Most athletes are familiar with tendonitis.  It’s something that usually plagues us more than once in our careers. Tendonitis is basically the inflammation of a tendon that is often caused by overuse.  For example, if you increase your mileage too quickly while running, you may overwork a tendon and cause it to become inflamed.

Right now, I’ve got a scorching case of peroneal tendonitis.  The peroneal tendons help stabilize and the foot. They run down the outside of your ankle and foot.  I’ve torn both the peronous longus and brevis while trail running and had to have them surgically repaired. Not fun. Since then, I’ve been a little paranoid about them.

Mine started bothering me around Christmas.  I was running in the snow and twisted my ankle.  Tendons on both ankles were sore the next couple of days, but I insisted on going full throttle on my training plan.  Plus, I was usually was using  cycling orthotics that put extra strain on my peroneals.  Now I’m paying for my stupidity.  I’ve scaled back the intensity of my training and started taking NSAIDs and icing several times a day. I’ve also started doing some physical therapy to help build up strength.

The thing that sucks about tendonitis is that activity usually makes the pain go away–at least while you are working out. So, if hurts, you just want to work out more, which often makes it work. That makes wanting to take it easy harder. Talk about a Catch 22.  OK, back to icing…these are some screaming banshees!