It is true. My doctor hates me. I'm not very fond of him either. I almost never take his advice. I go to him for diagnosis not treatment and this makes him less than enthusiastic once he remembers who I am and what I do. My disdain for him is based around the fact he wants to sell me things I don't need. He is always trying to get me to buy "orthotics" for my shoes yet never asks what shoes I have been wearing. I will admit I'm not a very good patient. A few years ago my ankle hurt and I thought I might have a fracture so I visited my Dr. O.K. I used him, specifically his xray machine. He asked a few questions, offered me orthotics and then had me nuked a few times with his beloved xray machine. The results came out negative. He said, "You should start doing PT with our in house therapists." I said, "No fracture means I can up my mileage!" I did, the pain went away.
He diagnosed tendonitis in my knee and recommended Physical Therapy and backing off the exercise and shoe inserts. I shunned his offer, then doubled my milage and the pain went away.
One time I went to see my Doctor and he was on vacation. I got a different doctor. I explained to him my situation, "I seem to have a raging sinus infection. I am doing this 50 miler next week and want anti biotics so my sinus infection doesn't get worse and derail my training for the 100 miler 5 weeks later." He took two steps toward the door, quickly wrote a prescription and threw it at me as he beat a hasty retreat. It worked. Except the part where I was half way through the 50 miler in JULY, in the SUN and vaguely remembered something about anti biotics and avoiding exposure to the sun. It all worked out in the end and I learned a lot about anti biotics, coke bubbles and vomit.
My last visit to the good doctor was in October. I was beat. I was lethargic, had strange rashes, blurry vision and plantar faciaitis. Basically my endocrine system was shot from my year of over racing and under recovering. I was spent. He checked me out, offered me orthotics and an xray for my foot and said he would write a prescription for an anti inflamitory. I said he could do what he wanted but I wouldn't be taking the drugs, the xray or the orthotics. He said I should make an appointment with the in house physical therapists. I did what I always do and snuck out a side door.
My yearly plan has been to take December as a month off to recover. I make a schedule for December runs and then decide every run is optional. This year I was so depleted by October (Lake Padden 1/2 marathon 7 minutes slower than last year) I decided to take November off and start recovering early. I wrote a schedule and did my best to ignore it. It worked. I ran little and the less I ran the worse my PF became. The rest of my body felt lethargic but healthy. December rolled around and I wrote a schedule and it was a healthy build up of mileage and vertical. I lept in with enthusiasm and I felt great! I ran short, long and hilly and I was finally able to look back and see how burned out I had been. Once my batteries were recharged I had no reason not to sign up for the Deception Pass 25k as it fit my schedule and is so beautiful and fun.
I ran Deception Pass 25k where I got 2nd place last year and got second place again. 2 minutes slower but there were many more blowdowns this year. I felt great! I felt like it was the first race of my new year and it is. My build up has started and in doubling my mileage, my PF has faded away.
My terrible doctorly advise would be thus: If it hurts, test to see if it is broken by running on it really hard and long. If it is not broken, up your mileage and the pain will go away sooner or later.
I understand why my doctor hates me. I would to if I were him. Some things just can't be fixed by a pair of shoe inserts.
