Did a huge block of volume for the past three weeks thanks to some time off. Ended up doing *too *much and am suffering the consequences with an achilles issue right now. I have a massage booked tomorrow and an initial meeting with an athletic trainer for Wednesday, but I’m going to assume the trainer is going to prohibit running/riding for at least a few weeks. I want to minimize the fitness drop, but how?
I’m going to shoot for at least six swims a week along with some strength work, does anyone have additional suggestions? Yoga? Stretching?
Did a huge block of volume for the past three weeks thanks to some time off. Ended up doing *too *much and am suffering the consequences with an achilles issue right now. I have a massage booked tomorrow and an initial meeting with an athletic trainer for Wednesday, but I’m going to assume the trainer is going to prohibit running/riding for at least a few weeks. I want to minimize the fitness drop, but how?
I’m going to shoot for at least six swims a week along with some strength work, does anyone have additional suggestions? Yoga? Stretching?
Swim 20-50K per week until your achilles is OK…problem solved. I fail to see the point of wasting pool time water running, when you can actually work on improving your swim…it’s not like you will forget how to run, we’ve all been doing it since around 12 months old. Running injury is a great opportunity to devote more time swimming. Last year I combined all my usual swim + run volume into swim only!
As long as it doesn’t make you worse, there’s no reason not to continue your training at least moderately. stretch frequently, knees straight and knees bent.
I had achilles tendonitis last summer and ran and biked through it. No impact on biking whatsoever, but I couldn’t do any hills or speedwork on the run, and did have to reduce my volume. I also did part of my running on the treadmill, which I found was easier on the achilles. I was on a steady regimen of eccentric heel drops (3x a day, adding weights as the weeks went on) and also used KT tape and rolled a lot.
From what I recall, it’s not a big deal if it causes you some discomfort when you run, but if it’s still sore (or more sore) the next day, you need to back off and let it heal.
Take it from someone who at 60 has had two bouts of Achilles pain in the past 10 years…eccentric heel drops…read about Alfredson Protocol. It is proven to work and get you back in the game. Do them, and you will heal. All the other stuff is window dressing.
I had overuse achilles and ankle tendonitis several years ago. I lived in Memphis at the time, and, as they say there, “my ankles were all swolled up!”
I saw an orthopedic. He said to place my feet/ankles in very cold water for 5 minutes, then put them in very hot water for 5 minutes. Repeat for 30 minutes each day. He gave me anti-inflammatories. I could swim, but he said to take it easy on the push off from the wall.
Take it from someone who at 60 has had two bouts of Achilles pain in the past 10 years…eccentric heel drops…read about Alfredson Protocol. It is proven to work and get you back in the game. Do them, and you will heal. All the other stuff is window dressing.
Heel drops did nothing for me. Physical therapy with foot to hamstring massage, stretching and some exercises helped me temporarily. 9 months later, foam rolling multiple time per day solved it within 2 weeks.
Therapist said flat running as long as it didn’t aggravate it was OK, hills and sprints were off limits.
Over the past eight years I had two Achilles injuries. The first required 9 weeks of Graston Technique, which hurts quite a bit. but got the job done. Two years ago I had the same injury and had three sessions of EPAT and was back running less than a month after the injury. I also did the heel drops, but feel the EPAT really helped out a lot.
The problem with “rest” as a treatment for achilles and plantar tendinitis is that:
No use of the achilles/plantar = no bloodflow to area = no healing
“Time off” thus produces very little healing but is associated with weight gain and fitness loss. And weight gain and fitness loss increase ones chances of future tendinitis.
Ironically…
Running is thus, not only the cause of tendinitis
BUT is ALSO the best treatment as well.
“Time of” only postpones the problem and increases ones chances of having future problems.
The key is thus to figure out how to “run as a treatment for tendinitis” (rather than to run as a cause).
Things that might work:
Mixup the shoes you are wearing. Variety (and different) from what you did when you got the problem
Mix up the surface and terrain you are running on. Variety.
No long up hills. No long, hard surface downhills. No treadmill.
Monotony is the cause.
Variety is the cure.
Don’t do long runs of 20+ miles.
Do stretches that increase blood flow to feet. (Not actual stretching).
totally disagree with someone i tend to agree with{DP} if you do just alittle research you will find many elites use aqua running as a form of active recovery for injury and just good recovery days. also will help you offset loss of fitness due to injury.
sorry DP your usually spot on but this one you may have missed it due to lack of research or just pointed to a swim focus at cost of run retained fitness.
I was hurting badly with tendonitis in both achilles mid 2016, probably brought on by aggressive weight training. I did ART, Airrosti, massage, ice, rest, everything. Then I went to a reputable podiatrist who treats a lot of runners and who had been seeing really good results with EPAT. If you are not familiar, EPAT is sort of like ultrasound, where high intensity sound waves are focused on your affected area, causing the stimulation of the body’s natural healing response and increased blood flow. It can hurt some during treatment. I did 4 treatments on each foot, which is the standard protocol. Each foot cost $400. In about two weeks I was much better. In two months I was feeling like I did when I ran high school cross country. It was amazing! Yes it is pricey but the results were well worth the money, relative to all the other money we spend in triathlon.
-Doug
The problem with “rest” as a treatment for achilles and plantar tendinitis is that:
No use of the achilles/plantar = no bloodflow to area = no healing
“Time off” thus produces very little healing but is associated with weight gain and fitness loss. And weight gain and fitness loss increase ones chances of future tendinitis.
Ironically…
Running is thus, not only the cause of tendinitis
BUT is ALSO the best treatment as well.
This is absurd. Running is probably the worst method to increase blood flow to the achilles.
This x3. Worked for me 3 years ago after I jumped back in too quickly after years off and putting on a bunch of weight. Slimming down and building frequency over time have kept the injury away since then, but ever since, I swear by this + edge of a metal spoon.
The problem with “rest” as a treatment for achilles and plantar tendinitis is that:
No use of the achilles/plantar = no bloodflow to area = no healing
“Time off” thus produces very little healing but is associated with weight gain and fitness loss. And weight gain and fitness loss increase ones chances of future tendinitis.
Ironically…
Running is thus, not only the cause of tendinitis
BUT is ALSO the best treatment as well.
This is absurd. Running is probably the worst method to increase blood flow to the achilles.
I agree - this theory is just bad science. Of course it helps to have blood flow - but blood also carries inflammatory cells. Tendonitis is “inflammation of the tendon” by definition. Running may generate blood flow to the area but it also worsens inflammation. The trick is to enhance blood flow without recruiting all those inflammatory cells. Ibuprofen is one way. Other posters have mentioned a number of other effective ways.
I just don’t think it’s good advice to be telling people with tendonitis to hammer their inflamed tendons with running or swimming or whatever it may be that caused the injury in the first place…
Take it from someone who at 60 has had two bouts of Achilles pain in the past 10 years…eccentric heel drops…read about Alfredson Protocol. It is proven to work and get you back in the game. Do them, and you will heal. All the other stuff is window dressing.
This worked for me too. Also before any running I was told to get on a spin bike and place my pedal at mid foot and spin till I was at the point of breaking sweat and then run. I did that daily for 3 weeks and it worked. I still spin before I run, every time.