Posts Tagged ‘achilles’

It’s done, I’m fine, yesterday was a perfect run with nary a hint of anything achilles-related (ditto today).  An unpleasant few days though, especially when you read posts like “I wish I’d only broken my leg, at least that way you know it’ll be over eventually”.  But here’s what kept me calm:

1. I’ve never had achilles trouble before so it wasn’t a form or imbalance problem
2. I’ve been wearing the same shoe model for over a year with no problems
3. My mileage has been steady for a few months now
4. I found the muscle knot from hell in my calf

I’m ecstatically grateful for finding that post mentioning a relationship between achilles and calf knots.  Without that, it surely would have gone on much longer than it did.  As it was, it took me 3 solid days to get rid of that knot – a knot that I could not find with my roller!  Unreal.  But my fingers or the Stick would have found it, so that’s my bad, though when nothing’s hurting there’s little reason to go poking around.  Anyway, I’ve vowed to feel myself up on a daily basis from here on in.

Speaking of calves, mine are big, which is probably the reason I don’t feel much on the roller and also pretty much disqualifies me from ever becoming an Elite (oh, the injustice).  But instead of crying into my spilled Wheaties, I’m happy for this silver lining: did you know that large calves are less likely to get stress fractures than slim ones?  Here’s a great little paper on Lower Extremity Stress Fractures for Runners: Risk Factor and Prevention from Steve Magness of Science Of Running that mentions this tidbit (though I’ve read it in other places as well).  Having some extra cushioning is not always a bad thing.  The paper also makes a case for taking shorter strides (aka increasing cadence), among other things.  Give it a look when you have a chance.

In other non-runnerly, yet extremely annoying news, I was flossing my teeth a couple nights ago, like the angelic well-behaved girl I am, and felt something hard. Figuring it was a blueberry remnant, I spit it down the drain.  After brushing my teeth, I looked in the mirror and realized that what I’d spit down the drain was a piece of my lower front tooth.  It’s very small so not embarrassing, though it’s weird to see a slightly different me.  And while it’s not worthy of major dental work, I’ll eventually go in and get it filed smoother.  Just one of those gentle reminders of advancing decrepitude.  God, it sucks.

An injured week in review:
Monday: 9@8:28 (7 strides)
Tuesday: 12@8:14 (12 x 60 sec. on/offs +  6m. Achilles jog of shame)
Wednesday: Achilles rest day
Thursday: Achilles rest day
Friday: 9@8:39
Saturday: 13.5@8:10
Sunday: 13.5@8:09
Total: 57 mi (avg pace 8:18)

I don’t usually do .5s but there was a Triathlon going on this weekend – Sprint yesterday, Olympic today – and those thoughtless creatures put their finish line .25 mi in front of my turnaround point.  I wasn’t into making it up somewhere else, that’s enough come-back distance for this week.  Tomorrow, I’m back to the schedule. yay!

It came on Monday, out of the blue, on a 9-mile recovery run: tightness in my achilles area.  Having no experience with achilles problems (except knowing it can be a serious, tenacious injury like PF) I almost bagged my strides but after the first one, it felt fine so I did 6 more.  Mistake #1.  It might have ended on Monday had I not done the strides.

Later, sitting in my computer chair, the stiffness increased as the day wore on. I took ibuprofen and iced often.  I also foam-rolled before bed but didn’t notice anything particularly painful to attack.

The next morning, I could feel it on my run and but it didn’t hurt, it was just “there”.  The run was 12mi with 12x60sec. on/offs.  I hadn’t researched much achilles stuff online yet, just the stretch, so I went ahead with the on/offs thinking “if it hurts, I’ll just run easy” but the fast running actually seemed to squelch it, so I finished the set.  Mistake #2a) it’s classic that it abates during fast stuff and 2b) doing fast stuff is ridiculously stupid if your achilles is acting up.

As soon as the on/offs were done, it began to hurt.  For the remaining uncomfortable 6-mile jog home, I berated myself and worried about what I’d done.  When I got back, my wise forum friends suggested I take the following day off to which I stubbornly replied, “I’ll play it by ear in the morning”.

Meanwhile, I found some achilles cross-friction massage videos that seemed to help, took ibuprofen, iced a lot.  Then I found an old LetsRun post where some guy mentioned that his achilles problems were always accompanied and caused by a knot in his calf.  So I gave my calf a poke in the big fleshy part (the gastrocnemius) and yoweeee…incredible pain.  It was one giant knot that neither running nor rolling had uncovered.

This was an excellent discovery!  It meant it wasn’t purely a tendon issue but a tight muscle creating a tendon issue.  The reason achilles tendons are so hard to treat is due to lack of blood-flow, but you can go to town on a tight calf muscle.  So I pummeled that thing with my fingers, the Stick and a tennis ball and went to bed thinking maybe I could run the next day.

My last day off was May 1st, so I’m annoyed with myself for expecting to soldier on, this is what rest days are for!  But sensibility reigned the next morning when my first few steps out of bed reminded me I had a problem.  I declared it a day off.

Yesterday, I was sure I’d be able to run on it again, since I could prod and pinch the AT and found no tenderness.  The calf was still very painful to the touch, though.  Taking precautions before leaving for my run, I applied a heating pad to the whole lower leg to warm it up.  I also stuck a couple round makeup sponges under the heels of my insoles for make-do heel lifts (thank you Coolrunning for that tip).  But by the time I turned the corner of my block to where it starts going uphill the AT piped up.  So I stopped and walked back to my front door. (Mistake #3, avoid uphills completely…though in retrospect, it was all for the better since I’d probably have continued running if not for that.  Very glad that I took 2 days off.)

Oddly enough, I didn’t get freaked out about it.  I wasn’t happy but was prepared to take a third day off if necessary because the thought of having a chronic achilles problem makes my stomach turn.

So I spent yesterday with more calf attacking, hamstring stretching (might as well work up the chain) and eccentric heel drops and was rewarded by feeling quite good today.  I woke with no sign of it, did the heating pad thing, didn’t bother with the heel-lifts and took the flat route to the park, going 9 miles.  For the first half of the run, I was aware of tightness, though no pain.  I stopped a few times to stretch which helped though it was a bummer, having this remnant.  But it got progressively better on the second half of the run to where I felt like my old self.  Hallelujah!

The test will be how it feels as the day progresses – crossing fingers  and toes that no stiffness returns.  If everything’s A-OK, I’ll keep the mileage down for the rest of the week, no strides or tempo, and then next week start fresh. Just please Leg, let that be the end of it, ok?  Thanks.

And with that, have a great weekend, friends!  Happy, safe and healthy running to you all.