Why Your Achilles Hurts When Running Hills (And How to Fix It)

It's just a little Achilles soreness right?

A little foam roll.

Some stretching

Maybe an extra rest day...

And you'll be good as new, right?

WRONG.

Definitely not the ending you were looking for, especially if you're in the middle of marathon training.

And if your race is hilly, well...

Hill sprints or repeats are pretty much non-negotiable.

Until your Achilles says otherwise.

So what do you say to 4 exercises, designed by a physical therapist and runner, to strengthen and injury-proof your Achilles tendon AND strengthening your entire calf along the way?

Because I know stopping training or deferring your race is the LAST thing you want to do.

So let's get to work.

Why your Achilles Hurts When You Run Hills

Let me give you the 2 second explanation because I know you're busy...

As runners, we pretty much perform single leg calf raises with every stride we take.

That calf raise is made 100x harder/more aggressive when you run up a hill because we have to produce more power to not only escape gravity's hold on us, but to also climb vertically.

Let's do a fast, simple test right now. Stand up and see if you can do 35 single leg calf raises, non stop, with perfect form. On both sides.

Is there a difference?

Did one get tired sooner than the other?

Is one foot totally winging it and wandering every which way but staying straight and running parallel with the other foot?

All of these can be signs of calf weakness.

Now imagine that weakness magnified by the hill scenario we just described.

All of a sudden, one calf and achilles has to potentialy do 1.5x the work it's supposed it.

So your "good" calf gets tired sooner because the weak calf tuckers out and leaves the party sooner.

The result? Your calf muscles peace out sooner than their supposed to because their fatigued and dump the work load into your Achilles tendon.

When that happens repeatedly over time...TA DA! you get funky feeling, potentially niggling and injured Achilles tendons when you run hills.

Now onto the good stuff: the exercises to fix it!

4 Achilles Tendon Exercises to Fix Pain From Hill Sprints

Circuit:

individual sets listed below // medium to heavy weights

Single Leg Calf Raise Hold

• 4 reps x 45 sec holds, heavy weight

2:3 Weighted Calf Raise

• 4 x 6 heavy weight // 2 seconds up: 3 seconds down

10 x 10 (10 DL calf raises + 10 DL calf raise pulses)

• 3 Rounds total

Elongated Runner's Lunge Skip Jump

• 3 rounds x 5 reps ea leg

4 Injury Proofing Exercises for Marathoners with Achilles Pain to Get You Back to Running

Single Leg Calf Raise Hold

• I know you're tempted to, but don't write this one off...

• THE SECRET: if you want to run faster and PR your next race without injuries, you MUST have a good calf raise. Meaning, you need to be able to get to the tippy top of it AND stay strong there. Hence, why you actually have two options when you do this exercise: start with just body weight and add a heavier weight as you're able.

• HOW this helps your Achilles: A lot of times with Achilles pain and injuries, we lose access to the top of our calf raise, so it needs to be actively, deliberately trained. We need to be able to access it, but also use it! This particular exercise does both: helps you gain back any range of motion you lost and helps strengthen your calf and tendon together.

2:3 Weighted Calf Raise

• Trust me, this "little hack" is SPICY.

• PRO TIP: Time under Tension. I want you to think of a rubber band and how after either months or years, it snaps and breaks. Why? It depends how many times it was stretched and use. Don't panic: your achilles is not going to be the rubber band in this example because you can actively strengthen and prevent it from snapping by using a calf raise like this one which incorporates this principle.

• "Time under Tension" is a fancy way of saying, how long can your Achilles and calf muscles handle a heavy load? Because your muscles can't read the number on your dumbbells, but they do understand the prolonged effort of running up hills repeatedly.

• This specific calf raise takes advantage of prolonged load by having you travel up for 2 seconds, and take 3 seconds coming down, helping you build stronger calf muscles, a stronger Achilles tendon, but also a better, higher performing ankle-complex that can power you up hills and handle the impact of running back down.

10 x 10 (10 DL calf raises + 10 DL calf raise pulses)

• The spice-fest continues. In fact, you may want to do these as a running warm up!

• THE REASON WHY: this is another example of time under tension but we've added a fun twist: SPEED. Remember: tendons do care about load, but they care more about moving a heavy load FAST. When they're unable to keep up with your brutal pace, that's when you experience pain, aching, discomfort, injury, etc.

• This exercise starts off with 10 calf raises to "pre-fatigue" your calves + achilles complex and then immediately jumps into 10 calf raise pulses where you gradually INCREASE the amplitude with every rep (meaning you let your pulses get bigger and bigger until you're performing a calf raise pulse all the way to your tippy toes).

• Please note: if you are recently injured, this is NOT an exercise for Day 1 of rehab. You may need a week or 2 before you try this one.

Elongated Runner's Lunge Skip Jump

• Remember: tendons care about SPEED. But they also need to withstand impact.

• WHY YOU DON'T SKIP THIS ONE: can you see how this looks like you're sprinting into your running stride? You have to produce explosive power, powering up and jumping from your calf raise....but that's only half the exercise. The other half, is you landing softly, quietly, and in control.

• Because in reality, this is what happens with every running stride you take. Granted, you're not sprinting regularly as a marathon runner, but your Achilles still needs to be able to produce power and then handle the repeated impact with the ground for every step along your 26.2 miles. And, you can't get faster if you don't earn that right by building a stronger calf + achilles complex.

WRAPPING UP

Last things you should know....

Be honest with yourself as you do these exercises.

Is there a HUGE increase in pain or symptoms?

Because there's a difference between working hard and symptom-like pain. And I think you can guess which one I'm ok with;)

You'll also notice these exercises progress from easiest to hardest.

Listen when I say: It's ok to stick with the first 2 exercises for a week or 2.

Because the second set of exercises are progressions; they're deliberately harder and are more appropriate for a later stage in rehab.

But they're still very important pieces that I don't want you to miss out on. Let you body tell you when it's ready to move on.

And if you're looking for even more running-specific strength exercises to help you shave time off your next race and help you run stronger and injury free, check out my FREE strength guide for runners here.

Hand It Over!

And until next time, running fit fam,

Dare to Train Differently,

Marie Whitt, PT, DPT //@dr.whitt.fit