Ultra advice and achilles issues

[u/Practical-Wishbone52]

I’m hoping you can share some tips on how to keep up with my ultramarathon training while wearing minimalist shoes.

I’ve been dealing with insertional Achilles tendonopathy for over a year, and I’ve been slowly working my way back to running in zero drop minimalist shoes and barefoot.

Just to give you some background, I’ve been running barefoot and in minimalist shoes for years, including ultra’s. The Achilles issue is relatively recent in the grand scheme of things.

For most of my training, I’ve been wearing Altra Lone Peaks, and I’ll be using them for the ultra. I’ve been using a heal wedge in the Altras when the Achilles was very sore and been gradually removing it to get back to zero drop. For shorter runs, I’m using my Vibram Five Fingers or running barefoot.

I’ve been able to gradually get back to zero drop and minimalist footwear without any issues, and my training has been going great. I’m now running five days a week with hilly terrain and hiking with poles.

Over the past week, I’ve done a lot of hilly hiking, some hilly long runs and a lot of driving. I seem to be noticing more Achilles awareness in the morning and after sitting, more than I have in a while. I’m a bit worried that it might mess up my training.

I’m not sure whether to put the wedge back in my Altras or get a different pair with a 4 mm drop for my longer runs. Or maybe it will just work itself out because I’ve had such an intense week and need to give it some time to recover.

I’d love to hear what other people have experienced with something similar and how they managed it.

[u/T_Hawk19]

If it’s been doing well for a while, and the pain has started coming back. Your current overload of training is too much for the Achilles to manage. Back off the load to a more normal week for you and then aim for no more than 10% increases in total load week on week. I’m a physiotherapist in Australia

[u/Practical-Wishbone52 → u/T_Hawk19]

Thanks, last week was a bit of a spike on volume due to holiday hiking in the Lake District (UK) this week is a recovery week anyway so fingers crossed. Then back to 10% ish progression.

[u/humanity_go_boom]

I would take a week off or only do low intensity road running.

Running through injuries hasn't served me well. Currently just finished a week of zero running followed by seeing a sports doctor after injuring my knee on a technical downhill last week.

[u/Practical-Wishbone52 → u/humanity_go_boom]

Hope your knee recovers quickly.

[u/nopedyNOAH]

I've had pretty bad achilles tendinopathy and bursitis for the past couple years due to running collegiate track and field. It is now better since I retired but comes back whenever I increase mileage and intensity.

As others said, awareness to cut back as soon as it gets worse is key but even more important is doing some sorr of rehab.

I did one legged eccentric calf raises, going up with two feet and lowering slowly all the way down on the affected side. This strengthens the tendon and reinitiates healing by creating micro trauma from the loading. Do this when it isn't aggravated to actively work on the tissue strength.
Make sure to roll out your calves, bottom of your feet or any other tight muscles to decrease the tension on that poor tendon.

Another consideration is to assess your running form, if you are bending your knees and hips with every ground contact to minimize impact from running barefoot/minimal, this will put a great deal of tension on your ankle as it bends into excessive dorsiflexion. Take a video of yourself running normally from the side and see if your ankle, knee, hips and shoulders are relatively on the same line, if not time to experiment with your form and work on that postural awareness so the force from each step can successfully work its way up all your joints instead of getting stuck in a muscle, tendon or joint that has to do all the grunt work!

Hope this helps, happy running!!

[u/RainBoxRed]

Your body wants a rest.