Every week I have intentions of writing a blog post and every week the blog posts take a back seat to so many other things. I know this would happen with two kids, but I miss writing in this diary on a weekly basis.
So here I am, finally making this a priority and giving you guys a running update as I didn’t do an 8 month postpartum running update because. . .whomp, whomp I have another injury. Gah!
I don’t know if it is my age (37 is somewhat old for the running world), or if some postpartum hormones lead to this injury, but I have no rational for this injury. My mileage didn’t increase, the intensity of my workouts didn’t go up, I didn’t change shoes, so I don’t know what happened.
It all started Mother’s Day after a 15 mile long run, which isn’t even that long as I had run 21 miles a couple weeks prior. I did the second half of the 15-miler a litter quicker (about 15 seconds/mile quicker), but that was it. Nothing else was new about the run–I had worn the shoes before, run that route multiple times before, and my mileage was lower than it had been. When I got back home that afternoon after the run, I realized how much my Achilles had swelled up.
I went out the next day for a run and definitely felt it, but it really wasn’t that bad. I ran without limping or changing my stride, and then “pain” was more of it making its presence known to me. I tried running on it a couple more times, but it wasn’t getting better, so I got in to see the physical therapist right away. She did some “scraping” on it, which seemed to help some, but after a few sessions, it was still bugging me.
It was a constant roller coaster with small ups and downs along the way. While most things are trending up, it was being very slow to make progress. I would have good days and bad days of running with no rhyme or reason. I would run 3-4 days in a row with with little problem, then take a day or two off, and it would then bother me again. Oddly, it never bothered me when running fast, which is when you would think it would bother me the most because of the more forceful toe-off and explosiveness needed from the Achilles.
I then went to see the sports chiropractor, and he diagnosed me as having Achilles tendonosis–not Achilles tendonitis as that is due to an acute injury.
Tendonitis is an accurate diagnosis for an acute injury when the tendon is overloaded, causing pain and swelling from tears in the injured tissue. On the other hand, tendonosis occurs from failed healing or repetitive trauma to a tendon.
The Difference Between Tendonitis And Tendonosis And Why It Matters
I have been seeing a physical therapist and/or sports chiropractor once or twice a week. They have been doing different manual therapies including scraping, Graston, ART, taping, and manual manipulations. Basically all these methods try to promote more blood flow to the area to help it heal faster.
At home I have been doing eccentric calf raises, icing, taping, rolling it out, and I did get new shoes with more of a drop in them. I’ve tried insoles, no insoles, I dug out my orthotics from college, various shoes, but rest has seemed to be the only thing that really helped.
I haven’t been completely off of running during this time but only operating at about 75% these last 6 weeks, so it was time to take more time off. Within the last week, I have been taking more time off and using the elliptical on my days off from running. I definitely don’t love the elliptical, but I know I need to try and keep my cardio up the best I can.
The crazy thing is that my Achilles swelled up at the exact same time postpartum with Cullen. That time I noticed the swelling, but it never gave me any problems when running. I remember telling the PT about it, but when he asked me if it hurt, I said no. I also looked back in my training journal and saw my notes on it being swollen, but I was able to do all of my workouts with no problems. I’m not sure if there is a postpartum hormone shift around the 8 month mark or what, but it was so odd that it happened twice. I don’t know if it is because I am 5 years older, or because I have 5 more years of running on my legs as to why it plagued me this time around.
In the meantime, I have been able to do things I wouldn’t normally do on the weekend like hike with the boys. Granted we aren’t doing much “hiking” with kids, but usually a big chunk of Saturdays are taken up by my long run.
It is so frustrating and more than anything I just want to be healthy and run like crazy for a couple of years before things really start going down hill after I’m ‘over the hill.’ Things had been going so well postpartum–the month of April and beginning of May I was feeling so strong and loving every minute of being able to train again. Hopefully I am finally at the tail end of this, and I am going to be even more grateful to be running again!
I have to remind myself this is one small bump in the road and once it is over, it will seem like such a short blip in time, but man, when you are in the thick or it, it is NO fun! Every time I am injured, I hate it even more. But it also remind me even more how much I LOVE running. I seriously don’t feel complete without it.
Your endurance is incredible!