Patience isn't my strong suit. It's really not. Patience is something I have to actively work at when it comes to getting what I want. This injury has been with me in one shape or another for 3 years. That is a long fucking time to have tendonitis. And it feels even longer when it's Achilles tendonitis. Every time I wake it it hurts. Every time I get out of the car it hurts. Every time I get out of a chair it hurts. It's miserable. And that's before I even run. I acknowledge that I've done a lot of damage to my ankle, heel and Achilles... but holy shit have I had rehab on it! It has cost me THOUSANDS! Three Physios, Three Sports Injury Therapists, 2 Alternative Therapists (Acupuncture), years of regular massage, stretching, rolling, etc and a Harley Street World Class Ankle Surgeon consultation... This shit is not cheap.
Only now am I really starting to get to grips with it, after all this time. As a result, there are many lessons I have learned which others may find useful. 1. You reap what you sow
It was my injury. My fault. And if I wanted to push on despite the problem, then I accept the consequences. I achieved some pretty remarkable things from a very poor starting point physically, But I chose to run in pain and make it much longer and much worse than it needed to be. That's on me. It is a price that needed to be paid to meet the targets I set myself. Would have i done it differently, maybe. Should I have? Absolutely. The consequences I find myself living with are mine. Were they worth it? Yes, to me they were. But they have set me back significantly from what could have been possible. Lesson 1. is be prepared to accept the consequences.
2. Stop
Just stop. With Achilles Tendinopathy you really have to stop. Once it inflames it is an absolute arsehole of an injury to calm down. I don't mean stop for a few days. I mean stop running. If you run the moment it settles down, you will simply fuck things up. I've had 3 years of stop start stop start. The inconsistency of training limits your performance. When it first came on I stopped and it settled then I ran again... then it started again. This endless pain-loop could have been avoided if I had really listened to the professional advice early. Which brings me on to lesson 3....
3. Listen
Seek out a true expert in their field. Go for the top. It needs to be someone who really does know their subject and also have deep knowledge of what you are trying to achieve, as well as a long track record of helping people get there. You will pay a premium for such advice but they are worth it. You need to listen to them. They should know more than you.
You also need to listen to your body. It hurts for a reason! It's about listening hard enough to hear what it is really telling you (and what an expert is really telling you). Then relaying to your expert what is happening. This comes from lesson 4....
4. Test
The right expert will run you through tests to assess what is the most probable cause of what's going wrong. Mine identified that the most likely culprit was a deep weakness in a key muscle (Soleus and Peroneus) fundamental in running. This weakness guarantees that after a short space of time the Achilles will have enough of the torment I'm putting it through and scream murder at me.
It has. My expert then gives me exercises to do which seem too easy. Way too easy... but the pain improved dramatically. We tested it and the result was progress. I was pushing far too hard far too fast for the strength of the muscle required to perform the task. It looks like we have nailed a key root-cause of the problem. When you hit the cause then you can correct the problem. Achilles tendon issues rarely go away on their own without doing something about what caused it in the first place. The only way to achieve that is to identify the ROOT CAUSE in the first place, then act appropriately. Test what works, what makes it worse, what type of reaction you get. A diary helps. Dead simple.
List what you are doing,
give pain/discomfort a score out of 10 on each exercise
measure how far you get with the rehab exercise (8 reps, 15 reps, what weight, etc)
How long the pain lasts
how long any reaction lasts
For example. I hiked 10km on Sunday. After an hour the pain went to 5/10. For the afternoon it stayed at a 3/10, and was just mildly stiff the following day. When I did 9km the week before, the pain kicked in earlier (30 mins) and stayed at a 5/10 the rest of the day, and discomfort and stiffness lasted the best part of 2 days. As a result, the testing showed me that there was progress and added to what i recorded about my daily rehab exercises, gave the Physio what she needed to adjust and add-to my rehab work.
This requires a key thing though... Lesson 5
5. Time
You need to make a call as to if you are willing to invest the time to do it right. After my own dramas going on for so long, I had enough of stop-start and decided that I would change it and give myself the time to do it the right way round.
This requires a vast amount of patience. The clock is ticking towards a point that I need to be ready for. I now have the time to prepare and heal. BUT I HAVE TO BE PATIENT. That means stopping myself from a cheeky treadmill run. That means no hill climbs on the bike until I am doing so. That means no 20km hikes to build time on my feet. All of that is simply too soon and will push my Achilles too far too fast. This results in one thing... more inflammation, which equals more pain. I have to invest the time to do the groundwork. Put things right. Test and measure, and get to a point where I have no lasting negative reaction to any training I am doing. Achilles Tendinopathy needs time. Time to rest. Time to heal. Time to slowly build back the strength, loading and endurance in order for it to function without pain. It's not exciting. It's not pretty and this brings me to the final lesson...
6. There is no shortcut
Someone out there will always look to take your money for the promise of a quick solution. I've tried a number and each have had a short term relief to the problem. With an injury like this there are no quick fixes. Only patch-up jobs to keep you going. If you decide to carry on then you have to embrace the misery that comes with carrying on before your body is ready. Ice, heat, massage can help. Cold laser, shockwave can also help. BUT unless you give it a chance to recover, heal and then find out the root cause, you cannot begin to fix it. Once you have these you can then do the work over time to strengthen it back again, get it functioning correctly and then you have the platform to build upon. These are all hard earned lessons, but they are key to what I want to do. Thanks for reading....
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