Heal, heel.

It's going to be boring around the Long Track Life for a few days.  I have a heel--the right one--that has been getting more and more sore the past 6 weeks or so, because of a fit issue with my boot. (Actually the left one has a bit of an issue, too, just not nearly as bad.)  It hasn't limited my skating or slowed me down, but it's getting worse and is beginning to branch out to the Achilles tendon.  Since I had a nice case of Achilles tendinitis in 08, that took over 6 months to heal completely, I'm a bit cautious about my tendons.  Anyway, the guy who made my boots was at the Milwaukee masters meet, and he fixed my boots for me.  But my right heel is still pretty tenderized--to the point that I am wearing shoes without backs to work every day, to keep pressure off the bone--so it's time to take a few days off to let things heal.

In the meantime, with no workouts to report, here's a photo comparison of last year's and this year's 500 meter races (can't remember who took last year's photo; Steve Penland took this year's).

Last year:

And this year:

Now, granted, if speedskating photos are taken at the wrong point in your stride they can make you look worse than you really are...but I don't think that was the case in the last year's version--I think I really was skating that badly. This year, I still have the chicken wing but otherwise things look much better.  Still a long way to go--but much better.  So I'll just enjoy that image for the next few days as I ice my heel.