Yes, happy bunny indeed. It is about a month and a half since right ankle became very ouchy. It had been getting a little ouchy at the end of runs for the last few runs. Then at at the end of an evening 12km run it felt swollen and stiff, and the next morning it was even more stiif and swollen
Up to that point I had been running every other day since completing C25K at the beggining of Nov. I had built up to running 10km during the week, and 14km runs at the weekends. So not being able to run was quite dissapointing. I decided to try to run once a week for 5km just to see what I could manage. The first one was fine up until the last 10 minutes, and then the ankle became ouchy again. I've been continuing like that for the last month or so, one 5km run per week. Each week seemed to be a bit less ouchy at the end. The last two weeks have had the added bonus of some kind of bug manifesting itself as a dull headache, a bit pukey and generally tired and achy all over.
Anyway, Thursday's run seemed to go quite well, with no discernable ouchiness of the ankle at the end. So I did another 5km on Saturday, and then another this morning. This morning's run felt great (not fast, but very comfortable). I know from my landmarks, and where I meet them when Laura speaks, that my pace is significantly down. But that's OK, if I can run, then I can build back up again. The run was a real pleasure, with none of the tightness in tendons and achiness in ankles that had begun to buld up before the ankle became bad. So pleased to be back out there again.
Someone on here kindly posted an ankle exercise link. Kind of tip toe sort of exercises. I've been doing those since the injury, and they seem to be quite effective. I've also started taking the stretching after the run much more seriously. I do the strength and flex W3 stretches,
30 secs per stretch, after each run, and it seems to be making my legs feel much happier.
So, it seems I am back, and now starts the build up of distance again, little by little. It seems that my form has dropped back a bit in 6 weeks, but if I can run 3 or 4 times a week then I can live with that. I will get back in shape eventually, and I'll enjoy my runs doing it.
Happy Running everyone