Sore Achilles Tendon

[Manotea]

I've been playing around with saddle position, raising it ~8mm in attempt to reduce pressure on my bum. Now I've got a sore achilles tendon 3 weeks before LEL. Bother. Was planning to ride The Tour of Herts and Denmead 600 as last tune-up rides but I suspect rest is needed. Best option I can think of is to hit the pool (swim) to try and retain some semblence of CV fitness.

What does the team think? 

[disrail]

I'm struggling with the same issue. with the Merseyroads 24 exactly one month away.

I'm actually typing this sat at home with an ice pack on my leg!!

Went out on Saturday to do the Cat and Fiddle in Buxton and raised my saddle ~5mm as I'd been experiencing issues with my knees after hitting the hills and having the club coach lower my saddle. 120 miles in all
On Sunday it was a bit sore, so lowered the saddle again. Cue 90 more hilly miles and it was done for. Next morning I could hardly walk.

My strategy is Ice 3 times a day & ibuprofen to stop swelling. Then when I get back to the bike, perhaps next week, daily 1 hour sessions (possibly on turbo) avoiding any hills and getting out of the saddle. Make sure i do some gentle stretching after each of these sessions to keep the calf loose.

When i get back on the bike I'll be moving the cleat position as far back as it will go and lowering the saddle. This takes strain off the achilles when peddaling. (Did this quickly on sunday's ride and it didn't feel as different as i thought it would)

The other thing a physio has recommended was to keep a long towel next to the bed. When you wake up in the morning, pop the towel round your toes and very gently pull to stretch the achilles before getting up and walking on it. Sometimes those first few steps in the morning can undo all the repairing work done overnight.

Hope you notice some improvements soon. Regarding fitness, you may loose some of the higher intensity fitness you had, but the long miles stay in the legs a lot better so I wouldn't worry too much.

[vorsprung]

I've been playing around with saddle position, raising it ~8mm in attempt to reduce pressure on my bum. Now I've got a sore achilles tendon 3 weeks before LEL. Bother. Was planning to ride The Tour of Herts and Denmead 600 as last tune-up rides but I suspect rest is needed. Best option I can think of is to hit the pool (swim) to try and retain some semblence of CV fitness.

What does the team think? 

Down 4mm and have 5 days off
No threat to your CV fitness

[Chris S]

Eat an anti-inflammatory diet for a while. This means steer clear of sweet, fatty stuff and enjoy lots of snacking on Apples (with skins), red Grapes, pickled Onions and other veggies.

Get well soon.

[MSeries]

Yes. Rest up for a week. LEL is far enough away and you are probably pretty well prepared that a week off now will not affect you too much. Just don't binge eat or drink in that time !!!

Or

Learn to ride one legged !!!

[simonp]

Ice massage it: rub an ice cube up and down the tendon til it has melted. Rest it. Take anti inflammatories if you can tolerate them. Take cod liver oil and avoid saturated fats.

[disrail]

So how's it going Manotea??

I've been feeling twitchy all week from wanting to ride. I changed my BB and stripped the bike down to make sure I didn't ride it.

Achilles feels much better, no pain in general usage. I did a short flat 30 miles yesterday and it only started complaining on the last 5. I've resigned that the Dun Run is out for the weekend now though.

Are you planning on getting in a 600 or 400 before the event? This is my greatest concern. Would getting in a couple of 200s or 300s before the event help the tendon, or should I try and rest it up as much as possible and go into the event "cold"?

[richie]

Seems to be a common theme amongst LEL'ers.....

I tweaked my achilles on The Irish Mail a few weeks ago.  Gave it 10 days rest, then went out on my MTB for a mad 2 hr thrash without a problem. Excellent, i thought. 

Back on the roadbike Saturday and felt the achilles twingeing as i rode 10k to the start of Marches and mersey roads,  so DNS'ed and sat at home all weekend watching Glasto.

I checked the relative set-ups on both bikes yesterday.  My mtb, which is a second-hand full-susser finished off with random bits from the spares bin, is completely wrong according to all the books and commonly regarded set-up facts.   My knees are way behind the pedal spindles (KOPS) and the reach to the bars is considerably longer and  lower  than on the road-bike.  The only measurement which tallied with my road-bike (which i consider is set up correctly and not just thrown together) was the saddle-BB height, until you realize it's a full-susser and just sitting on the thing lowers the saddle by a couple of centimetres.

So i've now tweaked the road-bike a bit.  Saddle is lowered by about a centimetre and and i've put another seat-post on to move the saddle back by another centimetre.  Riding up and down the street seemed a lot more comfy.

I'm going to wait until the weekend then try a shortish  ride just to see how it goes.  I'm getting a bit paranoid as at the moment any sort of training has ground to a halt.......  at the moment this is my third week off the bike.

[Manotea]

So how's it going Manotea??

I've been feeling twitchy all week from wanting to ride. I changed my BB and stripped the bike down to make sure I didn't ride it.

Achilles feels much better, no pain in general usage. I did a short flat 30 miles yesterday and it only started complaining on the last 5. I've resigned that the Dun Run is out for the weekend now though.

Are you planning on getting in a 600 or 400 before the event? This is my greatest concern. Would getting in a couple of 200s or 300s before the event help the tendon, or should I try and rest it up as much as possible and go into the event "cold"?

Well I'm hoping I know the causeof the problem so if my achilles is rested the problem will not recur. Its 10 days since I sat on a real bike tho I've had a couple of light gym sessions. The ankle is feeling better so I'll give it a gentle 30km tomorrow evening and see how it goes. If I'm good I'll ride a non-hilly 200km on Sunday. I was looking to ride the Denmead 600 next weekend but it looks like its been cancelled which is probably just as well.

[Martin]

What does the team think?  

as you've probably read I shot both my Achilles tendons (completely unprecedented and indeed fine up to 1000k) on PBP; so much so that I looked like a vitim of Bilharzia. Rest was the only thing that worked for me; even a 55k ride into work after 2 weeks exacerbated it. 3 weeks later it was fine.

[Chris S]

If I'm good I'll ride a non-hilly 200km on Sunday.

If that is the Ring of Herts 200, are you sure it's non-hilly? Or is that "relatively speaking"?

[Fixedwheelnut]

 Get some ultra sound treatment if you can that helped a great deal when I did mine.

 Try to remember when pedalling 'ankling or dropping the heel while pedalling strains the achilles by stretching it further, something I tend to do on hilly rides on fixed.

 If you take that non-stretch fabric plaster tape with you, you can apply that around the heel to offer extra support.

 That's what I did on PBP 03 point the foot down and apply two strips from mid calf to mid sole of foot, then apply strapping around the calf, ankle and foot to help hold this in place.
 This way the fabric tape helps support the achilles tendon by stopping the heel dropping, I also flipped the wheel from a 73" gear to a 68" gear and reduce the need to get out of the saddle. Hope that helps.

[Manotea]

If I'm good I'll ride a non-hilly 200km on Sunday.

If that is the Ring of Herts 200, are you sure it's non-hilly? Or is that "relatively speaking"?

Relatively! Its about the same as my last outing, the Faccombe Willy (eh?) not flat but not bonkers.

Thanks for the advice FWN. I'm also going to have another go at moving my cleats back a tadge so they are more in line with the pedal axle. This will reduce 'ankling' and (hopefully) effect and reduce stress on the soles of my feet under sustained hard pedaling.