Big Goal Run the Last Chance 50 miler & Quailfy for Western States again.
Staying on top of the pace
Sprinting in at Last Chance 50m
These are two goals one longer term, running and qualifying again for the Western States 100 via the Last Chance 50m. The other getting back to the fun of training in the Sierra Nevada’s with my best running buddy winner of the toughest footrace on the planet Badwater! Oswaldo Lopez, missing out on all kinds of great runs with my Bro!
April 7th, 2012 at 9:36 pm
I hear you!!! I was not running ultras but I was working up to 50ks and have been helping my best friend train for ultras. I am missing out on all the great training runs with her in the headlands around SF. I hope I can get back to those distances again. It seems a long way away. I just had to give away a race registration for today. Tried not to think about it. Long term goal is to do the North Face Challenge again. Stay committed to Western States!
April 7th, 2012 at 10:00 pm
How sick is it that the sun is out like all the time right now too! Yeah, I’ve got a registration in the Big Sur Marathon, besides being super expensive at @ $150 and non-refundable it’s also one of the most incredible road marathons going! I’m thinking I may be able to walk that one if I wear my boot. I have been looking forward to it for about 2 years having just missed the registration the previous year (sells out quickly). I’ve got about 22 days ’til then so I think it’s going to be do able. Today was a bit of a bummer for me too, I wanted to run the American River 50 miler, thankfully I hadn’t registered…BTW if you can run a marathon you can definitely run a 50k, it’s just mental after 20 miles anyway! I know we can get back to those distances! With God anything is possible and although these bodies may break down they are also very resilient and amazing in what we can push them to do! God Bless you in your return and recovery!
April 8th, 2012 at 4:11 pm
check the qualifiing runs list….Last chance 50 may not be on there for 2013…
April 8th, 2012 at 5:18 pm
I wouldn’t be surprised to see that, thanks for the heads up…Still qualifying after this injury remains the goal, really enjoyed the run-ability of Last Chance, usually love to get into lots of elevation but this year going to have to hit some flatter courses. Which would make Last Chance so desirable. Same time probably would be the reason it would be left off the list of qualifiers. Which would be fine as I’d have to get to the point where I could manage a lot of elevation change on a course anyway. Still would go qualify somewhere else (no doubt last year with the great shape I was in, Now Lord willing!) yet still run Last Chance just cause it’s a cool race. Julie Fingar does a great job as a RD, and the price and location are right too!
April 9th, 2012 at 11:51 pm
Managed a 20 mile walk on the treadmill last night without incident and truthfully it has been getting a lot easier as I’ve spent more time on my feet…only tired around mile 16. Good news for my short term goal of walking the Big Sur Marathon.
I’ve been 2 shoes for 3 days now and I love it. The only thing is when out in public feel pretty vulnerable with out that blessed/cursed boot…I pay very close attention to the tilt of the surface I’m walking on and the speed and placement of my footfalls.
I’m at a strange stage where nervousness and optimistic confidence are mingling. Noticed that as my tendon grows stronger my body almost wants to forget that it was ever injured. Tho in my two shoes outside I’m tentative out of respect for the injury. I plan my entrance/exit to the car the scaling of a curb as well as the decent
I watch my feet as I walk and scan the path to chart a course. Still my tendon feels so whole and strong…I vacuumed my house today and zoomed right around the place. Of course that’s how I feel in the boot or barefoot at home like I could do anything. It’s funny how as you live with this injury the mind seems able to judge what the body’s new limits become. I know I can walk with fuller strides inside but when I’m on the street or in the grocery store my mind holds me to about half speed, some of that may be that now that I don’t have crutches or the boot people don’t have any other indicator that I’m recovering from a drastic injury. So I feel like I’ve become stronger and more adept at reading the cues my legs sending out physically and mentally I’m staying vigilant and aware of things that I’ve never had to before, I just find the adaptations the body and mind that the Lord has given us to be fascinating…Well Cheers all and Good Safe Healing to you all!
