Train Me

fisky wrote:

SlowAFRunnrMom wrote:

So today the Achilles hardly hurt. I was only slightly even aware of it except a few moments.

Can I try jogging now? Should I wait until there's absolutely no pain at all?

No. Read my previous posts.

One more nonrunning day won't affect your long term training, whereas a flare-up of your Achilles could set you back to day one. Have discipline. Be patient. Read my previous posts.

Yes, you *might* be able to run easily now, but the risk/reward just isn't there. Even when you start running again, you will need to be careful for the next few weeks.

I made it 45s before I could feel it tightening. I wouldn't really call it painful yet but I don't want to push it to that point either.

Oops someone else answered first. Oh well, I didn't push it to any pain. I disliked that pain enough that I'm not trying to feel it again.

SlowAFRunnrMom wrote:

I made it 45s before I could feel it tightening. I wouldn't really call it painful yet but I don't want to push it to that point either.

Good thinking. Give it more time, and do some sit-ups. Be ready for the track or the beach.

So, I gave it a couple more days and yesterday I did a quarter mile on the treadmill. It still hasn't hurt like before but it's sort of like I'm acutely aware of the existence of my achilles whereas before it might never have existed. At this point I'm not even sure if they aren't phantom feelings. Lol

I'm definitely skipping the 4 miler on Saturday but I'm going to try and work up to a mile or so before Monday so it's not a complete shock to my achilles when I run up and down that huge hill at xc.

The kid's coach is slashing mileage everywhere and the girls are randomly running mileage where they can. It looks like theyll have gone like this over the last few weeks

Previously-30 mpw

Last week-28.4

This week-27.1

Next week-21ish

State week- 8ish

State week they really can't do anything about because there won't be anywhere to add miles without the coach knowing.

Regionals in 4 days!

How long does this usually take? I've essentially been resting it for 12 days and I can feel it tightening up after a half a mile. I am starting to become rather irritated.

SlowAFRunnrMom wrote:

How long does this usually take? I've essentially been resting it for 12 days and I can feel it tightening up after a half a mile. I am starting to become rather irritated.

It takes as long as it takes. Most everyone here has been through something like this. Welcome to the club. You'll be back at it eventually.

The girls had regionals yesterday and both our boys and girls teams won again! I might have been a little overly confident though because the 2nd place team was pretty close to the girls. 64 to 76! It was freezing cold (36F) with a biting wind. Honey's lips were completely purple in all the pics after the race.

4th: Honey-12:17 (previous course PR 12:25)

8th: AJ-12:32

10th: 16 yo- 12:34 (13:18)

19th: AR-12:58

35th: 14 yo-13:23 (13:38)

53rd: JP-13:48

84th: KG-14:24

Typically I run better in the cold but at what point does it get too cold to benefit you? IE What's the perfect temp or temp range?

In the excitement of the race I ran around quite a bit. My achilles did start hurting but today it seems unaffected. I'm going to start trying to really strengthen that area. I was looking through my notes and noticed I had mentioned heel pain in the last few months. I assumed it was plantars but is it possible that this was a precursor to the achilles?

SlowAFRunnrMom wrote:

Is 1 month out from state the right time to drop down to 20 mpw? (The 2.5 easy plus the 8 long run) She cant ask her coach because she's not even supposed to be doing that long run.

No.

Your overall schedules look good. I see no reason to change them.

SlowAFRunnrMom wrote:

I just finished heating it in a bucket with 145F water. It feels quite a bit better. I'm wondering if I heat it like this and do the heel drops and/or run right after warming it up, would that be okay? I really don't want to stop running. I feel like I have new found motivation at the moment dangit.

Heat is bad for injuries, because it increases the inflammation and pain. If you feel it helps to relax, then perhaps alternate heat with cold, heat then cold, heat, and always finish with cold. I wouldn't do the heel drops, nor anything else that can seriously strain your achilles. Be sure your shoes are not too tight in the achilles area, and that they especially don't press into the achilles when you're bending your foot, i.e. pushing off - which is a common source of achilles injuries.

Fart Garfunkel wrote:

The terrible part about it is that it is unfortunately located in Baltimore. Not that there is any good part of Baltimore, but the area where Hopkins is located has always been considered sketchy.

Baltimore is not a good place to be.

Having three of your girls in the varsity top 5 is totally awesome!

SlowAFRunnrMom wrote:

So today the Achilles hardly hurt. I was only slightly even aware of it except a few moments.

Can I try jogging now? Should I wait until there's absolutely no pain at all?

It's best to not go running with pain. You can go for short walks, then come back and soak it in ice water again along with doing gentle movements. Be sure to check your shoes at achilles, because 100 percent they're a factor.

That wouldn't have worked with me, because I would always run when I wanted to, coach or not. : )

You have to remove the cause, i.e. the shoes excessively pressing into your achilles. Depending on the shoe construction, it might be possible to remedy where they're tight without tossing them. You should be able to tell by inspecting how much they press in when bending your foot. I've used various things like thread removers, cutting material off the backs of the heels, lanolin to soften up the material (when possible), hammering the inside back of the heels with a hammer, etc. If it's a hard plastic piece that sticks into your heels, then there is probably no remedy and you would need better shoes.

