Clawing My Way Back

I shall start my blog here.

And we shall follow.

+1

Show me the way.

And they all came!

Wow. I am curious. I have pain in my achilles ( actually on the side with a nodule). It comes and goes. I was told by my Orthotic Nurse and DC ( who is also a Nurse Practioner) to keep running. Eventually, with massage, ART, icing and stretching, it will go away. I was thinking, to keep the pounding at a minimum, I would run 5 miles today and swim for 30 minutes today. What do you all think?

Michael, this site is cooler. Hope it helps you a little.

Good luck with your training. I hope your Achilles feels better soon. I can't help you with the swimming question because I am too good at sinking to really spend much time training in the pool.

What about 50/50? Some road running and some pool running?

Thanks Dave, I appreciate the sentiments. I swear this will be a long long 15 days ( I am stretching to July 1). I have to let this Achilles heal. My first thought of my 30 years of running is, "Come on Mike, just run through it". I could have, but I was thinking, I want to run without pain, not have to psyche myself up to run each day. I did swim 1200 meters today in 45 minutes. 48 long laps on a 25 meter pool. Oh yeah, that was fun. Tomorrow will be 1600 meters. I do need to learn technique better. Funny you should mention that. We ( my wife, me and my son) are going to FINS ( FunINSwimming) on Saturday to learn to swim better. I hope this will teach me to learn to appreciate running better. I still have the itch ( yeah, my achilles is not hurting now..LOL) to get on the treadmill and bang out 37 minutes worth of joy. Here is another weird factoid. After I swam today, the pain went away. I am serious. When I try to bend the foot in ways that made it hurt before, it does not hurt. Maybe I am losing my mind. I am going to bike for 55 minutes tonight.

dot520 wrote:What about 50/50? Some road running and some pool running?

I thought about that. I might if the pain still lessens somewhat as it did today. I will confer with my DC tomorrow on this.

Hi Michael,
Maybe it is a flexiblity issue? Do you have rigid foot? I know it sounds funny but if you have limited flexion in your foot, the swimming kicking is a non-pounding way to warm up your achilles. I've seen it with other swimmers.

(And good job on the swimming! the best thing you can do is take lessons or analyze swim videos).

teriziatea wrote:Hi Michael,
Maybe it is a flexiblity issue? Do you have rigid foot? I know it sounds funny but if you have limited flexion in your foot, the swimming kicking is a non-pounding way to warm up your achilles. I've seen it with other swimmers.

(And good job on the swimming! the best thing you can do is take lessons or analyze swim videos).

Tea,

Yeah, funny you should mention that. My feet are always popping. My DC always adjusts them while working on me. You maybe onto something....humm....Swimming,,yeah, I seriously need help. LOL

I am going to try an experiment. I am going to swim for 30 minutes first and then and run for 37 minutes and 30 seconds (5 miles). If there is no pain, then Tea is onto something here. I might just have to loosen up the Achilles before I run. Sigh. Oh and there is a little bit of pain in the morning, but lessens as the day goes on.

P.S.- It will get to 100 again today in dear old Houston. We are progged for 100's until Monday. Oh and the humidity is coming back, so Heat Indexes around 110.

Sounds like your swimming pace is very similar to mine! I need to get better at it--I'm relaxed and I feel like I have a good stroke, but my kick is very inefficient. I hope you post how the swimming "lesson" goes on Saturday. I could learn from you!

pegcoover wrote:Sounds like your swimming pace is very similar to mine! I need to get better at it--I'm relaxed and I feel like I have a good stroke, but my kick is very inefficient. I hope you post how the swimming "lesson" goes on Saturday. I could learn from you!

Oh yeah it is bad. The first 25 meters I do free-style ( well my version of it) and then going back, I do breast stroke. The lessons will so help.

tireman wrote:

teriziatea wrote:Hi Michael,
Maybe it is a flexiblity issue? Do you have rigid foot? I know it sounds funny but if you have limited flexion in your foot, the swimming kicking is a non-pounding way to warm up your achilles. I've seen it with other swimmers.

