Quote Originally Posted by rocknrollgirl View Post
Oh, I am sorry. Had you been running consistently? I usually back off speedwork if I have had a period of inconsistency. I waited months after my surgery before adding any in.

I hope it heals quickly.
Thanks! It seems to be a bit better today in that descending stairs is less painful, so hopefully I am on the road to recovery.

I had been running pretty consistently. But I had recently broken my pinky toe in a vicious encounter with a chair leg, so I'd had to take three weeks off. And after starting back slowly, I'd gradually increased from 2x a week to 3x (just 3ish miles each time, though). In the interest of full disclosure, my Achilles was a tiny bit tender for a couple of weeks prior, but not enough to bother me running. I figured it was just all the stairs I have to do on a daily basis (we're in a 4th floor walkup, the yoga studio I go to 3x a week is also on the fourth floor, etc). I wanted to do a 5K event on the 24th, so my DH suggested adding some speedier intervals to last Saturday's run. I have never done speedwork in my life, and I thought it went rather well until the next morning when I woke up with the Achilles pain. I later read that a soleus strain can refer pain to the ankle and cause pain descending stairs, so it may be that rather than Achilles tendinitis.

In any event, I shouldn't have done the speedwork while I had any tenderness AND so soon after the broken toe. Lesson learned!