I Found My Achilles Heal. Literally.

I gave myself acute Achilles tendonitis because I didn’t know when to quit. A sports massage therapist said, “What have we learned here?”

“That I have bad judgment?”

He was kind enough to say, “No, we’ve learned that your body is trying to tell you to slow down a bit, and you are learning how to listen.”

My body has always been here for me, and I’ve been grateful. I’m strong. I have a high pain threshold. Ask my dad. The day after he witnessed me give birth to my firstborn with no drugs, the nurse asked me what my pain level was. I said 4. Dad said, “Yes, but her 4 is a 10 for most people!” I’m proud of that.

I knew I needed to slow down when my Achilles felt like it was on fire. I rested and iced it for 4 days, then set off for a long run ~ 9 miles. I told myself repeatedly, “If it starts to hurt, I can turn back.” But I’m so freaking stubborn. It started hurting at mile three. I ran another three miles. Finally, at mile six, I couldn’t go any more and walked the rest of the way back. But it was too late. I should have turned back at mile three, but my stubbornness wouldn’t let me. I thought I could push through it.

Argh.  No amount of icing and resting worked this time. People saw me limping and told me horror stories of rupturing their tendons, or straining them so badly that they were in casts for weeks. It got so I was afraid of going up stairs for fear of rupturing my tendon.

I was really distressed that I had let my desire to finish a 9-mile run possibly put me out of commission for running the half marathon with Dayl. But even more than that, I started realizing that my body is getting older and I need to take better care of it. There are consequences to pushing myself too hard.

What if I hurt myself permanently and couldn’t every run seriously again? OK, there may have been a little melodrama going on in my head as I lay around not running.

I finally saw my doctor today and she reassured me that it’s “just” tendonitis, as opposed to a more chronic condition like tearing. However… I have to take it easy. Massage (not so bad), an ankle brace (ick), a lot of stretching and then… when I’m pain-free I can slowly start running again.

I really hope I can manage this so I can run the Hippie Chick. But at least if I’m not ready for that, I know can do the next one. My body is here for me, I just need to take a little more care with it.

Well heeled = well, healed!

OK, I think this is a stretch, but I’m willing to try it. I seem to have inflamed my Achilles tendon during one of my training runs last week. I rested it and iced it most of the week, but I probably shouldn’t have run 9 miles today. But I did.

So now it’s more ice and more rest, of course, but I thought I should do a little more research on how to properly care for this and make sure I don’t put myself out of commission long term!

I found several sources of information, mostly saying that this is a common condition of “middle-aged recreational runners.” Great. Now I’m a middle-aged recreational runner??

Everyone suggests ice and rest. But here’s something extra useful I found on About.com:

“A heel wedge can be inserted into the shoe to minimize the stress on the Achilles tendon. By lifting up the heel of the foot, even by a small amount, a significant amount of force is decreased on the Achilles tendon.”

A wedge heel, you say? I can totally get down with that!
I’m all over this… DSW is sending me a gift card to replace the shoes that Jack ate.
Boo, Jack! Yay, DSW!
Since I’ll be heading there anyway, and wedges are practically medically prescribed, I thought I’d search out a few more options.

I love the flirty bow on these:

I’m a sucker for white linen, and I think these would be adorable with a white sundress.
Or shorts. Or anything.
These next shoes are fairly boring in comparison, but cuter than flip flops ~ and I think they would be perfect for our weekly walks to the farmer’s market:

Aerosoles Guava Plush Wedge at DSW

 

Sensible, no? Also… who wouldn’t love a shoe with “Plush” in the name? Sounds so comfy and therapeutic!

Finally, I had to include these because they’re so very adorable, and would be perfect with the bold colors and 70s vibe going on in fashion right now:

Impo Tipper Espadrille Wedge at DSW

I do feel the need to point out that I don’t think these wrappy strappy espadrilles would look good on me. I have fairly large calves— I’m not complaining, they’re fairly shapely— but I think my legs look better if you can see my ankles.

What do you think? Am I on the right track to heal my heels?
🙂