Wow. This thread is back…
Update for all whom are concerned. Since I last posted on this thread… 2009 indoor season went great running numerous pr’s over 200 and 400 meters finishing with 22.36 and 49.93.
Outdoors not so good which may be due to the fact that once again my training was affected by the pain caused by this reoccurring achilles problem. Fast forward to this indoor pre-season…
After taking off from June until October the Achilles issue seemed to go away at least it seemed. To be safe I decided to make some changes to my workouts this season. This season I was on the track 3 days per week instead of 4-5 days last year. I implemented d longer speed endurance type lactate work as I found successful last year and 2 days sled dragging (walking forward and backwards) which I though could take place of tempo work. I thought the sled work could take place of tempo work due to the fact that A.) It has a strength endurance component for the legs, B.) Cardiovascular benefit C.) Time under tension was close to that of the race itself, and to make things better it would be much lower impact than running. While my Achilles seemed to be fine after a 5 month layoff, 8 weeks into training and putting on spikes seemed to make the problem come right back again. Achilles hurt whenever I put the spikes on even to do warm-up strides and since I was unable to do the speed work necessary to improve and I was stuck doing the longer slower lactate work. I opened up in pedestrian times as did my training partner due perhaps to the “lack of training.” After 4 weeks of making changes he is just now getting back to the times he should have opened up with weeks ago.
After speaking with a friend of mine who is well respected in the track and field community (USATF biomechanics) he had a few interesting things to say about lower leg issues in post-collegaite sprinters. He has noticed these types of issues in the population I mentioned which he thinks may be due to some type of bone shift that occurs over time in the foot which may be due to years and years of training. Because of the bone shift, foot strike may be altered which may cause torsion forces on Achilles (supination of foot?). Even if I treat/get rid of the issue which I actually have the past few years (in the summer before track resumes in the fall) it would probably keep reoccurring unless I somehow fix my foot strike which I believe is near impossible at this point in time.
At this time I am not running and shifting my focus to powerlifting which i was ranked #80 in the USA in Bench Press in 2007. Although I plan to hop in a few 60 meter races this season to see if my lower body training for deadlift actually helps my acceleration my future in track and field has yet to be determined.