On Saturday I raced the McMinnville City triathlon and I actually won my age group and finished 9th overall.
I felt good during and after the race and was fine on Saturday night going out.
But yesterday afternoon I headed out to do a 12 mile run, and as soon as I started running I noticed a pain in my Achilles tendon. I walked a bit and massaged it but it would not feel better, so I stopped the run and went back home. So last night after some motrin and multiple ice pack sessions it feels a bit better but not great.
Try to find a chiro to do Graston technique. I just had a similar issue, and in 4 days after treatment rode 4+hours with no pain. It’s a pretty magical therapy that few know of…I’m a believer. It’s helped me out twice, when the rest of the medical world failed.
If it becomes chronic, you may want to try "active release’ therapy one’s whos “certified”. Heard of this technique several years ago and recently tried it after my PT couldnt resolve with the usual - stretching, strengthening, and ultrasound/massage. gd luck.
I do not know if all those techniques work or not but I do know that if you tear your achilles it is going to hurt! and it will take a very, very long time to heal properly. I tore mine several years ago; got surgery done and it took a whole year to recover from it completely. It still bothers me sometimes.
Why am I saying all this? just a piece of advice: take good care of it! stretch, ice, elevation… stop if it hurts.
DPC
Everything (eccentric stretches, ice, massage (trigger point, gastron technique, ART what ever works for you), everyone else said and aqua jog for your running workouts this week. I ignored mine too long and it’s now 10 months and it’s still not better despite trying everything.
Take a look at this article it has a collection of unique strengthening exercises for achillie tendons, I found them effective (of course I believe so). I think you should let it heal a bit before starting these exercises.
I tore my Achilles on March 31st and had surgery on April 6th. I am just now starting to walk with out a limp.
I was playing basketball in the third game of a Saturday tournament when it snapped. Between games two and three it was hurting and I was massaging it and complaining of it aching. Listen to your body. I should have just quit playing right then. I was just starting to ramp up my training and had put in a pretty big week, when I was talked into playing a tournament with some friends.
If you aren’t the kinda of person that stretches and warms up, start now. This rehab is a slow and very frustrating process.
Thank you everybody for all your responses. I was actually hoping for responses like “lay off a couple days, use Motrin and ice it and you’ll be fine”, but now everyone here has me really worried. The pain is actually only there when I run or walk up steps, and nothing appears to be swollen. In addition to ice I have been using one of those topical ice sprays that smells so “medical” and will see how it goes by Thursday.
I’ll swim only and try to ride my bike on Wednesday.
I ran today and it felt much better. I took it very easy on the hills and would say I ran gingerly on the right leg, but it felt ok the whole run.
But it also did not feel perfect.
What’s the old adage, a stitch in time saves nine? I’d do nothing but swim for at least a week, then try it out, stop if it hurts. If you keep trying, you can end up spending months in a purgatory of partial recovery/re-injury madness. It is a big tendon and a major player in running.