After my 5k on December 4, I was pretty excited and already started looking on the internet for another race. On December 6, I went to the gym, did a low intensity, 700 calorie workout on the eliptical, followed by a weight lifting routine. I felt like I was on all cylinders! Then on Tuesday, December 7, I tried to go for a run - and my right ankle screamed "stop!" I managed to squeeze out 1.7 miles with a lot of walking. This did not feel good. I made an appointment with a physical therapist for Thursday morning, December 9.
The therapist said that my calf muscles are not flexible enough. I can only dorsiflex my feet (bend them towards my shins) by 7.5 degrees, and I should have 10 degrees. So that is why I'm having so many issues with my ankles. But the question is, if both feet have a flexibility issue, why is it only my right side that seems to be getting beat up? After having me do a few exercises, he believes that my right leg is not reaching out as far as the left leg, so when it lands, it takes more pressure than it should. He also noted that whenever he asked me to do something involving one leg, I would always start with my left - so I am favoring my left leg.
His recommendation was to do walking lunges, making sure I keep my hips square. This will strengthen the muscles that control my stride length (I assume my hip flexors), and bring balance between the two sides. He also taught me how to do calf stretches correctly: most people (myself included) tend to rotate the foot outward slightly, which allows you to go farther, but dis-engages part of the gastrocnemious muscle. Make sure my foot is square to the tibia, then slightly suppinate the foot, while keeping the ball of the foot on the ground. When I did that, my calf and ankle felt better almost immediately.
He also recommended that I do my leg exercises separately - in other words, when doing leg curls, do them one leg at a time, instead of both legs at once. This will prevent the body from favoring one side or the other. This applies especially to hamstrings and calves; not sure if I am going to incorporate quads and glutes on this or not. I'll have to figure this out.
I had a chat with my personal trainer at the gym on Friday, and discussed these issues. He watched me do my walking lunges and helped me get the feel for them, so I can now do them correctly on my own. He also wants me to continue increasing my mileage until I get to five miles; at that time I will be able to start mixing my training runs by doing three mile "tempo" runs, and five mile "slower runs", and possibly some intervals as well.
On Saturday, December 11, my ankle was feeling a lot better, so I tried to run. I ended up with the same results as Tuesday's run - 1.7 miles with a lot of walking. This time, however, I iced my ankle right away upon return. We will see how that goes. I'm getting a bit frustrated with my ankle issues. It doesn't seem like 3 miles is a lot, but I guess it is. No wonder I had so much trouble running track in high school; all the coaches did was beat on you, run-run-run hard every day, and not allowing proper rest and recovery techniques.
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