So it’s been about a week since my last update. I was excited to share that things improved quite a bit since the last update, but held off purposely in order to see how it progressed.
It’s been about a week since the sharp soreness is completely gone. I mean, always gone – even in the morning. Do I still feel pain? Yes. But it’s a very dull pain. Wish I could describe it better. And I only feel it first thing in the morning for a few minutes, and when walking after sitting for a while. But it goes away within a minute.
Last week I was close to this point in the healing process but I stupidly overdid-it when I had nightly soccer practices with my kids (son and daughter are on separate teams with 2x per week practices, so I had to be at the field every weeknight). So I did some light jogging on the field when I had to, and sometimes when I didn’t really have to. That brought back the soreness again the next day. I put the heel inserts back in and left them there for a week and that did the trick.
I continued doing the workouts but I must admit – I’ve gone 3 days now without doing the eccentric heel drops. While I think there is definitely some short-term benefit to not doing them (after all, contrary to popular belief they are NOT for strengthening, but for tearing up the tendon in order to stimulate proper re-growth), I need to think long-term and just do them daily. I’ll head off to the gym shortly to do them, along with the other stretching I’ve been doing.
I have soccer practice for the next 3 nights but will force myself to not jump or run at all.
Last night I walked 3 miles. It was nice. I am just really wishing I could run and not have to worry about this thing. It hit me last night, while walking on the track, that I need a fitness goal. I’ve had them for the past few years and they’ve been great at keeping me active. I’m not talking about “Do X number of pull-ups, unassisted.” I could care less about that stuff. Which is why I grew to hate CrossFit. My goals were fun-related, like:
- Work on my cardio/VO2 max and quickness, in order to prepare for soccer league and not embarrass myself (in hindsight, it didn’t really work – I still embarrassed myself…not to mention re-injured my achilles…)
- Do a ‘Couch to 5k’ like program – I did this at the recommendation of my former physical therapist, once the pain was gone for a couple of weeks. Started with walking and within 6 weeks was up to running 3 miles, culminating in doing a 5k with my daughter
As I had mentioned in a prior post or two – I’m done with soccer. It pains me to say that, not because I love the game all that much, but because I had a league/team that I was a part of. And for a soon to be 42-year old guy who has few friends that do anything aside from sit on the couch all day, finding fun active things to do is not easy. My Sports Med doc mentioned that I should try ice hockey, because the skates are rigid at the ankle and will ensure I won’t tug at the tendon. Makes sense. Problem is I can’t skate well at all – scared of falling every time I go with my daughter. But, to my surprise, the local rink has a ‘Beginning Old Guys’ program and it starts this coming weekend. I was secretly wishing the achilles would heal up in time but it hasn’t, and I don’t want to jump into that program without at least being a somewhat competent ice skater. So I’ll start skating as soon as I can.
But until that league starts up again, which I’m hoping is a semi-annual thing and not just once-per-year, then I need to find something else to look forward to. I guess I’ll start looking towards doing a 5k as a “I’m healed!” milestone, but I do need to figure out what comes after that.
I am a big believer in Primal Fitness as espoused by this guy. So running as a sport is not exactly something I’m interested in doing. The occasional 5k without training is fun, but jogging isn’t, for me.
If you got any ideas for a sport that is accepting of a novice and is not so niche that finding a league is next to impossible, then please leave a comment!