No, I have not spontaneously healed or anywhere close to being back to regular running for me, but I am muddling along quite nicely.

This morning, out in the fog/light rain and I ran a mile at an easy pace. The discomfort was minimal and manageable. After finishing I walked about half a mile to cool-down and then did another 30:00 minutes on the elliptical.

Earlier in the week, this level of activity on the leg would have caused a great deal of discomfort. This afternoon the Achilles is tight and still a little tender, but not painful or uncomfortable when I sit or walk on it.

Yes, that is progress.

There is just a bit of nastiness going on in the tendon – think of partially cooked spaghetti stretched out and some them not being in line, with some lumps/bumps on a few or some of the different lengths are out of place. I have had lots of issues with that particular Achilles tendon and know that there is plenty of scar tissue in there mucking things up too.

It seems now that the swelling is going down, and doing self-massage to the calf and Achilles tendon is helping a lot. While massaging it yesterday, something inside the tendon popped, felt a little smoother, and then felt a lot better. I have also been doing multiple sets of floor calf raises and other exercises that I neglected for too long, which seem to be strengthening things, so they don’t bother as much.

Could I run more?

Probably, but at the same time, I don’t want to ramp up the workouts too quickly and have to start the process all over again. I did that last week and paid for being in too much of a hurry. I will keep muddling along and then start the Intro to Stryd program on Monday.

Although depending on how the Achilles feels, I might not do the all-out tests, all-out for a while longer and keep running in the easy to moderate ranges until I feel the Achilles will be fine going at speed. It just means that my critical power measurement will be underestimated at first. Which is something that I can live with and will change as I get into better shape and fully healed.

This being patient stuff is not something I am all that great at, but maybe I am a little better than I used to be.