(And good job on the swimming! the best thing you can do is take lessons or analyze swim videos).

Tea,

Yeah, funny you should mention that. My feet are always popping. My DC always adjusts them while working on me. You maybe onto something....humm....Swimming,,yeah, I seriously need help. LOL

I have limited flexion in my foot and some morning I pop it during a stretch which feels so good. Funny thing is it is always the right foot that pops yet my AT injury a few years ago was my left. Swimming can loosen it up but when my AT was fully blown swimming was hurting it even further.

I love swimming, but am a terrible swimmer. I can only imagine how horrifying I look to anyone watching. Oh well.

Good luck working it out. When the weather is like this, I think that maybe you have it right, staying inside to run. Terrible.

I just figured out who you are Tireman. Good luck and I hope that achilles feels better soon.

natalie.wolf wrote:I just figured out who you are Tireman. Good luck and I hope that achilles feels better soon.

I am Michael...LOL....I hope so to on the Achilles.

Ken Mello wrote:I love swimming, but am a terrible swimmer. I can only imagine how horrifying I look to anyone watching. Oh well.

Good luck working it out. When the weather is like this, I think that maybe you have it right, staying inside to run. Terrible.

Yeah I know Ken. This is just the pits. There is relief coming, but not until next week. We (Austin and Houston) are heading for 100 for the next 5-6 days

Kenny B. wrote:

tireman wrote:

teriziatea wrote:Hi Michael,
Maybe it is a flexiblity issue? Do you have rigid foot? I know it sounds funny but if you have limited flexion in your foot, the swimming kicking is a non-pounding way to warm up your achilles. I've seen it with other swimmers.

(And good job on the swimming! the best thing you can do is take lessons or analyze swim videos).

Tea,

Yeah, funny you should mention that. My feet are always popping. My DC always adjusts them while working on me. You maybe onto something....humm....Swimming,,yeah, I seriously need help. LOL

I have limited flexion in my foot and some morning I pop it during a stretch which feels so good. Funny thing is it is always the right foot that pops yet my AT injury a few years ago was my left. Swimming can loosen it up but when my AT was fully blown swimming was hurting it even further.

Which has been just the opposite for me. The last two times I have swam, the pain goes away. I ran 11 miles one day and swam 600 meters afterward. The pain was gone after the swim.

And I believe Bill Rodgers may have answered my question:

About the gastroc-release. I'm a big non-believer in surgery unless it's absolutely required. The MRI is a good move. I had one for my achilles and it indicated my problem wasn't that serious. I'd get two expert opinions on your MRI, and input on successful return to running after that surgical procedure. I successfully fought off achilles tendonitis with deep muscle massage work on your calves and achilles also daily 15 minutes or so. Swimming is great for loosening up your calves and achilles. I hang on the edge of the pool and flutter kick. Stretching after you run is key, but cautiously, so as not to exacerbate the injury. Icing ten minutes twice a day is effective. I also used glucosmine about two months, and took low level doses--once per day, before my run, some Advil. One final thought, are you wearing the right shoe? Your shoes should bend easily at the toe, and allow your footstrike to be natural. Let me know how it goes. I'm sure you'll be back.



http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=4885

Here goes nothing. I will say this before I start this swimming first/running second journey. This better be worth it dang it. I do not have the patience for this. If this (swimming) allows me to loosen the Achilles, then it is worth it. Anything to get my running back.

Well it worked. I swam 400 meters in 15 minutes and ran 5 miles in 37:30. Now, I will admit I was tired. Goodness I was tired. I am going to have to really get in shape to do this. I can tell you I will move up from 5 to 6 to eventually 7. It did really loosen up the Achilles. There were two instances during the 7 mile run Tuesday when there were actual spasms. Today, nope. Only one instance of some pain. Tonight, I will massage it and stretch and hopefully have a restful sleep. I have 17 miles this week.