April 10th, 2012 at 9:18 am
Ultra your post and story is inspiring I am 54 a life long runner 15 minis under my belt but now have tendonopathy in my right foot docs dont want to operate but the tendon is some degraded and painful I have a boot and am thinking about going in it like today! After reading your post the pain has gotten worse tough now to walk more than a few blocks without pain. It seems even a torn degraded tendon as yours although partially torn can indeed heal I am doing eccentrics foam roller etc had 3 iontophoresis treatments. We’re you totally nwb for how long in the boot and did u take it off for eccentrics or any therapy? Any work during this time? I am hopeful boot rest could help it heal at least I am praying along those lines my daughter and I prayed hard over Easter! Best to you and thanks
April 10th, 2012 at 11:43 am
Solid! -20 miles of walking is huge at 8 wks… I’m at 14 wks & can bike 20 miles with 2k+ of vertical, but walking more than a couple miles still tires out the foot & tendon pretty badly. I know what you mean about the mental challenge of walking out in public… looking ahead for potential hazards (like a set of 2 stairs!), formulating a plan of attack for said hazards. I’m just now getting to the point of feeling like I can drop the vigilance a bit, but it becomes habit! Good luck on walking Big Sur, beautiful country there - stay safe!
April 11th, 2012 at 3:21 am
@Xpf72q, I was NWB for 4 weeks then partial for a week and a half…I do 90% of my treadmill walking in my boot, as my tendon strengthens I get more aggressive, today I did 7 miles on degrees of incline from slight to full at @ 3.8 - 4.2 mph. When I walk in my shoes on the treadmill it’s not been more than 1 mile at a time and I walk slower than I am capable of, never more than 1.2 mphs and always on the lowest incline setting. You definitely should not walk through any pain & need the tendon to be well on it’s way to healing before you expose it to any real stress. One of the things we’ve prayed for is the wisdom to know when to move forward and for the protection once we did. I haven’t taken any steps forward that I didn’t fell ready to take…I always asked the Lord to direct my steps and didn’t want to do anything that would foolishly undo his handy work in this healing process…I asked for Him to accelerate the healing process as my work depends on me being athletic and he has, even tho I missed 47 days of work. I’m behind on my bills but little miracles(as if any are small, or is it that God is so big that there is nothing to big for Him?) have always “popped” up to carry us through…I knew God knew I need to get to work, I have a Family, wife & 3 kids. After 47 days he made a way for me to go back to work…He does hear and answer prayers, He is compassionate, search out the Gospel and when your injured like this the multitude of times Jesus healed people comes tumbling out of scripture, Amazing! But I will say that it’s on His timeline that these things happen and sometimes things are accelerated and sometimes there are things that he allows to linger for very good reasons, see Paul the Apostle, he prayed for a certain ‘thorn’ in the flesh to be taken away, and the Lord said no, there was a very good reason. He’s always working things out for the betterment of those that believe and do His will…Not to say that he won’t or doesn’t want to heal your injury because I don’t think that’s the case at all…I just think you need to make sure to do things in an orderly fashion or you run the risk of putting the cart before the horse and then you never give your tendon a chance to heal, and what good is that for your testimony…No God will and does heal, how else do we have the opportunity to let people know how great God is.
Let’s see what things have I done:
1. I rested 4 weeks elevating my leg, wearing a compression sock under my boot. I would remove my boot to ice and for ultrasound therapy(I bought a portable unit off EBay), also would remove the boot when the discomfort of wearing it was too much to bear…I was very careful to gently lay my leg atop four pillows I had stacked up on the couch to keep it above heart level.
2. Ultrasound therapy 2-3xs per day morning, midday(whatever that turned out to be as my sleeping schedule went haywire because sleep was in 1-2-3 if I was lucky 4 hr. spurts) Night. Ultrasound helps stimulate blood flow to the area, Achillies has very low blood flow so not much ability to receive the building blocks it needs to rebuild, and to carry away toxins…It also breaks down scar tissue allowing for a stronger rebuilt tendon with properly aligned tissue.
3.Use Cissus Quadrangularis capsules, I take 3 400mg capsules in the morning before meals with a full glass of water, helps minimize the cortisol which is why my morning dose is the largest, before a light lunch 2 capsules, and before bed 2 more. I’ve read a study and quite a few body builder blogs on to it’s ability to nourish tendons and ligament, also has the effect to help muscle building. The studies don’t show any toxicity from larger dosages.
