Reddit reviews Anatomy for Runners: Unlocking Your Athletic Potential for Health, Speed, and Injury Prevention

I get in 'must understand mode' so that's where I dive into a lot of the running/training science stuff. And a lot of the books about ultras. It makes me want to run for sure - but I find reading about the struggle somewhat comforting if that makes sense. Maybe it's mostly an escapism thing too. . .

I was really skeptical but I loved Ultramarathon Man. I know some have opinions about Dean but I think he's a great story teller and anyone who has met him has nothing but glowing things to say. And I totally was busting a gut at times reading that one. If you haven't read Running Through the Wall yet - it's one of my favorites. Small digestible stories. Just people out there getting it done.

You might check out Sarno's books like the Mindbody Prescription. It's a bit out there. . . but if you believe in the power of the metaphysical aspect of what we go through it's definitely worth your time. Anatomy for Runners, Maffetone and Fitzgerald were what I combed through recovering last round. Those were all very very useful from the 'more info' perspective.

Try backing off the ibuprofen, the swelling and pain suppression from NSAIDs results in a delayed healing response. The initiation of the inflammatory process gets the body's healing process rolling and ibuprofen just gets in the way of this.

Also keep going with a strengthening routine such as calf raises (straight and bent knee). A theraband is my most useful tool I have at home followed by the foam roller.

Source: I'm putting my physio's kids through college with my running related problems, my coach and this book

Hope you get back to pounding the pavement soon!

Stretching and foam rolling the calf, plus some icing once in a while, have helped me any time I've gotten achilles pain. But that's managing the symptoms, not the cause. I'd encourage you to buy and read Jay DiCharry's Anatomy for Runners (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AMLFSHM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?ie=UTF8&btkr=1) it talks a lot about anatomy issues, how they can lead to different pains and injuries, and how you can identify and solve them.

One of the things DiCharry emphasizes is that rest can relieve pain, but it can't prevent it from coming back. There's something causing that pain and tendonitis, whether it's a muscle weakness or imbalance or a form problem or whatever. That problem won't be solved by rest, it will only be solved by an active intervention and improvement, and you need to work with a PT (or learn from the book) to identify what the underlying problem is and solve it. I think most runners could learn a lot from the book.

I would like to see more of the literature on high mileage runners like the elite marathoners study. In Jay Dicharry's book, he says there is no causative relationship between distance running at less than 25 mpw, but the literature does show an increased incidence of degenerative findings for more than 65 mpw.