Stupid achilles update.

Oh this stupid, stupid injury. How I hate you.

I neglected to talk about it for the past few months, mostly because I have sucked at keeping this blog updated. BUT, I HAVE been treating the stupid thing. After my incident of getting frostbite at my physical therapy experience in January, you could say I was VERY reluctant to try any sort of physical therapy again. But, probably mid-February, my trainer Justin recommended me to a sports physical therapist that he knows and works with. After being able to run great for one week only to be back on the elliptical the next due to the return of the achilles pain, I emailed his contact (who my running girlfriend who also has an injury calls, affectionately, Dr. Death). I told Dr. Death that I wanted to get in ASAP because I was over this injury.

Next morning at 7am, I am in there. Justin said he would come along because he knows Dr. Death... and knew I would need moral support.

Uh? Could this be why my friend gave him that name? I laughed it off and then...

the treatment started.

CAN I JUST SAY, I have NEVER in my whole life, experienced such pain? I would do the superman stunt four MILLION TIMES versus this. And that HURT. Yes, yes, Renee, his name is INDEED Dr. Death.

I think I screamed "HOLY FUCKING SHIT" about 500 billion times. My clue should have been when he handed me a pillow first thing and said in his cute little south african accent: "you're going to need to hold on to this. Trust me." And patted me on the shoulder.

I mean, you guys, I was INVOLUNTARILY CRYING. It hurt THAT BAD.

Basically the treatment consisted of ultrasound which was ok but THEN after getting the calf muscle/achilles all loose, he took what looked like a freaking scalpel and JUST WENT FOR IT. Basically just DUG AND DUG AND DUG into my calf muscle and sore achilles. Hence the screaming and involuntarily crying into the pillow.

When that form of mad torture was over, I looked at Justin and he said, "Oh, those poor, sad, big blue eyes... told you you'd need moral support." At that point I was speechless and stunned by how freaking bad it hurt. That was followed by ice and stimulation (and I was assured 100 times that I wouldn't get frostbite this time).

Apparently, according to Dr. Death, the problem with my achilles stemmed from my calf muscle and it was a symptom of the calf muscle. He says he sees it all the time in runners and there's really no rhyme or reason why it happens and it could have been a problem for years but just decided to show up in my achilles for whatever reason when it did. Hmm. Good to know.

I was also given a "stick" in which I could work out the kinks/knots in my calf muscle tissue on a daily basis to help break it up and get better from the injury. Um, THAT HURT TOO.

Above: a picture of my bandaged leg after the first unbearable treatment... after the first time, the muscle and achilles got progressively better so the treatments didn't hurt as much.

So, anyway, I saw Dr. Death for a few months 2-3 times a week. I'd try to run and walk and the achilles WOULD STILL HURT. Eventually, around mid-April, he told me (and I actually really like and respect him, regardless of our pet name of Dr. Death), well, this isn't working. We need to get a new strategy because as much as I like you and like seeing you, I don't want to see you in my office with an injury forever.

Um, me either.

So he told me to sprint.

What? I don't think I heard that clearly.

Sprint. Run intervals. Sprinting. Go as fast as you can for minute intervals, then walk a minute, then sprint, up to a half an hour.

And I look at him like, you've got to be kidding me.

But at that point, I was getting desperate again (after NINE MONTHS of this stupid injury). So that night at the gym, I tried it.

I lasted for 2 minutes and got off the treadmill in tears. It was not good.

But the next day, I didn't even feel my achilles. Weird. So I thought, well, what the hell, I'll give it another go-around. I did the sprinting intervals for a half an hour and it FELT AWESOME. No pain, at all. WHAT?!?!?!

Following that, I ran everyday for the remainder of the month of April and got to the point that I was running 6 miles a day... still slow at a 10 minute mile pace but regardless, RUNNING, for 6 miles straight.

I told Dr. Death he was a genius.

BUT. All good things must end. I guess.

My "good" leg got a strain from all of that running in about mid-May. Apparently I hit it too hard, too fast. Bummer. And in the midst of that strain, the achilles started to flare up ever so slightly again. So, I was back to the elliptical walking it off and trying to heal. As I write this in June, I am running again (for the past 2 weeks), about 3-4 miles a day at a 10 minute mile pace... so far so good. We'll see what happens from here.... I'm hopeful that maybe, just maybe, this is the end of this injury for me, especially if I am patient and continue to start running again SLOWLY, without pushing it. The tissue all feels fine, it's just getting my body back acclimated to everything without injurying it. The goal is a half marathon in the next year and NO more injuries. I think it's do-able.