Achilles advice please (Read 195 times)

In June of last year, I was in peak marathon training for the San Francisco Marathon, which was at the end of July. About 5 weeks prior to the race, I noticed my left achilles tendon was more sore than normal, especially in the morning. Since I ramped up my mileage, which was my most ever at that time, I just figured it was normal soreness. I was also running more hills then normal to prepare for San Francisco. However, the stiffness/soreness was usually gone an hour after waking up. Then on a routine 10 miler, I noticed some more serious discomfort, but no sharp pain. However, it got worse throughout the run, but was never bad enough to stop. Then, about an hour after my run, I could barely walk and it was very painful to put any pressure on it and very swollen. I started icing once a day, and a few days later I thought it would be best to see a physical therapist, especially if I wanted to keep my San Francisco hopes alive. The therapists advice was to strengthen my core, RICE and calf raises. She gave me some core exercises that kicked my butt, and honestly I never got in the groove of doing them regularly. I only managed to keep up with them, while I was injured, but I stopped as soon as I could run again. I absolutely hate gym exercises and counting reps/sets. She also massaged my entire leg to help breakup the scar tissue and loosen my stiff calves. Lastly, she notice my pelvis was twisted, which was adding more stress on the tendon. I guess this might explain why I only got it on one side. She straightened me out, and I went back 4 more times for a message in a two week timeframe. In all, I had to take two weeks off from running, but I was able to bike and swim. I was able to quickly ramp up to a 13 mile run two weeks before the marathon, with some discomfort, but it seemed to be getting better. Finally, I was able to complete the marathon with minimal discomfort. I would say it took about 8 weeks from initial injury to complete recovery.

I think my pelvis might have been twisted by constantly running on uneven roads, which are sloped from the center toward the curb for drainage. Now, I try to stay on flat sidewalks or trails.

I too am suffering from achilles tendonitis and I've taking this whole week off of running. Just icing and massaging my tight calves.  Will start doing eccentric heel drops soon.  Glad to read many others tips on this temporary limitation.

Thanks all, you've inspired me to write a blogpost on this achilles tendonitis. My inflamation is down, so I think I'll attempt a run today.

I hope all is good with your achilles problems, but I recommend that you take up weightlifting to strengthen up the entire body, so you reduce the risk of injury.  I really do believe that's what kept me relatively injury-free when I took up running; still had aches and pains, but nothing too serious.