks of bad days, then come back.

We discussed my training habits, the kind of shoes I wear, my short and long term running goals, my race schedule. He took all that into consideration and offered me conservative options for treatment, and encouraged me to continue my training and running. He just advised me to be cognizant of good pain versus bad pain and to know when to pull back. After the last few weeks I am more cognizant of that than ever.

What I've been doing that has helped:
I have added supportive inserts to my low stability shoes. SOLE brand - Dean Karnazes model, heat moldable.
I'm running fewer miles, mostly just the quality workouts of tempo runs, long runs and occasional V02 workouts.
I'm cycling, pool running or doing elliptical on recovery days.
I'm doing physical therapy exercises for the ankles every other day.
I'm shortening my strides so that my feet fall under my center of gravity rather than in front of me. This makes me strike mid foot (or on my entire foot) rather than heel strike. The heel striking causes me a significant amount of pain in the tendon area.
I wear a wrap on my right ankle when I'm not wearing supportive shoes.

He said I could go for it at the CIM! That is music to my ears!!!