Well this week was supposed to be my most mileage week before I could take my foot off the gas for a week. I had done 70 miles, 90 miles, and I was moving towards over 100 miles of running, however on my Thursday run I felt this sharp pull and pain on my Achilles tendon that scared the crap out of me.
After 17ish miles last Saturday the 21st and a 20mile run on Sunday, I ran an easy 7 miles on Monday. Tuesday I ran 9.5 miles in the morning with 1min uphill sprint and easy downhill for 8 reps, and I ran easy 7.5 mile in the evening. Wednesday pretty similar mileage but 10min on threshold and 3min easy for 5 sets and easy 7 miles in the evening. Thursday I didn’t have time to go for a run in the morning so I was mentally prepared to tackle 14-16 mile run in the evening. It was raining pretty hard around 5pm so I waited for the rain to slow down. At 5:30pm I went for my run. To my surprise despite having a long day of work and week leading up to that point my legs felt good. So instead of just running a comfortable pace I thought to spice up the run by doing 3 times 3mile run in marathon pace. MP (marathon pace) being the one I am doing on November 3rd in NYC. First two rounds pretty well, and I was cruising along. However, as soon as I started to push for round three I felt the sharp pull on my right Achilles ~ I was really scared with the idea that I might rupture or tear my tendon, so I slowed it down. But I started to experience sharp pain in the junction of Achilles attaching to the calf muscle. I tried to keep going, but the pain was too much for me to run, so I stopped and tried to release the pressure. I tried running, but every time I propelled forward I experienced pain in my lower leg. At that point I gave up running and started to walk toward home, but I was still 3mile-ish away from home. Long story short I made it to my home.
Friday, I tried to run in the morning but my experience was exactly the same as the day before. I asked Par Scott (practitioner at Om Namo Center) to look at my calf and told him what had happened. We concluded that it was too much strain on my gastrocnemius muscle, and it was pressing the lateral nerve that has to pass through the tibia. Anyway I did feel some relief after his work and he told me that based on his analysis there is no torn muscle or tendons. I went for a easy run once I got home but the pain was strong after a couple of miles, I walked home.
At this point I knew that my plan to reach over 100 miles for the week was impossible so I decided to take it easy for the weekend and assess my body by end of Sunday.
Saturday was a busy day at home. I tried running early morning with the hope and prayer that miraculously my leg would feel better, but alas I was wrong. High school visit for my older son, soccer game in Jamaica Plain and early delicious dinner with my sister and her family made Saturday fun, exciting and helped to take my mind off of my injury.
Once I got home I had time to go over the last couple of weeks of my training plan. I realized that I was loading my lower leg a lot more relative to my upper leg or hips. Yes, I have been doing squats, lunges and many movement, but the amount of time I run, I hadn’t put relatively any time to load the rest of my body. So I started to make a plan for a Sunday morning workout and went to bed.
In the morning I ran to the gym which is about a mile away from my home, the pain was obvious so walked there. I started with stair-mill ( stair climbing) 35 minutes then went to elliptical machine and used it for 30min, 100 lb. sled pull for 50-60 yards three sets. Single arm farmers carry 55lb three sets. Overhead carry two sets. 8 reps three sets, single leg jump up 30inch. 8 reps three sets single leg jump down. Lateral shift and curtsy lunges with 25lb kettle bell three sets 12 reps.
After some yoga base stretches, I ran home and surprisingly, I was able to manage the pain. With excitement I went for a run to YMCA to swim for half hour and I ran back home. I could feel the tightness, but there was no pain. So I will be doing the similar exercises to balance my running mileage and I am hoping to build the mileage to over 100 in two weeks.
Here is this week’s data.
