Even though this runner took our marathon MOT, his training plan was a little to aggressive for the start of his running. This added to my training stress into the Achilles to fast and this was causing a little damage in the tendon. We reviewed his plan and got him doing some cross training as it was early enough in the plan to make these adjustments and looked at the following aspects:
- Keep his cardio-vascular fitness levels up with different exercises but in non-weighbearing to allow the tissue to recover
- Fascial treatment to help the Achilles recover
- Adjustment of his training plan, as a novice marathon runner he'd picked a training plan that was too advanced
- Offered a progressive remedial exercise plan and stretching to help the Achilles recover
Injury is not the end - but it deserves respect
Marathon runners are going to face injury at some point and there is a huge amount to deal with: the lost training; the unknown length of time to recovery and a looming deadline which can't be pushed back. Mental anguish is one of the hardest aspects to contain, we are very conscious of this and will deploy a training strategy to meet this deadline. In 15 years of treating runners, I have a wealth of knowledge on how injuries recover and the best way to keep runners training and how to come back into their training plan.
Achilles tendon injury
Achilles tendon injury is an injury in the fascial system of the body, it's a very deceptive tissue, when it warms up it becomes more pliable and any of the pain you feel when it's stiff dissipates. So when you run it feels ok, but then the next day is when you notice the problem. Damage in the fascia takes a little longer to heal, so my advice would be to seek profession help earlier in your training when you notice things like your Achilles or ITB giving trouble. They tend to be caused by issues that can't be fixed by foam rolling the painful areas.