Monday, February 1, 2010

Salvaging some miles

Apparently, you can run with a sprained ankle. I had heard that you could, and was actually told by the doctor I finally saw on Tuesday, that you could, but it seems kind of far fetched. It actually seemed very far fetched early in the week, as every time I tried my foot tightened up and threw off my stride, which made running uncomfortable, but not painful. After an extra day of rest (and a trip to the doc to make sure it was nothing more serious than a sprain), I gave er another try and it was all systems go from there. I did back off on the mileage from what I had on the schedule, but by the end of the week my ankle was basically a non-factor, giving me hope that I can finally break that magical 80 mile mark this week.

Sunday - Headed out for a planned 6 miler and hobbled home after 1.25. Nothing hurt, but every once in awhile my foot would tighten up and I couldn't stride normally on it, so I decided to bag it and give it the day off.

Monday - Fresh snow and cold convinced me not to risk slipping and injuring myself further, so I headed to the indoor track for 6 miles. Again, I had the foot tightening issue but I decided to power through it this time. Looking back on it now, I'm not sure why I did that, but I did end up with one of the slowest 6 milers I've ever run.

Tuesday - Didn't feel like putting myself through the previous day's run again, so I took a rest day and went to see the doctor instead. He confirmed that it was a sprain and not a break, gave me some ankle strengthening exercises to do and told me I could run on it, but should "take it easy". Obviously, he does not know me. I also played basketball again in the evening with my 3 on 3 team. I played fairly cautiously and with a brace on my ankle and managed to not injure myself further. And, again, we one won and lost one.

Wednesday - Made another attempt at running and this time made it through 6 miles without any foot issues.

Thursday - Tried for 8 miles this time and again had no issues.

Friday - Well, I'd gone 6 and 8, might as well try for 10, right? I actually went 10.25 and again no issues and actually my foot was feeling better and better each day.

Saturday - Decided to limit my "long" run to 14 miles, so headed out for an out and back run. My foot felt great, almost unnoticeable, but otherwise I just felt like crap in general. It's a pretty shitty feeling when you reach mile 8 of a run and you have 6 miles to go and you feel horrible and you really have no choice but to plod forward. I don't know what it was, but I just did not have any energy and that 14 miles ended up feeling like at least 20.

Total - 45.5 miles

So, knock on wood, it appears I've made it through the worst of this ankle thing. I'm targeting 80 miles this week and wondering what's gonna happen THIS time to prevent me from getting there.

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