Achilles Tendinitis

I'm fighting a new enemy and I haven't sized him up yet: TENDINITIS. After reading some horrible stuff over the weekend about it (as I noticeably walked with a stiff right achilles) I decided to take Monday off. What I mean by taking Monday off is that I walked for 1.5 miles and jogged lightly for 1.5 miles. I think that did the trick because by Wednesday I was ready to go, and I ran a 40:20 five mile run in the blistering sun w/o any clouds to lend me refuge. Not wanting to take anything for granted, I began icing my legs after I run again. This should help with the swelling. Tomorrow I will stay with my 8 mile run and not bump it up until the following week. At this rate I will be going for my first 10 mile run in mid-August. Pretty stoked.

MORE INFO: Tendinitis or tendonitis (from the Greek Τενοντίτις, 'itis' denoting inflammation or swelling) used to be thought of as a painful inflammation of a tendon, however, there is rarely much inflammation associated with the condition, thus 'tendinitis' is an inaccurate term, 'tendinopathy' being currently used. More recent research indicates that tendinopathy is an overuse injury resulting in microtears in the muscle fibres, leading to an increase in tendon repair cells, yet an absence of inflammatory cells. This may lead to reduced tensile strength, thus increasing the chance of tendon rupture. Generally tendinitis is referred to by the body part involved, such as Achilles tendinitis (affecting the Achilles tendon), or patellar tendinitis (jumper's knee, affecting the patellar tendon). Chronic overuse of tendons leads to microscopic tears within the collagen matrix, which gradually weakens the tissue.