This week was 63 miles of running, 24 "miles" of pool-running and 3000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.
Pretty stressful week. I had to squeeze a follow-up vet visit for Quartz (the cat who got sick last week) and a dental appointment for another cat, Isabella, into the week. And then, on Friday afternoon, our third cat Topaz decided to eat the cord from a set of headphones, and that was how I kicked off a second weekend in the veterinary emergency center.
(and yes, all three are fine now).
((and yes, we only have three cats))
Apart from that, I had a doctor's appointment and a PT visit to discuss a not-yet-an-injury in my right ankle. I have historically had stability problems in that ankle, due to a mixture of damaged and loose ligaments (tightened periodically with prolotherapy) and also a tendency for the talocrural joint to get impinged.
To explain what that second term means - your talocrural joint is (in oversimplified terms) the hinge in your ankle between your tibia (shin) and talus (bone in the center top of your foot). When you point (plantarflex) or dorsiflex your foot, you're bending at that joint.
Things tend to not always stay where they should in my right ankle, and when things shift just a little, that joint loses a bit of its range of motion - I can't dorsiflex my foot as deeply as I should. Then my body compensates by collapsing my right foot, usually to the inside but sometimes to the outside. And...things start getting sore as a result.
I started noting the early warning signs a few weeks ago - my right leg was feeling a bit less stable and slightly ouchy at times. Not an injury, but the very early warning signs of a future one. So I went to see the pros.
The orthopedist who does my prolotherapy confirmed that my ligaments were actually still pretty tight - no need to tighten them up at this time. Which was great in that it saved me a lot of money, but not so great in that I still had to fix the impending problem.
My next stop was my PT, who confirmed that my talocrural joint was getting stiff again, and needed to be mobilized, so he gave me a refresher course in the exercise for that. He also noted that my left calf was significantly stronger than my right - almost certainly due to compensation. So...we also added single calf raises into the mix.
And...things started getting better. Not without hiccups, of course. I got worried on Saturday when my ankle got sore during my run. Not awful, but more than I would like. I suspect the causes were a) being too enthusiastic about my corrective exercises the day before and b) wearing a new pair of shoes that had too narrow a toebox, which augmented my ankle instability.
[things I try to avoid because they destabilize my ankle include narrow toeboxes, highly cushioned shoes, and surfaces that give or shift when I push off of them]
Sunday, I woke up, and the ankle actually felt normal. But I still went into the long run with trepidation. Rather than stick with the original plan of 16 progressive, I decided to shoot for 10-12 easy, and see how that felt. When I got about 7 miles in, everything still felt good, so I dropped it down to marathon effort for the final 5 miles. After those 5 miles, the ankle still felt fine, so I just added another 4 miles easy out and back to get back to the originally planned 16. Not exactly the same as the planned workout, but I got the mileage in, got some work at marathon effort in, and finished with a healthy ankle, so I called it a good day.
Dailies
Monday: Yoga and 7 "miles" pool-running in the morning. Foam rolling at night.
Tuesday: 12.5 miles, including a track workout of 4x1200 in 4:30, 4:26, 4:23, 4:20 (recoveries of 2:3x-2:4x after each) Followed with leg strengthwork and 1200 yards recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.
Wednesday: 8 miles very easy to yoga (8:58), plus drills and strides, and then yoga. Followed with another 4.5 miles very easy (8:43). Massage in afternoon.
Thursday: 11 "miles" pool-running and upper body strengthwork/core in the morning. Foam rolling at night.
Friday: 10.5 miles, including a 4 mile tempo on the track in 25:12 (6:25/6:18/6:17/6:12) Followed with leg strengthwork and 1250 yards recovery swimming. Foam rolling at night.
Saturday: 7.5 miles very easy (8:37), upper body weights/core, and then another 4 miles very easy (8:22) plus drills and two uphill strides. Foam rolling at night.
Sunday: 16 miles, mostly easy, but with 5 miles at marathon effort (6:58). Followed with injury prevention work, 6 "miles" of pool-running, and 500 yards recovery swimming. Foam rolling in afternoon.
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