Hi there. I was wondering if the people here could give me advice on my recovery from a slight injury. I know the best advice in this situation would be from a doctor but I also thought I would get the advice of runners. It's kind of long so here goes
First the background...
I am a 40 year old male, around 6ft, 210 pounds. I don't really live an active lifestyle although some years ago (7 maybe) I started running a bit and maybe kept it up for a year or two and then stopped. Apart from that I rarely exercised at all.
So recently I decided to start running again to both lose weight and increase my cardio. This was about 3 months ago.
I started on a sidewalk path of about 2 miles around the area I live in. I started walking first for about the first 3 weeks, then jogging a bit. At first I could jog the 2 miles with making say 4 or 5 stops, then 3, then 2, then 1 and finally I got to the point of being able to go the whole 2 miles without stopping. This came after jogging every other day. I expanded my length to about 4 miles, jogging (occasionally running) and walking.
One problem I had is that I basically did no stretching whatsoever. I noticed my legs were feeling tighter but I just felt that was more of a result of getting fit and maybe even more muscular.
So now that you know the background here's where the problem came in.....
Two weeks ago I stopped running. I felt soreness in my Achilles tendon area. Even had what looked like two bug bite size bruises on the side of my tendon. At the time I thought it was because of the back of my shoe rubbing against the tendon. I've read about the symptoms of a sore tendon and I had all of them. If I tried to run, it would be uncomfortable at first but then after a few minutes I could run normally. I ran for about a week before realizing the problem and then stopped. In the two weeks since I stopped I had trouble walking and basically walked with a slight limp. As the day would go on the limp would go away and usually by the evenings/night I would be able to walk normally again, which seems from what I read normal for this condition. It would be most uncomfortable in the morning when getting out of bed and first applying pressure on my foot.
ok, so now that you know the background and the problem, here is where I ask your thoughts/advice in regards to my recovery.
It's been two weeks since I stopped jogging to give my injury time to heal. First week there was barely any improvement. and I was still limping last weekend. I started applying ice this past week which was pretty late in the game but I have seen great improvement. My limp is gone. I have virtually no discomfort in the morning except some very slight discomfort on the bottom middle of my foot. So in essence, it "appears" at least that whatever my injury was was not permanent and taking time off seems to have things going back to normal...I hope. I would hate to have my attempt at getting fit ended before it even began.
What I planned on doing was the following....
1) Wait another week at least before starting to jog again. Or at least wait a week until I am totally discomfort-free. In that week I would start doing more stretching exercises. I believe not stretching led to my injury. Knowing what you know about my condition are there any recommended types of stretching to help with my Achilles tendon to either strengthen it, prevent something like this from happening again? websites, youtube videos?
2) Once I start jogging again, try instead of every 2 days maybe every 3 days. I have read that these injuries can cause long term effects and that you can never really go full speed again, even with a sore Achilles tendon. However my only goal is a 5K and I am not really going for any time record. Is it too optimistic of me to still maintain that as a goal?