As I promised, I am going to continue to update my recovery from Achilles Surgery that consisted of debridement and Flexor Tendon transfer into my Achilles. My purpose is to provide anyone who may be facing this same surgery with a full year report on my recovery and the effects on running.
Since my last update (20-week post-op), I’ve averaged 38 miles a week running, which mileage wise, is getting back close to the average weekly mileage (42), which I ran year round prior to surgery. However, these were slow miles in my first 40-mile week post-op.
Week 22
In week 22 I managed to run four 400-meter repeats at a 5:27 pace. The next day, Tuesday, I ran a seven mile progression run that starts out, after a one mile warm up, at a 7:19 pace and each subsequent mile is 10 to 15 seconds faster ending with a 6:40 mile. The following Saturday I ran a 19:50 5k. So yes, speed still comes from speed work, but patience is the greater virtue of recovery. During this week my Achilles still swelled and had some lingering pain after the harder runs.
Week 23
I managed to run 10 x 400-meter repeats on a treadmill with a 1% grade at a 5:27 pace, but was quickly reminded again by a sore Achilles, to go easy again for a couple of days and continued to massage it at night.
Running may feel good yet sometimes I would catch myself favoring the leg that was repaired with a bit of a limp afterwards and take it easy the next day. I’ve learned to take a day off before soreness becomes pain.
Week 29
This week was my best week in that I was able to run 8 x 400s at a 5:27 pace with a 1% grade on the treadmill on Monday, followed by a 7.5 mile progression run Tuesday (7:30-6:30 pace), a 6-mile recovery run Wednesday, and just completed a 14.2 mile run with an average pace of 7:57 including 3 water stops. (Big thanks to my training partner MC!) The last two miles were at a 7:03 pace. I wore the Achilles pro-trainer brace today and I expect to use it for another six weeks on runs longer than 12 miles. There is a very little soreness and virtually no swelling, SWEET!
The calf muscle is pretty strong at this point, but in running 5ks recently, I think it may be just a few more weeks before its 100%.
My surgery was six and half months ago and I do believe with the tendon transfer it may take longer to recover than with simple debridement. Today my Achilles is at the point that I haven’t used ice on it in over two weeks. I only massage it now as a preventive measure.
The good news, as a runner, I’ve lost two toenails already from running! I figure when I lose one more and only have seven functional toenails, I’m Back!
About Me
- David
- I was teaching cycle at the YMCA and a friend said, "You ought to run!" I thought, “I am 43 and somewhat content in life he must be nuts!” There was nothing appealing about running to me. My friend was a very gifted and knowledgeable runner and in a few months he had me in the right shoes, on the right diet, and believing I too could run. Simply getting to where I could run 3 miles was my biggest challenge. I started doing local races in 2004 and since then have logged over 13,900 miles.