Injury Update-Getting Nervous

Trying to recover from this Achilles tendonitis (AT) is really taking a mental toll on me.

The Pittsburgh Marathon is approaching fast.  May 7th is only 12 weeks away, and I haven’t been able to run at all.  Yes, I’m getting nervous.  I have cross trained on my bike a little; however, my indoor trainer is acting up and making cycling hard too!!!  I keep telling myself that 12 weeks is still plenty of time to train, not as good as 18, but enough to get in a solid training cycle.

My goal is to get a Pittsburgh Marathon PR, not a marathon PR.  I had a rough race in 2010 and finished in 5:47:41.  I also weighed 270 pounds.  Being at the 200ish pound mark now, with a PR of 4:39:43 set last September, I’m still confident I can reach my goal.  HOWEVER, I need to heal!!

I’ve been doing my recovery exercises:eccentric heel drops, toe walks, heel walks, knee points, band work with my ankles, rolling the calf out, and toe lifts.  After two weeks, I felt fine.  No pain at all when I walked, went up or down stairs, or did my exercises.  I thought I was golden.  So, last Tuesday I hit the treadmill for my first run back–I planned on easing back in with a slow jog.  I could feel that there was a little tightness, but it loosened up and I felt great.  However, throughout the day, it tightened up and started hurting again.  Back to square one.

I decided another week of recovery exercises were in order–NO RUNNING.  As the week progressed, I started to notice that even though there’s some soreness about 3 or so inches above my heel, the majority of the “burning” sensation is just below the large portion of my calf (in the middle portion of the Soleus.)  I decided to try massaging and rolling that area a little more than the upper portion of my calf and noticed “knots” forming on the outside on my Soleus close to my knee.  I really started deep tissue massaging this area, the pain above my heel went away.  When the burning starts mid Soleus, I deep massage the tight area near my knee and the burn goes away.  I may have found the source of my AT.

Photo from https://www.mountainpeakfitness.com/blog/calf-achilles-lower-leg-silas

I’m going to try running again tomorrow.  I’m hoping easing back with slow jogs, stretching, hitting that Soleus area after my run, and continuing my recovery exercises will allow me to get back to my training soon.

I haven’t made any adjustments to my training schedule yet; I’m waiting until I can run again for that.  I was planning on three 20 milers in this training block;  I’ll be happy with one at this point.  I did have a base of 25-30 miles a week–including 10-12 mile long runs.  I know I’m losing fitness now (and gaining some weight,) but I should be able to recover the fitness and drop the pounds fairly quick.  I just need to recover!!!

Wish me luck!!

I run for my life,

Brad