My Achilles

So I'm writing this on Sunday as a make-up blog, but I wanted to write about working through injury. Early this week, on Tuesday, I decided to get in some cross-training, and it was a very ambitious cross training session at that. I began my workout by running a treadmill 5k at time trial speed. Then, I completed a strength circuit and hit the treadmill again for another 5k time trial. I completed another different and extreme strength circuit and finished the workout off with-you guessed it-a 5k time trial. It was awesome, sweaty, hardcore, and yes, it hurt! Literally, I felt like I overdid it when I experienced pain in my left achilles tendon. It made me hobble a bit, and I really noticed it the next morning on the walk to work from the train stop. "Oh no," was my first thought as I began calculating how to deal with this and still complete the 10k on Saturday and still be cool for the marathon I've been planning all season, which is on October 10. Tendon injuries, especially the Achilles on a runner, don't heal as quickly as muscle. One major reason is that there isn't as much blood around the tendon as there is around the muscle, and another reason, especially in this case, is that I can't truly rest this tendon since I'm at least walking around all the time. I decided to continue cross training by doing strength training that didn't involve running or anything involving the lower leg/foot. I took advantage of the opportunity created by this difficulty by swimming on a couple days. This allowed me to get in some cardio, work on my swimming, and helped me to maintain an athletic schedule while taking impact out of the equation. I actually ended up running in the 10k and though I'm still sore, the run actually seemed to loosen up the tight, injured tendon, and I am still confident about finishing the marathon in a couple weeks.

If you face injury or other adversity, don't be down! Instead, take a moment to analyze what you can do, and seize the opportunity to do different activities that you now are able to turn to since you have been limited. We will always have a mix of difficulty and opportunity in our lives, and it is imperative to take advantage of the opportunities we do have instead of dwelling on the ones we don't. Stay positive, and enjoy life! Thanks for reading!