I tried my new orthodics at the same time. Made in Romania from a scan of my feet, they match the surface of my whole perfectly. Contrary to the old ones, these are made for runners and consists of a very compact memory foam that doesn't deform and covered by a leather strip. I first tried them on a regular day and found them insanely hard, it felt like walking barefoot on concrete. But it's not so hurting while running, when I put less weight on my feet. According to the doc, it is supposed to be hard, thus sustaining the plantar fascia and preventing it to stretch too much. And I think it does its job. I noticed less tension and threatening thrills in my sole. I tackled the 5k within a week, whereas it took me way more time to reach it in January.
Aside from that, my recovery routine has become more aggressive than ever. I stretched my whole leg 2 or 3 times a day, apply intervals of hot and cold water on it everytime I shower, and I keep on icing and rubbing Voltaren on my sole. I still sleep with my orthodics and I never run outside of training sessions.
To finish, I am quite satisfied with my new Asics Nimbus 18, although I have the impression that the new materials are a little cheaper than the 17th version. But they are definitely lighter, which is a good thing. We'll see how they look like in 500km :)
