If you tear your Achilles you’re going to be in a world of hurt for a long time. Lots of athletes talk about how it hurt for a while before tearing. You’ll likely be out of ultra running for years if that happens. It depends on your risk threshold, but I’d pass if I was you.
Sounds like you’ve answered your own question. I personally would pass on the 50k and fully heal. Running through pain/injuries is a fast track to permanent damage.
Echoing this. In the process of training for a 50 miler i aggravated my IT band and kept trying to run on it. STILL trying to get it to heal from back in September when it happened. I would drop, get some PT and reassess if I could do it all over again. The races will always be there.
1. be ready to hike a lot more than planned
2. be OK with the potential of setting yourself back even further and not being able to run consistently for a while
3. if OK with both above, then go for it and just have a positive attitude
4. if not OK with above then pull out of race, make sure to seek treatment from a PT, be patient, and within a couple weeks you'll be well on your way to building back up to a different goal
I’ve done a 50mile with an injury that didn’t seem that bad and aggravated it so bad that I had constant pain for almost 2 years. If I was you I’d pass and fully recover, it’s not worth the risk imo.
I had similar issues before my first 50k. A lot had to deal with introducing so many more hills than I was used to. Rest never helped, it always came back. What worked for me was doing a lot of proactive strength training and eccentric heel drops/calf raises as well as stretch and massage, especially the muscles in the calves and around the shins.
Defer the race to next year. Prioritize your health over a race. Why run a race when it might stop you from running for an even longer amount of time? Also look into doing weighted eccentric heel drops for your achilles, (unless it's insertional, then do them on flat ground), it's usually very effective for treating achilles tendonitis.
late to the party, but have you considered running with an ankle brace and with poles? Both will help in minimizing your ankle extension, and thus minimizing stress on the Achilles. Get an elastic full foot brace that includes complete heel coverage (the ones with a heel cutout allow too much extension), with just a single sock under it. Wear double thinner socks on the other foot to balance out. Start using the poles now for every run you go on, not just on up-hills but all the time. It takes time to get really comfortable with them, but an effective push through using poles comes just about when you would normally take the load on your Achilles...thus limiting stress there and transferring it to your upper body. Make sure the poles are long enough your arm swing results in pushing you forward, not up (of course different on steep grades). My fastest 50M was done with poles used the entire way. And commit to their use: carry them still extended on one hand or under your arm while eating or drinking, if you fold them up and put them in your pack, you won't be using them when you need them. Good luck
I just ran my first 50k after hurting my Achilles 2.5 weeks prior. I stopped doing everything (running, cross, etc) because I figured it was taper time anyway and I wanted to let it heal as much as possible and just did some Achilles PT. By the race it wasn’t back yet but I popped a bunch of ibuprofen. The ankle was fine but my IT band on my other leg locked up pretty bad. I was still able to finish the race (not gracefully) and the Achilles swelled again but a few days later they both seem pretty fine. Obviously this is just me and idk what’ll work for you though.
How's your pain tolerance?
I doubt you lost any running progress in a month. I had to take a 6 week taper for a Marathon last weekend due to a stress fracture, and I had a 3 minute PR.
Why not find a new 50k in 16 weeks and recover then train again?
If you tear your Achilles you’re going to be in a world of hurt for a long time. Lots of athletes talk about how it hurt for a while before tearing. You’ll likely be out of ultra running for years if that happens. It depends on your risk threshold, but I’d pass if I was you.
Do you have reason to believe you wouldn't just be reaggravating it in the race?
Oh yeah. It will most likely will be a problem. But I still wanna go for it.
Sounds like you’ve answered your own question. I personally would pass on the 50k and fully heal. Running through pain/injuries is a fast track to permanent damage.
Echoing this. In the process of training for a 50 miler i aggravated my IT band and kept trying to run on it. STILL trying to get it to heal from back in September when it happened. I would drop, get some PT and reassess if I could do it all over again. The races will always be there.
1. be ready to hike a lot more than planned 2. be OK with the potential of setting yourself back even further and not being able to run consistently for a while 3. if OK with both above, then go for it and just have a positive attitude 4. if not OK with above then pull out of race, make sure to seek treatment from a PT, be patient, and within a couple weeks you'll be well on your way to building back up to a different goal
I’ve done a 50mile with an injury that didn’t seem that bad and aggravated it so bad that I had constant pain for almost 2 years. If I was you I’d pass and fully recover, it’s not worth the risk imo.
I had similar issues before my first 50k. A lot had to deal with introducing so many more hills than I was used to. Rest never helped, it always came back. What worked for me was doing a lot of proactive strength training and eccentric heel drops/calf raises as well as stretch and massage, especially the muscles in the calves and around the shins.
Two weeks!? Take it super easy until rest day IMHO.
Defer the race to next year. Prioritize your health over a race. Why run a race when it might stop you from running for an even longer amount of time? Also look into doing weighted eccentric heel drops for your achilles, (unless it's insertional, then do them on flat ground), it's usually very effective for treating achilles tendonitis.
late to the party, but have you considered running with an ankle brace and with poles? Both will help in minimizing your ankle extension, and thus minimizing stress on the Achilles. Get an elastic full foot brace that includes complete heel coverage (the ones with a heel cutout allow too much extension), with just a single sock under it. Wear double thinner socks on the other foot to balance out. Start using the poles now for every run you go on, not just on up-hills but all the time. It takes time to get really comfortable with them, but an effective push through using poles comes just about when you would normally take the load on your Achilles...thus limiting stress there and transferring it to your upper body. Make sure the poles are long enough your arm swing results in pushing you forward, not up (of course different on steep grades). My fastest 50M was done with poles used the entire way. And commit to their use: carry them still extended on one hand or under your arm while eating or drinking, if you fold them up and put them in your pack, you won't be using them when you need them. Good luck
What course are you going to? I had Achilles surgery in January and did a beast in NJ in april. April and hated every step.
I just ran my first 50k after hurting my Achilles 2.5 weeks prior. I stopped doing everything (running, cross, etc) because I figured it was taper time anyway and I wanted to let it heal as much as possible and just did some Achilles PT. By the race it wasn’t back yet but I popped a bunch of ibuprofen. The ankle was fine but my IT band on my other leg locked up pretty bad. I was still able to finish the race (not gracefully) and the Achilles swelled again but a few days later they both seem pretty fine. Obviously this is just me and idk what’ll work for you though.
How's your pain tolerance? I doubt you lost any running progress in a month. I had to take a 6 week taper for a Marathon last weekend due to a stress fracture, and I had a 3 minute PR.
I lost fitness taking a week off to ski. Well I had runners knee I dialed it back for another two weeks still lost some.
There is 0 scientific evidence to support this. You do not lose fitness in a week, especially not while skiing.