Heel Pain?!?

I have been running from my schools cross country team for a couple of years now. We have had four days of practice, and after yesterday's workout (running the back hills of Van Cortlandt Park), my heel and the area along the side of my ankle are killing me when I walk, and especially when I run. I saw my school's athletic trainer and he iced it, and said that if it didn't go away after the icing, to just rest it. A lot of my teammates are telling me about this thing Plantar Faciitis, which I know has something to do with the heel. Does anyone know what I am suffering from. It seems to be an impact injury.

I鈥檝e had a couple of bouts of plantar fasciitis in my life. In fact, I鈥檓 just getting over it now. And yes, the pain points you've described do sound exactly like my version of plantar fasciitis.
You won鈥檛 like my advice, however.
On the other hand, since you鈥檙e so young, POSSIBLY you can be a little more lenient with yourself than I can.
You must lay off the foot. Walk as little as possible.Running is the worse thing you can possibly do. With me the sport was tennis, but same diff. Working the foot in an extreme way is a no-no. My predicition is that if you continue to do cross country running, the problem will only get worse. Sorry.
Always make sure whatever shoes you鈥檙e wearing have a lot of support. Never walk barefoot, even when going to the can at night. Always wear supportive shoes. Think cushioning, and don鈥檛 use stiff hard rubber cups. Gels, that sort of thing, are best.
Consider going to a podiatrist and having an orthotic made for you. In fact, consulting a podiatrist would be a good idea in any event. Possibly ultrasound might help although I don鈥檛 have any experience with it.
In a nutshell the answer is rest and proper shoe support.
If you google your problem, you may find some stretching exercises that are supposed to help. I can鈥檛 say they really helped me.
Your youth is perhaps the best thing going for you. You might get away with ignoring my advice. But if your problem doesn鈥檛 improve, then sorry, my way might be the only way. You may simply have to lay off running till your feet return to normal

By the way, my current bout was caused because I hike a lot and had allowed my shoes to be really broken down. This was last fall sometime and now I'm about 90% recovered. By I am much older than you--you lucky young guy, you!

im not sure of exactly what it might be...however, if you go to http://www.webmd.com they have an actual simulation where you can select parts on the body where the problem is located. it asks you questions about the injury and it gives you a small list of possibilities of what could be wrong.

its always worked for me, and this way you can tell if you should see a doctor or if it can be healed on its own.