Niggling issues on the home stretch of training

[ratherawkward]

I'm running STWM on October 20, my first full, and the last week or so my right ankle/Achilles area has been 'off'... I wouldn't say it's an injury, but at the point where I know I need to back off and take some rest or else it'll turn into one. No running this weekend for me.

Now, that just leaves next weekend and the weekend after for (hopefully, ankle permitting) a last couple of long runs before taper. I have already run a 30k race and a 32k training run (plus three or four long runs in the 20-26k range), so I'm not feeling too panicked, and I've thrown all time goals out the window - at this point I just want to make it to the start line in a condition that'll let me get round the marathon course within the time limit.

I guess my question is, how worried should I be about the last couple of pre-taper long runs? Ideally I'd like to take a few days' rest and then hopefully do something like 26-28k next weekend and 30-32 the weekend after, but I'll have to see how I feel.

[Jwolf]

You're better off resting it and being healthy for the marathon than chancing the runs. You're smart to notice it and back off before it becomes worse. Have you thought about getting some ART treatment to try to work out anything that's in there? When you are ready to run, don't worry about pace-- just run as easy as you have to. In general most people think it's a good idea to not have a pace goal for a first marathon anyway, even for advanced runners.

The bigger picture is that the reality of many introductory marathon plans is that they can be very hard on your body as the mileage builds up. They tend to be heavy on the long run but lower in weekly mileage, and you're often building week upon week with little adaptation time. So often little (or sometimes unfortunately bigger) injury issues start to surface.

Also try not to think about the one long run as the most important thing, because your total weekly mileage is also a huge factor. Especially now- consistency is your friend.

[fingerboy]

Achilles injuries are very tough because they don't heal as fast as anything else. There's not really a big blood supply to the tendon. If it hurts a lot, you may need to consider x'ing the marathon altogether. It depends on how much pain you really feel, and whether it goes away with running or gets worse. I've had both. Leading into Chicago last year, I thankfully had the latter, and I was able to tame it and run. However I've had plenty of the former, and though you may rest it for a weekend, it may not be enough, and then exacerbate it.

The best recommendation I can say if you want to keep with running, is to make sure you're doing everything you can to help it - like cold ankle soaks after each run or every day even if you don't run, possibly go half size up in shoes (for me if anything is touching the tendon it got worse). I specifically wear Adidas Adios line because they have the least padding in the heal and thus most room. Do you feel a bursitis? Aka a ball? or is it still flat. If there's a ball forming then that's harder. If its just thicker, that's a little easier.

Eccentric heel drops are also helpful. I wouldn't necessarily focus on eccentric loading too much when its acute, but maybe after to strengthen.

Also if you touch the sheath and flex your ankle, do you feel anything weird?

[ratherawkward]

Definitely no 'ball', and nothing feels weird to the touch. It's not really what I'd call painful, and I don't notice it when running, but it's just tender enough after runs to let me know that I'd better back off, if that makes sense. So I'm hoping that if I keep things very conservative, I'll be okay for race day.

I never really had my heart set on a time goal - breaking 5 hours would have been nice if all the stars had aligned in my favour, but really, I know I'm punching above my weight to even be attempting a marathon at this point in my running life. I'm just looking at this whole year as a newbie learning experience, and then afterwards I'll know what I'm getting into if I want to do another one at a more serious training level (probably not any time soon, but with a super-slow time on this one, at least the bar would be low for a PR later... ).

Thanks for all your help! (I have to say... this training is giving me a whole new appreciation for how much I like the half-marathon)

[Jwolf]

A few tips for the Achilles so that it doesn't lead to worse issues:

- Make sure you warm up and ease into the speed, especially if you are doing any faster runs.

- Careful on hills, especially downhills. I wouldn't bother with any hill repeat workouts, and take hills easily in training runs.

- Stretching out your foot at the big toe joint helps to release the Achilles. You can't feel it at the time, but it works. As does digging into your calf muscles and flexing your foot in dorsiflexion position (I use one hand to press on the calf, one to pull back the foot-- learned this from my ART provider). These two "releases" have really helped me.

- Make sure you shoes are ok. Toward the end of marathon training you may need to replace them.

Good luck.