Intermission

Once I get going, I'll not be blogging anything like this much and I intend this to be the last until my next run which I've vowed will be a full 7 days since over reaching my achilles.

For a moment there, I thought maybe this was not achievable, I really was in a lot of pain, had I not been planning to work from home Tuesday, there is no way I could have made it in to work.
Stairs on Tuesday were a case of hanging on to the rail and going sideways one flat foot at a time. Moving around, I looked like a blinking penguin waddling along on two flat feet.  A regime of rest and elevation with cold compresses and ibuprofen gel, plus the wonders of the naturally self healing human body mean that since about 2 this afternoon, I can actually walk and even lift slightly on my toes allowing me to get up and down stairs in a sensible manner. With more confidence that I have not done lasting damage, my thoughts are turning more positive but when I restart, I'm backing off from Runners World's schedule, at first anyway.

I think the fact that I was fairly fit through hill walking meant breathing and general muscle tone were already good leading me to overstretch parts not pushed in walking. I am used to wearing boots and tramping across hillsides and a lot of that involves flat foot fall. Contrast that to the bouncing off the ball of my foot action of every running stride and the achilles area strain is very different. I guess the nearest equivalent walking is a fast direct uphill push but even that, with the boots supporting the ankle area, doesn't allow the same localised strain.

Lesson 1, I think some pacy walking in the running shoes may be a good idea before much more running to strengthen the lower leg and ankle areas.

See you in a week.