foot fight | Tri for Les

A minimalist runner’s battle to overcome posterior tibial tendon dysfunction continues

My Foot Fight began in 2012 when I suffered my first running injury. I was on a six-mile pseudo barefoot run in Vibram FiveFingers, at night, on a dirt path, when my left foot slammed on a rock. It shook me up, but I pressed on – like an idiot – and finished my run.

A few weeks later I completed the Lavaman Olympic Triathlon and then finally faced the music: a stress fracture of the second metatarsal.

Since then – despite the upsetting prognosis, and later a collapsed arch and Achilles tendon issues – I’ve kept the faith in minimalist running, committed to getting back to barefoot and trudged along the slow road to recovery.

Even though I’ve made a ton of progress, I’m still dealing with foot issues from those injuries – four years later. Namely: posterior tibial tendon (PTT) dysfunction.

Foot Fight: A minimalist runner’s road to recovery

How my posterior tibial tendon dysfunction could have been avoided, and why it don’t always gotta be the shoes.

My feet used to be awesome.

After nearly two years of strong, minimalist running, they developed nice high arches, flexible toes and could happily handle all the bludgeoning that endurance and strength training threw their way.

Running used to be my strongest sport, and when I registered for Ironman AZ 2013, I was so jacked up to go out and dominate that I could barely sleep in the days that followed.

Excited, I kept training hard, set the course for the coming year and started to design my training plan.

But now, only a few months later, everything has changed.