Achilles Tendonitis Recovery

After 10 months of very little running, I was finally free of pain to run 6.75 miles. That distance used to be easy, but this one was hard. Rebecca and I did an out and back Sunday morning without the dogs. As much as I love Bud, it felt good to run without being tied to a leash or without stopping to inspect every pee covered piece of ground (those with dogs will understand). It also felt good to hit mile 5 and feel fatigue, not pain.

So, what cured the beast? Eccentric calf raises, wall stretch and hamstring stretch 2-3 times a day, EVERY DAY and more stable shoes (I took out my old Asics 2120 Trail shoes - still the best). Some people swear by ice, but I only iced after any cardio exercise. Warming up has become way more important. Not by stretching, but by walking first. I would say my left achilles is nearing 100% recovered and my right 90%. Both calves still get tight, but the only pain I have is if I push directly on the nodule on my right achilles. Research I've read said it takes about 12 weeks of the eccentric calf work to be completely pain free, and I've only been doing them about two weeks.

This is a nasty injury. My advice (the same kind I ignored) would be to STOP RUNNING and get help from a sports medicine doc if achilles pain does not go away after a couple weeks. Truly, running through it only creates a long term, very painful and frustrating injury.

I had to include a picture of Cowboy Buddy -minus the hat- on Halloween. He greeted every single costumed kiddo with the jingle jingle of his collar and a good sniff. It was an exciting night in dog world.