With July passing into August, we’ve passed what I call the halfway point of summer, and are now looking towards school starting, Labor Day, and the eventual changeover to fall. August started out with pleasant weather, but now we’re getting back into a hotter, humid, summery pattern. August can get pretty hot, but psychologically, it always seems like there’s more light at the end of the tunnel during an August heat wave than in July.

I’ve been in a bit of a rut the past few weeks with my right calf/right foot issue which I first noted in my July 21 post. The calf gets super tight and sore, and I get foot pain on the outside of the heel area. From my experience in 2020-2021, I know enough to know that the foot issue is not plantar fasciitis/fasciosis. For a little while, I was convinced that it was bursitis, as the discomfort is in an area which several web sites identify as a bursitis hot spot (although in general, most of what I read online seems to focus more on the forefoot area rather than the heel). The symptoms are somewhat consistent with bursitis, but I also tend to favor the calf when it is tight, which may be leading to tissue hot spots that I feel in the foot/heel area. This all started up shortly after swimming season began, which makes it easy to blame on my kicking form, which I know is terrible. As a precaution, I’ve stopped swimming freestyle and backstroke for now, and have doubled my breaststroke and butterfly reps (which I really feel in my shoulders afterwards). I’ve tried icing the foot, which theoretically should help if it is actually bursitis. The calf seems to respond well to the heating pad. Last week, I cut my running mileage down significantly, running 5K on one day and 4.5 miles the next. Lastly, I’ve been using a massage gun regularly on my calves and feet, which helps a lot, as long as I don’t overdo things.

To make a long story short, it seems a little better this week. The calf is much better today, and unlike last week, I’m walking around barefoot and not favoring it. This morning, I was able to run 7 miles (my usual weekday morning distance) in spite of the return of the heat and humidity this week. I’ll keep doing what I’ve been doing the past few days, and see how things go.