Road Cycling - Achilles Tendon Pain?

After my last two rides my Achilles Tendons have been a bit tender. During the ride it doesn't cause any problems but when I'm done they start to act up. The odd thing is on Wednesday it was my left achilles, and today it is my right one. The Wed. ride was about 25 miles and today I did 50. Since the season started I've been average between 60 - 100 miles per week. I've never had this problem before, any thougts? Is it a bike set up problem? Is it simply over use?

:confused:

Originally posted by jlisota
Is it a bike set up problem? :confused:

It was for me, I tried to ride through my ankle pain and it just made things way worse. Take off a few days so that you tendons can fully recover then try some new setting on your bike. For me I had my saddle about 2 cm too high and it would cause me to toe my pedal stroke the whole way through. There are many other options which it could be as well, cleat position, saddle position (fore/aft) crank arm length etc...

I tried a few fitting calculators (such as wrench science (http://www.wrenchscience.com)) and although they failed to take in my crank arm length (which made me have to adjust my saddle twice) they all confirmed my saddle position was a bit too high... end result? it has been over 10 months since I have had the pain I experienced before and I have put on many more miles per week since then.

P.S. the pain I had felt like a stretchy pain that only occured when walking up steps and riding... regular flat walking was ok :rolleyes:


... another link to try...
Sheldon Brown (http://sheldonbrown.com/pain.html#ankles)

Vegascyclist hit it on the nose. Two other considerations that are less likely but may pertain is usage of a common antibiotic in the fluoroquinolone class few weeks earlier ie:ciprofloxin, levofloxin, etc. (Typically, fluoroquinolone-associated tendon symptoms especially in the achilles tendon, occur within the first few weeks after therapy is started.) In addition, some bicyclists are injuring the achilles due to stepping off from the ground (this is more common in bikers transitioning over to mountain biking since they have to stop, fall etc and need to get back on the bike and push off. ) Did you do a trail ride just before this happened? Just adding my two cents. I agree it probably is your position and rest it a few days.

jlisota: if you are in chicago and ride early in the day, then it is still cool outside for your ride. and perhaps wet.

has anyone looked at your pedaling technique?

i am less likely to include meciation induced problems, because these tend to occur bilaterally (both ankles...both wrists....both legs...) and the initial complaint was left side....

Thanks for everyone's advice. Unfortunately I am going to take a few days off of riding. It's been two days already and the discomfort in my achilles has already been greatly reduced.

I checked my bike set up and according to every measure my saddle was 1.5-2 cm too high. Wrench Science was very helpful and I also found some sizing info in the book Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance. I readjusted my bike and now I'll wait another day or two before I head out again. I hope this takes care of the problem.

Funny that this post would pop up at this time- I was riding home from teaching my aerobics class, and I started feeling pain in my achilles tendons in my right ankle. Of course, the first thing I thought about was this post- then I got home and now I'm going out to get some bandages to bandage this bad boy up, then I guess I'm off for a few days too, except to get to my fitness clubs to teach my aerobics classes (all within a mile and a half of home). I guess I just overdid it because I've been working on decreasing my time and getting faster and working with cadence and all this stuff. I've been improving steadily in the last few weeks, and this past weekend, I could really see a difference, then this morning, I blasted through another ride session, and by this afternoon- ouch! :( So I'm going to be smart and take the next few days off. I went through denial for like 30 minutes, then thought that I'd keep riding and just ride in low gears, then I decided to work in low gears AND keep my rides under an hour, then finally, I got home and took a good look at this post and decided to take the time off. Sheesh, you'd think after being an aerobics instructor for the last 4 years and getting repetitive stress injuries, I would have learned my lesson by now! But I'm off, and I'm going to wear flat, ugly shoes and keep my foot immobile, and I guess ice and heat it too and hope by Thursday at 11am, my ankle will feel better.

:( Waaaaaaaah!!!

Originally posted by Koffee Brown
I've been improving steadily in the last few weeks, and this past weekend, I could really see a difference, then this morning, I blasted through another ride session, and by this afternoon- ouch! :( So I'm going to be smart and take the next few days off.

it's a good idea to take time off, even thought you may not want to. I tried to ride through the pain (for about 3 days) and it made things so much worse that I ended up taking 2.5 weeks off the bike! so a few days is much better than weeks in my opinion ;)

Yes, I know. <sigh>

:(

Koffee - It must be the Chicago weather. If it would only warm up for longer than a day at a time. I think RiphRaph's post about the cold mornings may have some truth to it. Good luck.

Nah... I rode all through the winter with no problems. I know it's definitely that I've been pushing myself with my riding in the last couple of weeks. I'm trying to work on doing a lot more miles in less time. I am also experiencing the starts of a stress fracture in my right foot too.

It's time to take it easy. :(