4. When NWB I would do a lot of core work and leg lifts, Lying on my back with boot on bicycling my legs in the air to not only maintain sanity and salvage some runners fitness but to hopefully manually stimulate my bodies circulatory system.
5. I would also try to build up the distance I could go outdoors on my crutches building up to a whopping
2 miles by the end of the 4 weeks. Again sanity and hopefully circulation and blood flow.
6. Then I’d carefully and awkwardly with the help of my very patient and I can’t say it enough loving and understanding wife painstakingly place myself into a very warm bath. Which strikes me as funny cause there are many days when I’d come home from a grueling 30 miler and go right into a cold water bath to help in recovery. But in this case I was looking to get in the warm water and lightly massage my tendon and calf, very light touch just to a. feel for progress. b. stimulate the area…I had a very tingly dull feeling around my heal for about 3 weeks.
7. I would then start a cycle of Icing…I probably iced too much but I had a lot of inflammation. Most of the major inflammation stayed with me for 3 weeks. Any inflammation I have now goes away or very near it with about 1 application of ice. But those first 3 weeks I was wearing that freezer door out.
8. I also tried and continue to get as much sleep as I can, it’s definitely when your body is under construction, it’s just when your body is in pure recovery mode…As an athlete you probably know that your body breaks down on a cellular level when you’re working it out, and it gets stronger during the rest days as it rebuilds all the micro damage.
9. I read a study that was done in 2010 on rat Achillies tendons that were severed and the researchers had I think 3 separate groups, the 1st was allowed full mobilization. The 2nd limited, I believe it was something like 20-30 minutes of mobile a day. The 3rd was immobilized…I think they then destroyed and autopsied them at something like 17 days, and then maybe intervals of a week or two in between for three more time periods…In every autopsy the rats had healing corresponding to the amount of mobilization they were allowed…So,although nervously, I would take the next step from NWB to PWB to FWB but never before I felt my tendon was ready…I also waited until my doctor cleared me for work before I went that step…His last words to me, “I hope I see you at our next appointment and not before”, of course he threw a wink in there to let me know he had confidence all was going well.
I have never used a foam roller tho I know many people who swear by it and the progress they have made through all kinds of running injuries and just as injury prevention…I would not of used one on my tendon as it was healing as I think in the ruptured and then proceeding weakened states following the rupture, that it just would of been to aggressive a manipulation of the tendon for the early stages of healing.
I apologize for the length of the post I just wanted to hopefully encourage you and in a way honoring the Lord and what he’s done for me caution you against doing things before you’re tendon is ready…It has to heal enough before you can start re-building your strength…I know that sucks, my calf turned into a wet noodle. But the good news is that once you are ready the muscle does start to return. My calf tho smaller that the other is pretty strong once again…So rest up follow your doctors orders with in reason…Be proactive and if anything hurts back off right away…And Pray in faith to the Lord who loves you like only He can. Read the Word there are only two things the Lord breathed into people and His word, there is a lot of encouragement in there…Remember, Psalm 23 Yea tho I WALK THROUGH the valley of death…He’ll walk you through it, even though we want Him to pull us out of it…I found a lot of strength in the Psalms and the Gospels…especially the Psalms written by King David, David went through a lot in his life and it’s illuminating to read that in the Psalms…God Bless, find the positive, let your body start the healing process, and know that you have one more person on your side praying for you. One last note Jesus is for you! God Bless.
April 11th, 2012 at 3:30 am
@Pablo, thanks for the kind words, I love that vertical your doing, it’s how I measured all of my good workouts pre-injury :)…Yeah when I go out now I put on a steely gaze to stare some of the oblivious walkers off and if I’m with my wife I tuck in behind her and let her open up the lanes…So blessed to live near Big Sur, one of the prettiest areas to run & we can get away with it year round with this temperate climate, tho we pay for it in cost of living…Rents and gas and all the rest of the cost of living that goes along with it.
Pablo with your walking was there a plateau affect at some point for you?
