Sprained ankle recovery

[PinkLady]

Did 7km LSD with the RR group yesterday. My quads were BLOWN, .....I am definitely not doing spin class on Sat's next week!

My form really stank, and I'm still landing more flat footed/heel strike than I like on the left foot, but I think it's a matter of just getting back into the rhythm of running. My form improved when I sped up a little, and I noticed my stride getting better after a few km, but I could tell my left foot was also starting to fatigue at the faster pace.

No biggie, it'll get better as my body gets used to running again. Overall my legs were tired from too much cross training the day before, but my cardio felt great, and most importantly mentally it was FABULOUS to be outside again.

Iced the ankle when I got home, and it's not swollen or sore at all this morning. Whoohoo!!

My plan going forward is to do 3 treadmill runs (probably 5km each) and one short (3km) run outside during the week for the rest of the week. Then next week I'll do one more run outside, and so forth until I'm back to running outside. I'm avoiding back-to-back outside runs on consecutive days for the next few weeks, I think that's prudent for now. I'm also avoiding running outside in the dark at the moment....I need to see all those uneven sidewalk patches and potholes!

Patience, patience, patience!

[PinkLady]

I have an interesting question about recovering sprained ankles - are hills harder on ankles/feet than normal running or speedwork?

In the last week, my ankle feels pretty much recovered. I've been back to my regular mileage on it, and it's felt fine. The inside part of my foot under the ankle bone (on the inside) sometimes feels a little sore when warming up, but once I'm warmed up it never hurts. It also felt painfree after my tempo run last Tues.

My foot was really very sore after yesterday's LSD. I don't think it was the distance - the LSD was the same as the previous Sunday's, and my legs felt great after I was done my LSD. The only really sore thing was my left instep/inner part of foot up to the ankle bone. It was also a little bit warm to the touch, so there might have been a little bit of inflammation. It feels better this morning, but was tight when I got out of bed....I stretched it out and massaged it a bit, and it's better, but still a bit sore and fatigued feeling.

What is different is that there were quite a few hills in my runs on both Sat and Sun. My technique was good - I felt like I was floating up the hill, and I couldn't hear my feet at all, so it definitely wasn't that I was pounding up the hills. So I'd like to know, are hills just hard on ankles in general?

I'm supposed to be doing speedwork tomorrow, and I'm trying to figure out if that's a good idea or not.

[Jwolf]

Sandra- it's hard to tell whether it's the hills or just the cumulative volume. But whatever it is I would back off on intensity till the pain subsides. And ice!

[PinkLady]

Sandra- it's hard to tell whether it's the hills or just the cumulative volume. But whatever it is I would back off on intensity till the pain subsides. And ice!

Thanks, Jen!

I think it might be the hills.....that's the only thing I did differently this week than last - more hills worked into routes. I've been icing a few times yesterday, and today, and self massaging the sore area. It was tight last night, but loosened up just walking around the house. It looks like it's the
calcaneo-fibular ligament that's sore. It usually aches a bit at the beginning of my runs, but is painless a few km in once I've warmed up.

I'm trying to decide if the planned speedwork session tomorrow is a good or bad idea....I was going to ask my physio guy tonight.