Achilles issues

Track season is in full throttle. In preparation for the upcoming meets, Coach has kicked up our training a notch and between lifting weights and challenging workouts, I am pretty tired by the time practice ends. Last week during an uphill tempo run, I injured my achilles and it hasn't stopped bugging me since. So here is how it all played out.

First of all, I would like to point out that I love tempo runs. Any sort of longer interval workout or threshold run is right up my alley. I am almost completely an endurance runner and because these types of workouts play to my strengths, I am certainly a happy camper when Coach tells us to do remotely anything similar to a fartlek, tempo, or longer interval workout. I got to practice and Coach explained our workout for the day. We were going to do about a 25 minute uphill tempo run. I was excited and ready to nail the workout. We had done a few workouts similar in cross country season and I remembered enjoying those particular workouts.

Micaela and I were the only girls doing the tempo run. Coach told us that he didn't want us to worry about pace as so much as he wanted us to focus on the effort and intensity. We started our tempo run and I felt comfortable, despite the fact that I was coming down with a bad cold and could barely breathe. Micaela and I stuck together for the first half of the workout and then I decided to pick up the pace. I wanted to challenge myself so I went for it. This was my mistake which I have come to regret now.

As most people that know me well are more than aware of, I am very directionally challenged. Although I had run the particular path we were running that day numerous times, I still had a hard time running in the right direction. It really is a good thing that I have a navigation unit in my car, otherwise I don't know how I would manage to get anywhere on time, let alone get there in the first place. So as you can see, this became very much a predicament as I separated from Micaela and ventured off on my own.

I managed to make it up the canyon we were running in. In fact, I made it well past the point we were supposed to stop at. This is where my achilles injury comes into play. The last hill that I decided to run up, which we were not supposed to attempt to climb in the first place, was what initiated the pain in my left achilles. The footing is very rocky and unstable, and the incline is very steep. Thanks to my awesome sense of direction, I created a minor injury for myself as I went up the hill I was not supposed to. Awesome...NOT.

Basically in a nutshell, my achilles is currently bugging me. And it is frustrating. I really never get injured. Now isn't the ideal time to start. So I am not a fan of my achilles deciding to give me trouble. I really need to start paying more attention to where I run and work on my complete lack of direction. Otherwise, this could be a problem in life. Goodnight everyone.