Yesterday, I had been hoping to run for 20 minutes, an easyish run ready for a planned parkrun on Saturday.
I got all ready and set off on my warm up walk. We had steady rain here but I found it refreshing as I walked compared to some very hot runs recently.
On Monday I had noticed pain in my Achilles tendon as I was finishing the run, but after rest, ice and elevating it, it was feeling better and I was hoping it would stay feeling good. It felt great as I walked and I was feeling optimistic about it.
The moment I began to run, however, I felt the pain immediately. Having got myself ready and done the walk, I felt pretty stupid turning around and heading home. The thought of this was saddening. Instead, I continued running, thinking that the gentle run might stretch it out and that it might ease as I ran.
The pain wasn't intense, maybe a 4 out of 10, but it didn't get any better.
On the positive side of things it was a brilliant run. I felt my breathing was great, my motion fluid, and I felt I could have run for much longer. I was using NRC 15 minute headstarts run, which was thought provoking and kept me thinking. The run blew by and was over way too early for my liking.
The warm down walk was okay and I didn't feel any worse for wear. I felt good having achieved the run but realised I definitely wouldn't be doing the parkrun. Even if I could manage a 5k I didn't want risk making it any worse ... But it seems I have already done that.
When I rolled out of bed this morning my ankle was just as sore as it had been after Monday's run, if not worse. I have been pretty stupid. I hadn't intended to continue the run if it still hurt and I did. I'm going to learn from this. I am going to learn from this. I really am. Honestly.
Thanks to lots of wonderful advice from MissUnderstanding I am going to make sure I rest up and when able, I am going to use rest days for strength and flex exercises to make sure I am better prepared for gearing up towards my next goal of 10k. It might take a while, longer than I hoped, but my goals are all intact, and I will end up feeling stronger after working through this important process. I realise now, that I have taken the running very seriously but not the preparation to be better at it.
Hopefully the injury is just a blip, it's not serious, but it could be if I don't take proper care. I might even think about joining a gym yet. I don't have any competitive aspirations, but I do want to get good at this, and I want to keep on doing it 🙂