Listen to your body or you will get injured like me

[jimborello]

Seriously guys, whenever you feel your muscles are sore dont push them too hard. I just tore my achilles tendon because of overtraining and Im going to stay off the bike for at least a month. Doctor says it could have been worse but it has been 3 days and Im going crazy ja.

[bugmenot]

Sorry to hear that jimborello. Did yu sense anything was up before this happened, or was it totally out of the blue?

[jmorgan]

Tore? You will be off the bike for more then a month. I have Achilles tendinitis and it's a recurring issue, hurt it a year ago and started bothering me again last weekend. Did you hurt it in a sprint or hard effort?

When I hurt my Achilles it didn't warn me. I stopped riding though when the pain was to much but the initial bit I didn't feel anything until coasting after the sprint.

[RimClencher]

I recently rode through the pain of an IT band injury and feel like an idiot now after two months off the bike with no clear idea of when I can ride again.

[drmutley]

If your only off the bike a month I'd say u tore the musculotendinous junction just above the tendinous part of the Achilles... These heal pretty well conservatively. If u ruptured your Achilles' tendon u can look forward to at least 6months off the bike...

[drmutley]

I recently rode through the pain of an IT band injury and feel like an idiot now after two months off the bike with no clear idea of when I can ride again.

Yep, don't ignore ITB pain on the bike, as once it flares, it's hard to settle. There's obviously oodles of stuff on causes and treatment, but most importantly, make sure your foot posture and length when ambulating is correct, and your bike fit it perfect. Without both of theses, all the stretching, rolling and strengthening in the world won't save you from recurrences.

[jimborello]

It is just a little tear in the junction with the bone, so thats why it is just a month. Actually I have tendinitis in both legs but my right one couldnt handle the training stress anymore. It didnt come out of the blue, I felt both legs a little stiff but I kept riding but stopped running (I am triathlete), and the day after I ran again the pain was there.

So now I will take a month of therapy and Ill try not to get fat ja

[TheKaiser]

I had written a longer post yesterday clicked submit, but now I don't see it here...weird.

Anyway, the short version is that I have been plagued with Achilles tendonitis issues that have severely limited my running for the past few years. Luckily, my riding has not been affected, which I attribute to my midfoot cleat positioning (which I had initially switched to out of curiosity and for performance reasons). I suggest that any of you guys are dealing with Achilles or calf issues rig up a pair of old shoes to give midfoot a try. The reduced loading on the whole ankle complex is pretty dramatic, and could allow a much faster return to riding.

[jmorgan]

Have any pictures? What are you using exactly? Thanks

[eric]

Even moving the cleat back 5-10mm takes a significant load off the calf and associated tendons.

My regular shoes are Giros with the cleat fairly far back in the adjustment range. My old rain shoes are Sidis which have the cleat adjustment range farther forward. Even though the cleats are as far back as they'll go they're forward of the Giros position. And when I switch to those shoes I feel it in my calves.

[drmutley]

Even moving the cleat back 5-10mm takes a significant load off the calf and associated tendons.

My regular shoes are Giros with the cleat fairly far back in the adjustment range. My old rain shoes are Sidis which have the cleat adjustment range farther forward. Even though the cleats are as far back as they'll go they're forward of the Giros position. And when I switch to those shoes I feel it in my calves.

Good advice...
Sometimes just a few millimetres rearward will unload the Achilles and calves without detracting from performance. Just remember that if u move your cleats back, u will need to drop your saddle height accordingly to maintain your ideal saddle height.

Here's a very good article on cleat positioning by steve hogg... He touches on mid foot cleat position near the end..

https://www.stevehoggbikefitting.com/bi ... -position/

[TheKaiser]

Have any pictures? What are you using exactly? Thanks

I don't have a pic handy of my shoes right now, but they essentially look like the ones on this blog post (http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2 ... cleat.html), which depicts a shoe modified to accept a 2-bolt SPD type cleat in the arch area. I had first heard about midfoot positioning from Steve Hogg, and that link that someone else posted above to his blog has a good photo of a shoe modified to accept a 4 bolt speedplay direct mount.

I was originally using a 2-bolt SPD cleat, which worked well for a few years, although they lack a bit of side to side rocking stability unless you use the cleats with the "PD-7410 Cleat Pontoons", and get a precise fit with the shoe sole and pedal body. Last summer I switched over to to a Bebop pedal as they use the same 2-bolt bolt pattern, but offer a lower stack height and a bit more of that side to side support that is trickier to achieve with the SPDs.

Things to watch out for are that:
-the candidate shoes have a relatively straight last that allows you to get proper lateral cleat positioning (some shoes narrow the sole a lot in the arch area).
-the candidate shoes have a nice flat mounting surface (On nylon soles shoes I have shaved and sanded down projections, and I think the Steve Hogg post mentions using bondo or other fibreglass filler to fill in depressions.
-2bolt or speedplay 4 bolt seem to be the easiest to fit, since they both simply need a flat surface. 3 bolt style pedals will probably need heavier use of that filler technique to build the curved radius required to support the cleat.
-Lots of old mountain bike shoes are well suited to this, once you strip the rubber off the sole. Also, Shimano Road shoes have a very nice flat area in the arch, with the cleats resting on either rib that runs lengthwise to stiffen the shoe.

A couple more interesting links: http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2011/03/mi ... mance.html
http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2 ... ition.html

Generally this will kill your sprint or "snap", due to reduced ankling, but can enhance sustained power output for exactly the same reason, and as someone else mentioned above, be sure to lower you saddle, and eventually bars to match. I had to go down about 1.5" although there is no hard and fast rule.

[NealH]

After seeing a couple friends tear (or rupture) their achilles playing soccer and football, and the subsequent looooooong recovery, I now stretch my archives every morning. Whether it does any good or not I don't know, but it couldn't hurt. I lay on the floor and do several stretching exercises (and some back strengthening) every morning before riding (or swimming). I got the exercises from a PT, and off the internet. Nothing creative, just some ordinary and popular stretching exercises. Only takes about 15 or 20 minutes.

At the moment I am suffering from tendonitis in my elbows (inside - often called golfers elbow). Its probably because of lots of time on the bike. Maybe a fit issue, although I've never had this before. Probably more to do with age. But to not get off the topic at hand, the achilles is a major body tendon and injury can be catastrophic to one's immediate lifestyle, not to mention training and cardio fitness. Stretching it every day (sometimes twice a day) makes sense. Only takes a few minutes.

Hope you recover quickly jimborelo. Glad it was not worse than it was.

[ghisallo2003]

Torn head of gastrocnemius for me (25 years of racing, not enough stretching).

3-4 months off bike, 2 months rehab. Now at 7 months and fully recovered but lost a whole winter (better than a summer).

Stretch more now.

[loudtiger]

what's a good stretch to avoid this?