Desperate for some advice!

Having got over the stress fractures in April and begun the marathon training programme in May everything has been going absolutely fine then . . . last week whilst on holiday in Florida I had a couple of dull aches in my right heel - straightaway I thought it was my archilles but have never had any trouble before from it. Returned home and it has been bugging me ever since. The marathon is on Sunday and I'm just thinking now whether I could run through it. I can't say it's painful just annoying at the moment but I've heard that this can progress to become a real problem. I'm clutching at straws here but when I was on holiday I did run in old trainers (not really worn or anything just not my regular trainers) so I'm thinking maybe that had something to do with it. I'll give it another go after work today with my regular trainers and see if there's any difference.

I've been icing the heel since I got back from holiday and elevating as much as possible in the evenings.

Crikey Cheryl, sorry to hear, could very well be your trainers if that is the only thing you have changed in your training recently, is there a sports therapist you use at all that you could call and ask about the problem (I expect you have already thought of this).

Fingers crossed for your run later and I hope you get this sorted out for your race on Sunday.

__________________
A loser is not the one who runs last in the race. It's the one who sits and watches and who has never tried to run.
Bird in Boots :p

Sorry to hear about this too!! , It would seem to suggest that the trainers might be the root cause of this as before hand all was OK, like you say, give it another go in your regular trainers and see how you go.

Fingers crossed for you

As said above, it sounds like it could well be your trainers... but with that in mind there's obviously been some damage done Personally I'd say in addition to your tapering i'd cut down your runs even more just to give your body that extra little chance to heal itself.

GOOD LUCK!

Maybe sorbothane heel pads would help. They raise the heel, taking pressure off the Achilles. Most of the on-line running shops sell these, so have a read up on them.
Hope all is ok for you. Let us know how you get on. Good luck.

Thanks to everyone for your input. You're right this problem must be down to wearing my old trainers. Why I did it I just don't know! I should know better.

Dale the Snail - your sorbothane suggestion sounds good. I'm going to look into that - if things aren't so bad today I can find a running shop on Saturday and buy some.

Thanks again.

how best to run?

Cheryl, this reminds me of a thing I had a few weeks ago - read my post on the thread link above. It seems to have gone now just as quick as it came, lasted just a week or so, and it never really caused me any probs when running. I hope it's the same thing for you.

Just an update - completed the marathon and was really pleased with 3 hours 59 minutes despite my heel causing me a bit of bother from mile 3. Will now have a rest and sort it out!

Awesome result, Cheryl! Glad things worked out for you