April 11th, 2012 at 11:42 am
Ultra- Yes, I think there is a plateau for me in walking / duration on my feet, and I think I’m in the middle of it right now. Last week I walked 2 miles (with hills - I live at 9000′ and there is no flat out my door). I generally alternate the walking exercise with the bike day by day. I was sick last week and decided stay off the bike and to do the walk 2 days in a row - I made it about half way and had to turn back with some new pains that I hadn’t felt before in the achilles & radiating up the calf. After a couple of days off, it is better, so I think its just “awakening” new range and muscle that has been dormant. Told my PT about it (and he’s both fairly aggressive with the re-hab, and has also rehabbed a broken ankle himself) and he said to scale back on the walking for exercise at this point for a few weeks - keep it at maybe 1-2 mile walks 1-2 x’s per week. Seemed like strange advice to me, but I trust him, and have worked with him before. I think the idea is to get more strength in all the parts of the foot/calf so it can operate correctly & not have my gait “breakdown” with the repetitiveness of longer walks.
A couple of questions:
Do you get the bottom of the heel pain when you are walking distance on the treadmill?
Do you feel like your walking gait is natural/correct at this point?
April 11th, 2012 at 2:59 pm
What your PT says makes sense, I had a few little aches and soreness in my foot at first from it’s lack of activity.
I have had the back of heal pain tho not a scary kind of pain more of a ache in the soft tissue, tho the heal bone itself does have a slight ache after Treadmill, but nothing ‘bad’.
Yes, thankfully my gait feels normal, I think I started walking at just the right time so that I could reclaim much of the calf muscle that had been sagging…I had built up pretty brawny calves and even tho my calf weakened tremendously there seemed to be a good degree of muscle memory. Very thankful, I understand that is one of the tougher challenges coming out of this injury, just reclaiming that muscle & gait…So yes walking normally although slower out of caution.
April 11th, 2012 at 3:10 pm
ultra- first many personal thanks for your excellent and incredibly helpful post! appreciated beyond what u can know. my timeline if i could mention it is long runs on the national mall ( i live and work in dc) every other day along with tennis some light strength training and footpath walking (a 64 miler in england last year) resulted in tendonopathy in october 2011 which i limped around on for 6-7 weeks then got heal lifts and finally had an mri which indicated no tear partial or full and moderate thickening altho i am sure there are numerous micro tears in this the mri being in december. i should have gone in the boot then but did eccentrics for 3 months and pt 2x a week with little result and have now gone into the boot had iontophoresis 3x and am getting orthotics friday which i may wear only at home a bit as i think the boot is my best route for now. i do continue the eccentrics tho albeit every other day because as you and i both know the muscles need to time after break down to recover. did u ever do them in your rehab> the orthos swear by them, and studies bear it out but i have had mixed results at best. i do have a home ultrasound machine i use my boot fwb but i did order and receive some crutches and might go that route to allow it fully to rest. God does allow incredible challenges in life does he not and we must be thankful for what he has given us and work our way through them as best we can. i just ordered some cissus! why not it looks safe i had never heard of it and will give it a go. if you can i would be interested to see your tendon photos before and after or during recovery i have some as well i can email or show u. Was thinking of Psalms 18 in reading your post and what we have and are going thru “In my distress i called upon the Lord; to my God i cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice and my cry to him reached his ears” and later in 18 “the God who equipped me with strength and made my way blameless. He made my feet like the feet of deer, and set me secure on the heights”. beautiful isnt it? It came up in our Easter Service here and my daughter and i particularly liked it. Jesus i know is for us both. Your note does give me strength in this weakened time interesting about how your calf is coming back. this is already happening after a few days in the boot a concern as i see it visibly getting smaller but consider it a needed part of allowing things to heal. by my orthos refuse surgery and altho it is tendonopathy and weakening of the tendon inside they have seen cases of recovery over time as bad or worse than mine. I am wanting to avoid surgery at all costs! but if it is needed and unbearable i will endure that too. But only after alot of boot action! i may rival or exceed your 47 days! I have re-read what you offered several times and plan to incorporate some things. I dont ice ho as most of my inflammation is gone except for some low grade which aggravates and swells the tendon after a day of walking which is why i am giving the boot a go. my ortho said it would be the next step but i decided to go ahead with it now as like you i become to anxious to move it all along. my best to you hope we can stay in touch u mentioned 3 kids and a wife should u ever paln a trip to dc let me know will arrange a white house and capitol tour for you of the first order i work for the congress up here! God bless you and your family and thank you for your prayers!
