Time to take some time off

After having experimented with Physio, supports, exercises, resumed training , and antiinflammatory gels, I was inspired by Sage Cannaday who managed a twin tear, both inside and outside of his ankle. He took three weeks off. I am doing the same, except for the Physio that is. I am starting with a new Physio on Monday.

One of the tricky things with this ankle is that discomfort is 90% after the solicitation, esp the next day, in fact.

Sooo frustrating to have made so little progress since April!

Physio Ankle exercises

Here's a quick summary of some of the physio's ankle exercises (equipment needed in blue, specialised equipment needed in orange, exercise/practice that caused more harm than good in red):

Physio 1:

• Use an ankle circumduction machine on injured side. Rotating in both directions, increasing difficulty (resistance) in ensuing sessions.
• Bounce on a small trampoline on both feet (I can't remember if we did just on injured side).
• Skipping with skipping rope.

Physio 2:

• Stand on physio supple pad on injured side. Vary this by moving arms around, closing eyes, or even combining all this with swishing the head from side to side.
• Stand on balance board on injured side. Vary this by closing eyes. (I used dual hemisphere and single hemisphere).
• Stand on forefoot of both feet and twist outward, creating a sort of simulated sprain / strain on the outside of both feet, hold for a couple of seconds and back in, repeat x 10.

Physio 3:

• Stand on the damaged ankle on one foot, and send and receive a ball (beach ball, football...) varying the directions.
• Rest the ankle by standing on a step with the injured ankle simply hanging in space.
• Stand on a step sideways on injured side and rise and lower on the front of the foot. Use the good foot for balance if and when needed on the step.
• Practice walking on the front of the foot.
• With a ball under the uninjured foot, practice moving it around in all directions with weight on injured foot side.
• Have ultrasound applied. (acutely painful when the physio failed to move the device much or even at all!)
• Duration of balance exercises: 10 mins twice a day is fine.

Other (me!)

• Practice those times when stationary (e.g. brushing teeth) standing on the injured foot side. Close eyes if too easy.

23 km road and London is in the bag!

2:15 for around 23 km, leisurely. After 4km my ankle made itself known but slowing solved this. I still don't have the courage to take things off road yet as I always imagine re-twisting it! Absolutely fantastic to be able to do a run of this length although I have noticed that my natural foot strike has reverted back to heel striking.

I have been feeling desperate to get back into the running of late and really need to sort my autumn schedule.

I don't think I mentioned it on here before but... I have qualified for London 2014 good for age! Very excited about that....

Physio is wonderful, and so is focus

Friday 12 km and tough Physio session
Saturday 4.5 km, 1 km at marathon pace

Today, dimly aware of ankle, but this is significantly better than I would have felt in the same conditions even before my third ankle twist.

Note to self: see the physio straight away!
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Generally this week has seen a surge in my running "mojo", I'm just so excited about running again. I am reconsidering the whole mountain bike idea, I think I would rather keep my main focus. In the Purpose Driven Life, Warren demonstrates the close connection between focussed living and peace. I also seek peace in my sporting practice and I know time is going to be limited next year. My good friend Wim, keen mountain biker, is going to be disappointed!

1st sport, 2nd sport....3rd sport, 4th sport....

New blog entry for runningwithcertainty:

10 km in 50 mins on the flat (yesterday)
40 km trail biking in 1hr50 (today, some was on road).

Since I re-twisted for the third time in three months my ankle at the ultra event I decided to maintain, it has been a good opportunity to focus on getting some physio and developing a second sport of cycling. Actually, this is not strictly true: my experiences in the ultra of last December and my lesson-in-humility on 8 May have shown me that already I was moving from road-running to trail running, and that this transition is a big one, 2 sports already!

Since March I have also put on 4 kg - up from 66.5 (approx) to 70.2 kg now. My mind boggles when I think of what I must have been putting my body through in the build-up to that marathon!

Race report Circus d'Aubrac, 55km 2000m positive altitude gain.

Result: DNF....again, ankle (re)sprained at 16km.

I am currently writing this sat in the docs surgery :( Boohoo!

This race for me was about listening to my body and really participating, taking care of my ankle (!), and as such I began toward the back of the pack, to ensure I didn't do anything silly (that had already been achieved actually, we drove up here from 30 deg Marseille and totally was not expecting 7 deg and chilly rain at 5 am and so didn't think to bring running jacket). Of course I am who I am and I didn't come away feeling I had some new soul mates exactly or any of the deeper conversations I had been asking for. Also a bit disappointing as I felt like I had been trying so hard to put my left ankle under minimum lateral strain. I never even saw the root or stone that caused this sprain but I was down in a flash and a yelp of pain.

Other runners were outstanding though: of the dozens that passed me over the next few minutes no one failed to asked me if I was OK and many if they could help. One guy (113) stopped and gave me some cold spray and someone also averted the medics. It was so wonderful to see this German medic hiking up toward me as I contemplated the next few miles hobbling to the aid station! Quite cool to journey back with a former diagonal des fous champion who now in his 60s had totally bust up Bis face and leg !

Time to take time off and focus on the bike. I've made my wife promise not to let me run for a month...

sunday dimanche aventure!

Hi!

Juste pour vous informer que je suis revenu sur ma décision initiale d'annuler ma course dimanche

Just to let you know I have gone back on my decision and am now running my race on Sunday

C'est un peu bizarre car je suis toujours embêté au niveau de ma cheville gauche, mais j'ai envie d'y aller pour le fun et la participation, et j'espère apprendre quelque chose de nouveau dans la participation, et non seulement le courir-au-plus-vite!

It's a wee bit strange as I am still not fully fit in my left ankle, which tends to bother me after I train, but I want to go and enjoy it and participate, and I hope learn something new about participating, and not just running my little socks of!

J'y vais avec pratiquement zéro entrainement donc cela devrait être assez intéressant!

I'm also going with virtually no training so it should be interesting...

God bless you with many sporting adventures, que Dieu vous bénisse de beaucoup d'aventures sportives,

J :)

BLOG: http://runningwithcertainty.blogspot.fr/