Treadmill and Not Listening

A little over a week ago, I tentatively approached the gym with my payasUgym voucher on my 'phone. The chap on reception showed me around and gave me an intro' to the treadmill. I had explained my situation intending a very gentle re-introduction after torn tendons so it was the treadmill and the pool that I was interested in.

One thing he advised was to adjust the elevation on the track as running on the flat didn't prepare well for a later transition to outdoor running and wasn't good for posture and heel impact. I should have listened better because both runs so far have been at 4.3 which, having researched a little, I gather 1-2 is considered equivalent to outdoor running and 4 is moving into hill running. Next time I'll lower it. Bad mistake really as the gradient will have added to the tension on the achilles which I am supposed to be keeping low at this point. I vaguely recall that he told me 1-2 but I forgot.

I started the treadmill on Quick Start with intent of doing up to 6 cycles of 1 min run / 1 min walk. I thought I'd do 5 min walking at 2.5mph to warm up and get the feel of the rolling track then raised the speed to 5mph. After 1 min I dropped to 2mph as I wanted easy walk and thought the 2.5 probably a little high then up to 4.5mph as the 5mph had felt risky on the achilles. After the 3rd run period, the treadmill announced a cool down period; I hadn't worked out that Quick Start is a 10min session. As it was, I was quite glad that it had forced me to stop before I pushed further than I should.

They also have a 20m pool so my run was followed with a swim. I did about 20 lengths, didn't count but I probably pushed the effort a little which was far from resting the achilles. After that I headed to Tesco's to do a full weekly shop with trolley and by the time I was in the car I was aware of achilles discomfort.

The next few days I had occasional stinging inside tendons and some tenderness in the left. I initially found myself hobbling for no apparent reason, I think fear was the most likely after so many months, panic at any reaction and disappointment that all was not perfect.

A week later I felt I should risk it again but remain at a similar level. This time I knew the sequence and did a similar but more controlled pattern as the previous week followed by a deliberately gentle few lengths of the pool and avoided any taxing activity after ward.

I have the same feeling of having to be careful but for no definite reason. I can feel post activity tensions and tingling in muscles and tendons but I think mostly from unfamiliar activity.

Assuming the next week goes OK, I plan to return again but to experiment with a slightly longer exercise with the elevation reduced to a more appropriate level.

Thursday 11th October elevation 4.3 10 min: 5 @ 1.5mph 1 @ 5 mph 1 @ 2 mph 1 @ 4.5 mph 1 @ 2 mph 1 @ 4.5 mph cool down: 3 @ 2 mph 0.4 ml Swim: approx 20 lengths

Thursday 18th October elevation 4.3 10 min: 1 @ 1.5mph (2.4kph) 4 @ 2.5mph (4kph) 1 @ 4.5 mph (7.2kph) 1 @ 2 mph (3.2kph) 1 @ 4.5 mph (7.2kph) 1 @ 2 mph (3.2kph) 1 @ 4.5 mph (7.2kph) cool down: 3 @ gradual reduction from 4.5 to halt 0.4 ml (0.64 km) Swim: approx 12 lengths