Chasing Achilles Tendonitis, looking for training advice (Read 40 times)

Hello all,

I'm 48 and have been running off & on for the past 3 years, and have been serious at it for the past 7 months.  I started out obese & smoker, but with gastric surgery & exercise I'm down nearly 90lbs and near my goal weight of 165 for my 5'8" frame.  I intend to continue running forever; I've always had a love affair with the idea of running but I had to quit smoking for this to happen.

I started with the C25K, then slowly worked up to running 3x weekly regularly adding distance and then speed.  90% of my running is on my home treadmill.  I am currently doing 5.5 miles 3x weekly at 7mph, and my generic plan was to increase to 6 miles next week and eventually replace one day with a long run as I contemplate future long distance fantasy.  However when I bump mileage (from 4.5 to 5 and then from 5 to 5.5, etc) My achilles soreness flares up for a week or two.

I have some components of Achilles Tendonitis of my left foot.  When I wake up in the mornings I am usually hobbled, taking 10-20 steps before I can walk normally.  And within minutes, all soreness is gone and I can go about my day.  When i run, I pay attention to it and never push when I have pain - and always the dull ache either fades outright within the first mile or so.

However, when I do hills (nice track near me has some very steep but short hills) I stop heel striking and have to lean forward and land only on my toes - my achilles erupts quickly.  The pain goes away almost immediately once I'm on flats again and can heel strike, but reappears instantly when I come around to the hills again.

Same when I attempt serious speed work; on the treadmill my max speed is 10mph and it feels like my max or near - and I'm okay.  But on pavement or track or trail when I attempt speed work I again find myself leaning forward and toe striking and here comes the pain.

Both of these scenario leaves me with significantly heightened achilles tendonitis symptoms for days or even a week following.

Now to my questions lol-

I want to continue increasing my weekly mileage but I'm really trying to avoid full blown tendonitis or injury.  Stopping running is not an option; I need this.

Will running half my current distance but twice as often be the same stress to the achilles tendon, or more?

mon/wed/fri @ 6 miles

vs
mon/tue/wed/thur/fri/sat @ 3 miles

I also have a fitbit and it's interesting looking at my heart rate; 3 months ago when i was struggling to run 3 miles continuously my heartrate was elevated (+25-30) for 2 days after each run.  Today I'm already normalized (63bpm) only 5 hours after running - so it seems my recovery time following running is less than 1 day now?

How confident are you in your diagnosis of tendonitis?  Because what you describe sounds a lot closer to plantar fasciitis symptoms.

 

Can you actually hear the tendon squeak or feel the friction/rubbing as your flex your foot up and down?  My experience with tendonitis is tht this is almost always the case as the swollen and irritated tendon moves in its 'sheath'.

 

Regardless...tendonitis is an overuse injury and it takes immobilizing to the greatest amount possible to support the healing.

I agree, it does sound like pf. My dad had this issue and I got him this vibrating plate that he could stand on or sit down and put his feet on and it cleared that up. I used to have the pf from time to time, but it's totally gone now I'm using it daily. I just stand on it next to the bed and stretch, oscillate my hips and slowly bend my knees for ten minutes. It's a good way to wake up in the morning. Anyway, not much to add, though maybe taking some natural supplements and changing the diet to include things that rebuild your cartilage and reduces inflammation.

Hmmm, I'm not confident in my self diagnosis other than it's what the internet told me I had when i was searching for symptoms some months back - and I haven't re-googled the symptoms since; I likely left off some important symptom.  So after the plantar fascitis suggestion, I searched it and watched some videos on how to stretch, massage, etc.  The hobbling when waking up or after sitting for a while is the only symptom that is absolutely 100%; the pain areas on bottom of foot don't register at all.  And the squeaking / rubbing suggestion when flexing - nope, I don't have that.

So I'll do the plantar fascitis stretches & such and see if that helps me out.  Thanks for the suggestion!

On  strength training yeah 3 days per week, your basic stuff 5-7 heavy reps for 3-5 sets very little actual time spent. I run first thing 4am, then workout in the evenings on leg days.

Mondays are squats, leg extensions, leg curls, calf raises, dumbell curls, tricep extensions

Wednesdays are dead lifts, olverhead press, seated rows, abs, jump rope
Fridays are chest press, pull ups, tricep rope pull downs, abs & push ups

I also walk 2-3 miles 3-4 times per week in the evenings, and cycle 4-5 miles at least one day.  Trying to build up my cycle mileage as my bum allows just for variety of stuff to do.

Again thanks for the feedback.