4. How I Actually Started Rebuilding (And Why It Was Harder Than I Expected)

epicendurancecoach
Apr 24
3 min read

Part 4 of a Weekly series on returning from Achilles tendinopathy.

By the end of the year, I was done guessing.

I had tried:

Resting
Testing
Mixing in “some” strength work
Hoping it would turn a corner

It hadn’t. What I needed wasn’t more effort. I needed a plan.

The Shift: From Managing Pain → Building Capacity

Before, my focus was:👉 “Does it hurt today?”

Now it became:👉 “Am I actually getting stronger?”

That sounds simple. It’s not.

Because pain doesn’t behave in a clean, predictable way.

The Framework I Started Using

Nothing fancy. Just structured and consistent.

Three things:

1. Control the Total Load

I had to get honest about everything that was stressing my Achilles:

Running
Vertical (especially downhill)
Intensity
Long hikes

I stopped pretending certain things didn’t count. Load is load.

That included cross-training.

I tried to lean more on the bike and strength work—but I found pretty quickly that:

High tension on the bike could irritate it
Increasing load on strength equipment (like the Bowflex) could flare it up

Just because it wasn’t running didn’t mean it was low stress. That was a shift.

I had to start paying attention to how everything loaded the tendon, not just my runs.

2. Add Intentional Strength (Not Random Rehab)

I had been doing calf work before.

But there’s a difference between:

Doing exercises
Progressively loading a tendon

I shifted to:

Consistent calf loading (starting with eccentrics)
Gradually increasing load over time
Paying attention to how it responded the next day

Not chasing fatigue. Not chasing soreness. Just steady progression.

3. Respect the 24–48 Hour Rule

This changed everything.

Your Achilles doesn’t give immediate feedback.

What you do today shows up tomorrow—or even the next day.

So instead of judging a workout by how it felt during…

I started judging it by:

Next morning stiffness
Pain later that day
How it felt 24–48 hours later

That stopped me from:

Progressing too quickly
Misreading “it felt fine” as “it was fine”

What No One Tells You About This Phase

This is where it gets hard. Not physically. Mentally.

I started second-guessing everything.

Is the pain actually better?
Is that lump smaller… or am I imagining it?
Am I progressing—or just having a good day?

Some days I’d push on the tendon just to check. Other days I was convinced it was getting worse—even when my log said it wasn’t.

The Logging Helped… and It Didn’t

Tracking became a big part of this:

Morning pain
Activity
Post-activity response

It helped me see patterns. It also wore me down. Because now I had data… but I still had to trust it. And when progress is slow, that’s not easy.

Progress Is Slow. Slower Than You Want

This was probably the hardest part.

Recovery from Achilles tendinopathy is:

Slow
Repetitive
Not exciting

You don’t get big breakthroughs.

You get small shifts. And you have to trust that they’re adding up.

What Helped Me Stay on Track

A few things made the difference:

Sticking to the plan (even when I wanted to test it)
Looking at trends—not single days
Letting the data override how I felt in the moment

Because feelings change. Patterns don’t.

The Goal

Not:“Does it feel better today?”

But:“Am I trending in the right direction?”

That’s a very different question.

If You’re in This Phase Right Now

Be honest:

Are you following a plan… or reacting day to day?
Are you trusting the process… or constantly testing it?
Are you looking at trends… or getting pulled around by one bad day?

This is where most people fall apart. Not because they aren’t capable. Because they don’t trust slow progress.

What I’ll Cover Next

Next, I’ll walk through exactly how I returned to running:

How I structured run/walk
How I progressed volume
And how I stayed out of the cycle

Because getting back to running isn’t the hard part. Staying healthy is.

If you’re dealing with something similar and want help navigating it, this is exactly what I coach athletes through.

Note: I’m a coach sharing my personal experience, not a medical professional. This isn’t medical advice—just what I’ve learned through my own rehab and from working with athletes.