April 11th, 2012 at 3:19 pm
oh, and on a related note i have taped to my bathroom mirror the very same thing Bruce Lee taped to his mirror for 6 months when he was in bed practically full time recovering from a serious back injury he got in the gym: “Walk On”. thats it. Altho i find the greatest strength from scripture this is not a bad thing to be reminded of from an incredibly fit guy who overcame alot!
April 11th, 2012 at 3:41 pm
I have read the benefits of eccentric exercises and they do work from the studies I’ve read particularly for tendonosis/tendonapathy. The study I read showed that it cured these conditions in something like 99% of the cases. Yeah those micro tears in the tendon are the degenerative part of the injury that have to be given a chance to heal which is the difficult part of your injury as we are on our feet so much of the day. Good thing is it sounds like your docs have a good handle on the situation, just sounds like it will take a while
I myself haven’t tried the eccentric stuff yet as I’m not quite at that stage of recovery yet…It’s funny when I initially injured my tendon I thought I just had tendonitis, there wasn’t much outward sign of the injury except for a small nodule on the tendon above the ankle…I tried the heal drop/lifts that are recommended and I did about twenty of those through the searing pain in the tendon & it was on fire afterwards. I certainly made the partial rupture worse there, through trying to diagnose my own condition. But yes when my tendon is about another month or so along I plan on incorporating these exercises.
I would definitely incorporate ice & really R.I.C.E., Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation…
Keep working the Ultrasound and massage, remember to always massage toward the heart, I also do a cross-friction massage to stimulate blood flow and help break down the scar tissue. You can find clips of how to do this on YouTube.
Yep, I love that verse…So appropriate! God is so good and yeah the scriptures are not only His instructions to us and the pathway to Christ, but they are a Love letter! And so we should be to each other as believers and to the world.
We can/will stay in touch and I appreciate your offer, and would love to take you up on it, Love our Nation! Trying time especially for you all on Capitol Hill! I have prayed for you and will continue to do so… God Bless!
April 11th, 2012 at 3:43 pm
Yep Bruce Lee was awesome…I agree all the reminders we can find that send the right message to help us to overcome!
April 11th, 2012 at 4:03 pm
Xpf72Q - I tried ice for months and it did not help me pre op - try a warm heat pack -Wish I’d tried it earlier.
April 11th, 2012 at 4:45 pm
I too find a lot of benefit with heat, maybe a cycle of the two, esp. after activity.
April 11th, 2012 at 4:49 pm
So, I’m still trying to wrap my head around this:
> Managed a 20 mile walk on the treadmill last night without incident…
> I do 90% of my treadmill walking in my boot… 3.8 - 4.2 mph
Are you doing ~5 hour sessions on the treadmill, @ 8 weeks? If so, wow!
I considered myself an almost extreme advocate for walking early and often. But I never came close to 20mi jaunts-
April 11th, 2012 at 5:14 pm
Yeah, little longer like 5hr 12min, for my body it was a welcome return…I have had running sessions much longer…The boot has provided ample protection. I didn’t just jump back into that long a session mind you, I built up to it 1st time on the treadmill was a nervous 20 mins. After a rest day I did a 7 mile walk varying the incline and speed while watching the Celtics vs Heat on tv, other than the sweat there was nothing aggravating about it
I make sure my footfalls and stride are not awkward but smooth & if I feel any weirdness at all I back off. I’m going to post a few pics of my tendon in a few mins.
April 14th, 2012 at 10:59 am
Nice going Ultra…
Looks like from the pics you posted you had the less invasive surgery (looked like a couple of small scars rather that one big long one?). Either way - that tendon is looking really good… I’ve been told not to expect mine to ever get back to looking “skinny & rope-like”.
Keep it going & be safe!
Cheers,
April 19th, 2012 at 2:28 am
Pablo Non-Op…Thanks for the kind words…I’m thankful that the tendon has responded so well…God is good! Blessings to you in your recovery!