Training Log Archive: Wyatt

Event: Boulder Dash
 

Small loops on the grass while watching the kids at VF park. Mowed grass and otherwise not too risky. I think the variety of footing of the grass helped so my ankle didn't hurt that much. But I'm definitely glad this wasn't Blue. If I taped & Active Ankle'd, I'm sure it would still hurt, but it's not clear whether this is a kind of pain that would actually worse over a Blue course, or get better. We won't test that until next weekend.

And some extra ankle work that was basically rocking my toes/heel/foot-sides up and down on the grass. Seemed pretty effective - better/easier-to-do-properly than doing the same on pavement or curb/edge.

Decided not to drive to UNO-land. With me not racing, I'm still willing to go run Red, but that's enough of an excuse for Angelica (and me) to bail on a 15-hours-with-kids-in-the-car weekend.

I might go run today a little, and do some strength. The ankle's not horrible, but it's far from full-strength - a place I'd like it to be for the Long-O'-Champs.

3:17+3:12=6:29
3:02+2:55=5:57
? =5:36
Practice run on sidewalk & grass with Active Ankle. Pain was mild - a few spots of dull pain that the amount of running I did basically held constant. The sidewalk was possibly worse than the grass. I basically held the pain constant, and apparently warmed up because I slowly got faster.

Still, it's not as strong as I'd like, and I've got 40 hours to go. So
P(Blue) = .1
P(Red) = .3
P(Brown) = .3

I'm thinking I might like to run Red, not Brown. Mainly, I'd like to be able to go slow, and quit the course if needed, without worrying about my ranking. I can do that on Brown or Red, but on Red I can compare splits with Angelica, which would be fun.

If the ankle does unexpectedly well on Red, I might run Blue on Sunday, although that's not likely.

C • Take more time 4

Squats (managed normal 40 each side)
Balance/ankle flexibility (R) clearly getting better, but clearly still sore at ~50% of normal flexibity.
(Above two consistute my normal hip/ankle work.)
Some isometric and moving against the resitance of my own arms work on my R-ankle.
Ice & stretch after.

Walking around the house is only a little sore and most of the limp is gone. Swelling is still there. I think I'll try walking or jogging around the block on the rainy sidewalk, plus some hip/ankle work when I'm done...

Sidewalk, trying not to limp, trying to get the ankle working again (aiming for A-meet Blue in 3 days - yikes :)

500m walk - 5:48
500m jog - 4:24
~150m walk = 2:09
500m jog = 3:34
~350m walk = 3:45

The 2nd 500m didn't hurt any more than the first one - I think my ankle was warming up. Or something. We'll see how it feels this evening and maybe I'll go jog a whole kilometer...

After the 2x500m runs, I tried the normal set. Only 10 off box steps for right ankle - the inside of the Achilles area was getting sore a little too quickly. Stretched afterwards. May go ice now too.

1km ankle recovery run
0.5 + 0.5
3:05 + 2:49 = 5:54

Ankle hurt lightly to the point of slight limp, esp. on the uneven parts of the sidewalk. Did some light stretching afterwards. Go ankle.
1km paces:
Last night: 15 minutes
4pm: 9 minutes
4:10pm: 7 minutes
9:30pm: 6 minutes

62 hours to my nominal start on Blue - Will the ankle make it? Will the inside of the Achilles be the limiting factor? (I'm not sure if the Achilles was only damaged by the ankle twist. Wwhile setting the Fair Hill Sprint, I did get the Achilles caught on a rose thorn while jogging, tweaking the Achilles a bit, and cutting the skin above the sore achilles area - maybe that's contributing?)

The pain seems to have maxed out yesterday afternoon, although the ankle is still pretty swollen, and there's just a bit of blue pooling at the bottom of it.. At this point I think I'll walk Brown this weekend, with an Active Ankle, rather than subject my ankle to a competitively driven Blue run. As I'm still limping a lot, I doubt even the Brown walk will be especially comfortble, although ankles do tend to warm up pretty well...

Only 10 easy steps down off right foot, and light ankle rotations on right ankle this evening, after a 5 minute walk.

The ankle is still swollen, but definitely feeling better this evening. I walked around the library for 5 minutes on and off. It wasn't great, but there was no compression based pain.

P(blue) = 0.5
P(brown) = 0.3
P(nada) = 0.2

As for my worst ankle injury (see earlier comment thread), I don't remember which one it was. Growing up in BAOC, running across steep, sun-harded fields that were once full of mud and heavy cows, I probably twisted my ankles to the point of limping & swelling at least a dozen times.

My worst ankle injury was playing basketball, landing on someone's foot with mine, and having my foot roll off and hit the ground - about 10 years ago. I'm pretty sure that made audible noise from within the ankle itself and if I recall correctly, I was on crutches for a few days.

Good thing ankles are such good healers. I can't think of another body part that takes so much force, in so many directions - and yet it can even heal from that damage while it's still in use...

Walking hurts the (R) ankle - about evenly on the top-front outside and the inside of the achilles too. Achilles only hurt a little yesterday, but I wasn't icing that at all - just the ankle. (Icing = frozen peas - first on ankle by about ~30 minutes after finish thanks to a somewhat nearby grocery story.)

C • I'm quite a trendsetter! 21