Help with Achilles Tendon

msarobix

Hi everyone,

I am pretty new to this group. I joined awhile ago, but really haven't participated in any of the conversations.

Anyway, I have been running for awhile, usually about 5 miles a day, and mostly on a treadmill.

Recently I have been experiencing pain in my left calf/achilles tendon, I am not sure which. I have no pain when start out walking to warm up, which I usually do for 5-10 minutes, followed by some stretching. Then I start my run, at a snails pace of around 11:20 minute mile. But within 5-10 minutes of running the pain starts. If I slow back down to a walk of around 13:30 minute mile then the pain will sometimes subside, but almost as soon as I start running again the pain comes back. If I run too long with the pain when I go back to the fast walking pace of 13:30 minute mile the pain doesn't go away. But if I drop to a 15:00 minute mile pace then there is no pain at all.

I am not sure what I am doing wrong. I use to be able to run 7-8 miles at a slightly slower pace, but now I am lucky if I can squeak out 5 miles in less time.

Maybe it is because I use to run outside and now almost 100% of my running has been on the treadmill. Or maybe I am not doing the right stretches before or after my run.

Can someone please help me to figure this out. It is really holding me back from running and I have really come to love it.

Thanks.
Tina

ka97

Sounds like Achilles tendonitis. Could be your shoes, could be your form on the treadmill, could be you added your mileage too quickly, could be not enough rest.
See a doctor, and maybe a physical therapist.
Sadly, if it is Achilles Tendonitis, you need to plan on taking some time off running. Continuing to run will only make it worse.

msarobix

Thanks. I am hoping that it might be the shoes. I tried a new brand of shoes and I have experienced other problems with my toes, that I think were caused by the shoes also. I have now retired the shoes and gone back to my previous brand which I never had any trouble with.

I will limit my running for a few weeks to see if it doesn't get better.

msarobix

Does anyone think that I might have stretched my Achilles' tendon too much, is the possible.

CarsonRuns

Get thee to a specialty running store and get properly fitted for the right shoe for you. Start there and see if that makes a difference.

msarobix

Get thee to a specialty running store and get properly fitted for the right shoe for you. Start there and see if that makes a difference.

I purchase all my running shoes from a running store. I think it might just be the brand. I had been wearing Ascis Shoes, and then earlier this year I purchased a pair of Brooks shoes to try something different. Since wearing the Brooks shoes I have experienced a bunch of problems.