So, I should preface this with, I understand LRC is no substitute for seeing a medical profession for injury related questions. But, I am curious to just hear from other regarding their experience. Quick background: 31yo Male, 25-35mpw.
I have three primary questions:
1. I've had on and off Achilles tightness/soreness for years now - very rarely legitimate "pain". However, I am a bit paranoid to any twinge/tightness with it because I did suffer a bad case of tendinitis, about 8 years ago, that knocked me out of running for nearly 6 months. Is it possible I will just have ongoing soreness/tightness with my Achilles for the foreseeable future without being on the precipice of it blowing out? Or am I flirting with disaster every run? Curious to hear if there are other runners who have been able to run long term with this tightness and whether or not it went away eventually or if, at the very least, they avoided injury for a long period of time. It rarely is tight or noticeable during the run itself but, always the following day.
2. Tips on improving it? I do a fair amount of eccentric calf work and have gotten into a pretty good routine with strength training that I think should help. I have tried the whole low/no drop shoe approach and think it does work to a certain extent. I have more or less decided to go about my day in low/no drop shoes (have a standing desk) but, then run in like 8-10mm drop shoes as a kind of blended approach. I have found doing some barefoot strides does provide some benefit in my gait. Any other tips on improving the issue?
3. Finally, and this may sound odd but, has anyone found that by running "slow and easy", they are actually more susceptible to injury? I have gone down the HR training path in the past and find myself having to run clunky 9:45-10:00 min/miles to keep my HR rate down in the "acceptable zone". Lower legs tightness/soreness almost always seem to creep up. However, when I run a more "natural" stride at a pace around 8:40 or so for easy (and the majority of) runs, my HR is elevated slightly (although not a ton - just below 160 average) but I notice by lower leg issues seem to be less severe. It's kind of ironic as I started the HR and "slow" running for the primary purpose of becoming more injury resilient (and increasing aerobic efficiency, which hasn't happened in nearly 1.5 years of the method but that's a topic for another thread) but, it seems to have had just the opposite effect. Curious to hear if folks find they are actually more injury resilient at faster, more efficient pace.