My Right Foot

   A little over three weeks ago, I went on a 12K run. This was part of my plan to gradually increase the length of my weekend long runs.
   Prior to that run, I had not had any issues with the gradual increase. After that run, however, my ankle hurt like hell. Occasionally.
   It didn't hurt to walk or stand, for the most part. Once in awhile, though, a slight weight shift on that foot would cause extreme pain, enough to almost make me fall over. The sensation was that the ankle was actually giving out on me. It gave out on me once as I was walking down a short flight of stairs and I basically fell down the last two steps. I have had people standing beside me and when I turned to talk to them my ankle gave out and I almost fell over them. I have startled people by yelping as we pass each other.
   The overall feeling was that I'd lost all elasticity in the foot and ankle and that I no longer had the same range of motion available to me.
   It could very well be that I simply overdid it while trying to increase the mileage. I generally wasn't running any farther than 5K during the week and then, on the weekends, I was more than doubling that and this might not have been the best approach. In retrospect, I might have been better off to also slightly increase the mileage during the week as well---nothing earth-shattering, just toss in a few 7 and 8k's now and then.

Blogging and heating my foot
on a Himalayan salt  de-toxifier! If
it works, I'll let you know!

   This past Saturday, exactly three weeks after that 12K run, I hit the road again. For the last few days the ankle has been feeling as normal as it ever does and I thought I should probably test the waters again.
   Initially, the discomfort I felt running was actually in my right knee. The knee has been taking a little extra abuse as I have been favouring the ankle so much for the last three weeks. It got to the point that when I was walking up steps, I would need to angle the ankle off to the right a little so that it was not taking all my weight straight on. This then put extra stress on my right knee. Hence the pain I was feeling at the beginning of my run.
   The knee pain only lasted until I got warmed up and then it disappeared. I really only wanted to test things so I limited my run to 3K. This seemed like an absurdly low mileage for a run but, as I mentioned, I just wanted to do a little wading. The rest of the run, thankfully, was business as usual.
   On Sunday, the ankle didn't feel too bad, going up and down stairs wasn't nearly as problematic as it had been and I was feeling quite relieved. Sunday night, however, I made the mistake at my brother-in-law's place of walking up the hill that is his driveway. I had the option of using steps but ended up taking the hilly route instead. I found this almost impossible. My right ankle would not allow me to roll up the incline in any kind of normal way. This was extremely disheartening, as I felt I'd been making progress up to that point.
   The following day, the ankle ached so much I couldn't even gently do a calf or ankle stretch. Today, it feels a little better.
   Now, every time I yelp, moan, groan or take the stairs on my hands and knees, my wife gives me the so when is your doctor's appointment kind of query or look. I can't really blame her and I am struggling mightily with the whole should I or shouldn't I thing, as far as medical help is concerned. My feeling is that rest will do the trick (because it generally does) and if I could just stay off it long enough it might fix itself. It's just that this is the worst my ankle has ever felt and there's no telling how long it might take to rest it sufficiently.
   To further my anxiety, the lack of running in the last three and a half weeks, coupled with all the extra holiday sweets and meals and I've put on approximately 15 pounds, if you can believe it. I really count on the running compounded with healthier eating to lose the weight I think I need to. Thank goodness the holiday eats are almost over!
   In the meantime, a little more rest is in order and I'll probably wait til the ankle's felt "normal" for a few extra days before giving it another go. And when I do give it another go, it may just be walking!