Achillies Injury

Hi All,

I'm new to this running malarky so be gentle image

I've been training for my first half marathon which is on 28th October. I started my training from doing absolutely no running and I am now up to 10 miles.

After Sunday's long run i've had a terrible pain in my achillies and reading around resting seems to be the best solution. Only problem is i'm worried that if I rest completely I'm going to lose my momentum.

Has anyone else had similar problems? Or can anyone give me any advice on what I should be doing?

Cheers

Chris

Comments

  • If you carry on running it will get worse ... much worse

    There are hundreds of other 1/2 marathons out there but you wont get as many achilles image

  • It could be the start of achilles tendonitis. You need to google 'eccentric exercises for achilles tendonitis' and do them twice a day.

    Even folks without achilles tendonitis should be doing these exercise twice a day as a preventative measure.

    I don't think you're half marathon is in danger for as long as the condition is not too advanced......plus you start the exercises tomorrow! Tendonitis tends not to improve with just rest, the tendon needs to be stretched and used daily. Icing helps too, but only for 20 mins max at a time.

    I was diagnosed with achilles tendonitis a year ago in early April (thought I'd never walk normally again, let alone run!), but by mid May I had managed to run an 11 mile trail race, and got a 10K PB in June!

    The eccentric exercises definitely work......

  • Thanks Jamie I'll give it a go! Do you think I should be completely resting? I wanted to train up to 11/12 miles just worried the 10 I've done isn't enough.
  • When I was diagnosed with it I spent a week to ten days doing the eccentric exercises twice a day. I didn't run in that time, just used the exercise bike to keep up fitness and to stop me piling on pounds (The exercise bike didn't cause any discomfort to the achilles). I also iced twice a day, 20 mins on a bag of frozen peas!

     I then started with slower paced runs, but only had one month to prepare for my 11 mile trail race. I had no intention of pulling out (it was a charity team relay!). So once I could run with a moderate level of discomfort I did start increasing my mileage and intensity. The one thing that you notice with achilles tendonitis is that it is most painful during the first mile or two of a workout......this puts off many people from continuing, but the more miles I did, the more the pain disappeared during workouts.

    It'd always be terrible again  the following morning, but it seems to improve over time with those eccentric exercises.

    Another trick is to watch heel striking, that seemed to be the cause in my case. Its hard to adjust but try to land midfoot if you can........

    As for building up to half marathon distance, I'm guessing that your basically after completion rather than an actual time goal? If you just need the distance, I'd say that if you can complete 10 miles in a training run without feeling like you're going to die, you'll probably manage all 13.1 on race day under competition and race day adrenaline. If its any help, when I was underconfident about my ability to finish certain distance races a few years ago, I'd hide a bottle of lucozade sport in a hedge a few miles from the race end.........but you might find that there are marshals with drinks for the competitors too.

     

  • I think you need to rest it until the race. If you've done 10 miles already then your fitness is there so it is a case of rest until the race and get through it, keep training and not make the start line, or decide now not to run at all and look for another one to do later in the year (or next year) allowing you the time to properly treat it.

    It does sound like the start of achilles tendonitis to me too. If you insist on doing the race, rest from running and other weight bearing exercise. Swim and cycling to maintain fitness as best you can in the next couple of weeks. Get some professioanl treatment on it - a physio or sports therapist should be able to help. Do lots of calf stretching (at least 5 times a day). I'm not sure about the eccentric exercising with the race so close. I known people who have started it and it has been worse for a couple of weeks to start with.

  • Well after 10 days of complete rest with doing the eccentric exercises twice a day its feeling a lot better!

    Managed to get back out last night and did a quick 20 minutes run with no after effects apart from feeling nackered! Going to gradually build back up now if I have managed 10 miles do people think I will be OK if i just do lots of shorter runs now to keep the fitness up ready for the big day?

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