Healing a hurt heel

Before I started mountain biking and doing tris, I was a runner. And since I was a runner first, that's what I've felt is kind of my defining sport. What I'd choose if I could only do one sport. Or at least that's how I used to feel, until I took over a month off of running to heal a nagging pain. During that month I realized I can survive without running. Gasp!

My Achilles has been hurting me for over a year. It started last summer when I convinced a friend to do track workouts to train for a mile PR. The training was a lot of fun (and super hard). I ran on a bunch of different tracks and surfaces over the 8 weeks of the training plan. I think those different surfaces combined with the same directions of turns was enough to mess up my Achilles. Despite the pain, I still got a PR for the mile (6:07)!

I'm pretty stubborn about injuries. Unless they seriously affect my ability to swim, bike, or run properly, then I'll probably ignore it and work through the pain. Because that's what endurance training teaches us to do, right? Pain is weakness leaving the body! But when is pain something we should take seriously? For me I know it's bad when it affects my form, gets worse throughout a workout, or hurts even when I'm not exercising. My Achilles would hurt when I first woke up and for the first few minutes of a run but would usually go away as I warmed up. That's why I brushed it off as an ache that would hopefully go away on its own eventually. But even when I know I should pay attention to the ache, it usually takes some outside convincing to do something about it.

A year later and the pain was staying the same, if not getting worse and hurting throughout the day. I was complaining to my dad about it and, probably for the hundredth time, he said I should take some time off from running. Of course I instantly thought it was a terrible suggestion and why would my dad suggest anything as ridiculous as not running! But as I let it sink it, I realized he was right. I didn't have any races coming up so this really was a perfect time for some much needed heel R&R. 

I found a stretch online that was supposed to help (eccentric heel drops) and committed to doing 30 of them twice a day until I didn't feel pain anymore. (I was also told to do the same thing by my longtime physical therapist). And I wasn't going to run until I was pain free. I didn't want to put a number of weeks on how long it would take, because that would have make me crazy as I counted down the days while worrying if it would actually get better. I'd let my body do it's thing. At first this plan scared me, but I knew I shouldn't be limping around all day and knowing that I could get back to my normal pain-free running self was enough motivation.

Thank goodness for biking and swimming or else I definitely would have gone crazy over the last month. I spent most of the month biking (mostly trainer rides because the trails have been way too wet), fitting in swims when I could make it to the pool and it didn't close because of thunder storms, or doing strength workouts. Surprisingly I felt pretty good during this time. I usually run for about an hour (6-7 miles) a day 2-4 times a week and as much as I think of this as easy, running takes a lot out of me. Biking and swimming are much easier on my body, while still giving me that good workout feeling. 

Fast forward a month later and I'm basically pain free. I decided today would be the day to test the heel out. I'd run close to my house in case it got worse again. The first few running strides I took felt amazing! I forgot how free running feels! About a quarter mile in, I noticed some pain, but tried to adjust my form and it seemed to work! Yay!! I ran a little over a mile and it felt great. I'm going to build back up super slowly (yes really I'm going to, I promise!). I really don't want any more of this injury crap.

Hi old friends! I've missed you!

So if you have some sort of making pain that just won't go away, maybe it's time to take a step back and find a way to fix it. Giving up exercising is so difficult once it's part of your lifestyle and there was so much anxiety for me about how much fitness I'd lose and how slow I'd get and if I'd gain any weight. But if you're otherwise healthy, then once you're pain free you can get back all your speed and maybe more. But if you're pushing through unnecessary pain, then it's probably just holding you back. Like I've been telling myself... just think how much better it'll feel in the long term! 

PS: A little plug for tris (or multisport training) -- having multiple sports to do is great if you can't do one because of injury or otherwise!