Can I give you an idea of something new to look at? I've had 35+yrs of achilles/calf niggles after badly breaking my right ankle as a teenager. What has turned my running around in the past 9x months is to look at the range of motion in my right ankle. I couldn't plantar flex as much as the left ankle and also my soleous would often tighten more than the gastroc - and this was due to restricted movement. I have since been consistently using thick bands + a heavy dumbell to increase the dorsiflexion, and for the plantar I hook my right foot under the sofa and lie back as far & flat as possible! This has been ridiculously easy to fix, but I had to find the initial problem first. Good luck with resolving your problems and I hope to see you & Kat et al racing in the near future. 🙂
Don't be afraid to load your calf raises if you want your body to heal. At 50yo I'm back running a 36.40min 10K, pain free, using 80-90kg on calf raises and I weigh 67kg. Need sufficient load and things happen quickly after that.
chronic achilles tendon issues might be several things. very often people think it is overuse and sometimes it is the case. but more often the problem lies somewhere else and the achilles tendon issues are just the symptoms, the cause is above in the kinetic chain. in general, when muscles and tendons are overloaded, they cause problems and are irritated. they are overloaded because they substitute work for other m uscles which are not firing 100%. most likely, your achilles tendon is asked by you to work 100+% as primer mover and as a stabilizer because upper leg muscles don't do that as they should at 100%. I would look into strengthening your glute, adductor and hamstring on the problematic leg. after a few weeks your calf problems might go away. changing shoes will only treat symptoms with miserable results. you need to find the cause. good luck.
@@Reastle1 and you have strong calves so the brain has a tendency to overload them as the strongest local muscle group compensating for some weak local muscle group. when you find it and strengthen it the chronic achilles pain should go away. it could be glutes or hams or tibialis anterior or any combo of the above
Carbon shoes are killers. Had endless Achilles issues and banished them. More flexible shoes with greater heel stability, combined with endless calf raises has fixed the issue.
Can I give you an idea of something new to look at? I've had 35+yrs of achilles/calf niggles after badly breaking my right ankle as a teenager. What has turned my running around in the past 9x months is to look at the range of motion in my right ankle. I couldn't plantar flex as much as the left ankle and also my soleous would often tighten more than the gastroc - and this was due to restricted movement. I have since been consistently using thick bands + a heavy dumbell to increase the dorsiflexion, and for the plantar I hook my right foot under the sofa and lie back as far & flat as possible! This has been ridiculously easy to fix, but I had to find the initial problem first.
Good luck with resolving your problems and I hope to see you & Kat et al racing in the near future. 🙂
great clear explanation of when to run. thank you
Don't be afraid to load your calf raises if you want your body to heal. At 50yo I'm back running a 36.40min 10K, pain free, using 80-90kg on calf raises and I weigh 67kg. Need sufficient load and things happen quickly after that.
chronic achilles tendon issues might be several things. very often people think it is overuse and sometimes it is the case. but more often the problem lies somewhere else and the achilles tendon issues are just the symptoms, the cause is above in the kinetic chain. in general, when muscles and tendons are overloaded, they cause problems and are irritated. they are overloaded because they substitute work for other m uscles which are not firing 100%. most likely, your achilles tendon is asked by you to work 100+% as primer mover and as a stabilizer because upper leg muscles don't do that as they should at 100%. I would look into strengthening your glute, adductor and hamstring on the problematic leg. after a few weeks your calf problems might go away. changing shoes will only treat symptoms with miserable results. you need to find the cause. good luck.
Yep - have been working on all those things. As you say Achilles usually compensating for other things
@@Reastle1 and you have strong calves so the brain has a tendency to overload them as the strongest local muscle group compensating for some weak local muscle group. when you find it and strengthen it the chronic achilles pain should go away. it could be glutes or hams or tibialis anterior or any combo of the above
Carbon shoes are killers. Had endless Achilles issues and banished them. More flexible shoes with greater heel stability, combined with endless calf raises has fixed the issue.
How are you treating your Achilles after your runs? Ice? Heat? Elevation?
Not treating it post runs at the moment as it doesn’t need it. Have been working on strengthening instead
Ruth, great vid, you are an inspiration, just checking, do you a slight limp in the jog? take it easy....
No I think the little camera makes it look like that with how it stabilises the jolting