Achilles Tendinitis: My latest joy!

Waking up in the morning and stepping down with my full weight on my left foot I noticed my Achilles tendon was tight and quite tender. A few steps later the pain and it's accompanying limp started to subside. By the time my shower and morning routine were over the pain was basically gone. Must be the result of the back to back races last week I thought and paid it no more attention. I had just run the Napa Valley Marathon and then six days later ran the Way Too Cool 50k so I deserved some lingering effects. 

I have a 40 minute commute to work and again stepping out of my truck I was reduced to a serious limp for half the parking lot before the pain subsided and the flexibility of my ankle returned. More proof that I did something to be proud of was my thinking. Along with the fact that it might be in my best interest to go easy on tonight's run. I did not notice the pain again until I got up from sitting at my desk for quite some time. This was starting to become annoying.  Everytime I rested my legs via sleeping,  driving or sitting my Achilles would flair when I "woke it up". I honestly thought this was a short term side effect. When the pattern kept repeating itself for days on end I got a little more concerned about it but still not enough to be proactive in solving the issue. It will work itself out in time was my primary thought as I soldiered on with my running schedule. A month later I ran the Croom Fools 50k. The Achilles problem never really left but it had gotten less frequent and less severe. Days after the race it was apparent that the problem andthe pain was back in full force.  Stretching it became habitual as I tried to keep it loose all throughout the day. It didn't get better. Here I am a month later and every morning and every time I'm off my feet the pain is there. I have finally decided to take it seriously and look into solving this problem as the pain of having a tight Achilles was lasting pretty much all day unless im 3 miles into a run.

Road running vs Trail running

Whats the real difference between road & trail running?

The Napa Valley Marathon is next weekend and I have been prepping for it since the holidays in a variety of ways like making sure my legs were up to the distance and my endurance & stamina were in top shape. It didn't dawn on me that I had not really run a significant amount of road since last summers San Francisco Marathon. In fact the only asphalt I ran on was to and from the trails and sometimes I skipped that in favor of running on trails that are a few miles from home and better to drive to. If you ever wondered what it really feels like to compare road vs trail read on.