Your girls ran awesome at Regionals.

Yes, probably.

SlowAFRunnrMom wrote:

In the excitement of the race I ran around quite a bit. My achilles did start hurting but today it seems unaffected. I'm going to start trying to really strengthen that area.

No. I said this earlier. I'll try saying it a different way. Strength training is the LAST thing you do AFTER the injury has completely healed.

It's only been two weeks since your injury occurred. It has not yet healed. You still have pain. You should not try running until you have a full day of absolutely no pain.

Achilles, calf, plantar, and hamstring injuries can last for months. Scar tissue has no strength at the two-week point. It's the consistency of wet toilet paper. It will continue to heal if you don't over-stress it, but when you run at the two-week point and feel pain, you are re-tearing parts of the torn tissue and those strands have to start healing from day one.

You're the adult in this group. Be a role model for your kids. Show some discipline and patience.

Listen, this crap wasn't in my timeline. Am I going to be able to get my goal if I take off until this thing completely stops hurting? I'm mostly kidding, but really.

SlowAFRunnrMom wrote:

Listen, this crap wasn't in my timeline. Am I going to be able to get my goal if I take off until this thing completely stops hurting? I'm mostly kidding, but really.

Again, as I posted a few days ago, you can do some non-impact cardio to maintain your fitness... elliptical, swimming, aqua jogging, Concept2 rowing machine, spinning (no standing).

I'm not a physical therapist. I don't know the severity of your injury. But I feel your pain. I missed an opportunity to set age-group Indoor world record in March due to an injury in December and I'm still not back to 100%. You have to play the long game and not give up due to the inevitable setbacks we all have. Postpone your goal date by a couple of months. In my case, I had to postpone it by an entire year. I may not make my goal, but I'm not going to self-sabotage it by failing to follow my rehab. I hope this helps. The fact that you get so many great and well-meaning posts on this thread shows that a lot of runners are pulling for you and your girls. (imagine a thumbs-up icon here)

fisky wrote:

I missed an opportunity to set age-group Indoor world record in March

Goodness, really? Which one? (not wanting to derail the thread)

fisky wrote:

I'm not a physical therapist. I don't know the severity of your injury. But I feel your pain. I missed an opportunity to set age-group Indoor world record in March due to an injury in December and I'm still not back to 100%. You have to play the long game and not give up due to the inevitable setbacks we all have. Postpone your goal date by a couple of months. In my case, I had to postpone it by an entire year. I may not make my goal, but I'm not going to self-sabotage it by failing to follow my rehab. I hope this helps. The fact that you get so many great and well-meaning posts on this thread shows that a lot of runners are pulling for you and your girls. (imagine a thumbs-up icon here)

No worries about derailing. Tell us more!

I ended up going to a physical therapist Friday because I'm going stir crazy. He said everything feels good to him. Swelling is gone and I have good motion with no pain. He did a lot of massaging and gave me some exercises to help strengthen and stretch those areas. I'm private pay so he's having me come back only once a week with most of the stuff to do on my own. He said I could run as long as the pain didn't get worse. It hardly hurts at all now EXCEPT when running. But it's minimal during the run, just a sort of nagging soreness.

I did:

Wednesday- 1 mile @ 12:00

Thursday-1.25 @ 12:00

Friday- 2 miles @ 12:00

Saturday-2 miles @ 12:00

Sunday-2 miles @ 12:00

I started doing exercises again on Nov 1st.

State xc is in 5 days! We're leaving out early on Thursday. I'm going to try and up my mileage to 3 miles a day this week and see how my body holds up. No speedwork or hills at all until all pain is gone though so going to just work on endurance. Btw--- 2 miles is kinda kicking my butt right now so I guess I lost conditioning very quickly.

SlowAFRunnrMom wrote:

fisky wrote:

I'm not a physical therapist. I don't know the severity of your injury. But I feel your pain. I missed an opportunity to set age-group Indoor world record in March due to an injury in December and I'm still not back to 100%. You have to play the long game and not give up due to the inevitable setbacks we all have. Postpone your goal date by a couple of months. In my case, I had to postpone it by an entire year. I may not make my goal, but I'm not going to self-sabotage it by failing to follow my rehab. I hope this helps. The fact that you get so many great and well-meaning posts on this thread shows that a lot of runners are pulling for you and your girls. (imagine a thumbs-up icon here)

No worries about derailing. Tell us more!

In February 2018, my teammates and I broke the M70 4x400m indoor WR, running 4:26, IIRC. In, July 2018 with a completely different team, we broke the M70 4x800M Outdoor WR with an 11:03 and in September 2018 we broke it again, running 10:51. The indoor 4x800 WR is... not sure... 11:43, I think. Regardless, it's obviously well within our abilities, but I was injured and unable to run in March 2019.

Healing has taken a very long time. Like you, I'm frustrated, but we can't rush healing. I'm hopeful I can make the team to take another shot at the indoor 4x800 WR in March 2020.