Past 2 weeks...

SICK & INJURED!

Pretty much 2 weeks of nothing!!

With the "man-flu" clearing up on Saturday, i took the opportunity while James was playing football, to take off the shoes and with inspiration from the Tarahumara (Yes, i've been reading Born To Run) do an impromptu barefoot run around the oval. 

It felt great, natural, effortless, fast... So later that day i bought some Vibram Five Fingers "barefoot" shoes.  Sunday arvo i went for an easy 2.5km run with Jamesy, and wore the Vibrams.

There was a little calf tightness this morning - but that could also be related to the 1hr TT style bike ride yesterday.

Anyway, i'm planning on making the transition to the barefoot shoes a gradual one. I'll do the bulk of my running done in my other shoes and slowly swing the percentage in favour of barefoot time as my legs allow.

Also managed a swim a couple of weeks back - first one since April.  It didn't suck totally, which was great!

Cheers for now :)

Posterior Tibial Tendon Dysfunction - Not so much winning!!!

So following on from my last entry, here's the low down on the ankle injury.

When i rolled my ankle at Two Bays, we (being my physio and I) think that i've pinched my Posterior Tibial Tendon. So it appears that when i run too much it's going to get sore - we're hoping it's just scar tissue, as strength and flexibility is OK.

Oh look, here's a piccy of said tendon...

So, the obvious advice is...blah, blah, blah...rest...ice...exercise...

And look here's exercises...

Ankle Flexion

Strengthening the muscles and tendons all around the ankle will help treat the injury and offer support. Sit cross-legged, with your injured leg on top of the other. Slowly flex your ankle so that your toes are pointed up toward your knee. Hold for a few seconds, then slowly point your toes and repeat. perform 5 to 10 repetitions. Stop immediately if you experience any pain or discomfort.

Ankle Circles

Slowly circling your ankles will help restore some mobility to the injured area. Sit cross-legged with your injured leg over the other. Slowly circle your foot all the way around, then reverse and go the other way. Perform 10 repetitions to start off, until the injured muscle is stronger. Stop immediately if you experience any pain or discomfort.

Inner Ankle Lift

The inner ankle lift uses light 5-lb. weight, so if your injury has not progressed to the point that you can incorporate any resistance, skip this for now. You will need a normal shopping bag with handles, and some kind of weight equaling approximately 5 lbs. Two cans of soup are sufficient. Sit cross-legged with your injured leg on top, and hang the shopping bag handle over your foot. Slowly raise your foot up and down by flexing and extending your ankle. Perform five to 10 repetitions and rest briefly between each one. Stop immediately if you experience any pain or discomfort.

Heel Raise / Calf Raise

The calf muscle at the back of your leg offers support to the posterior tibial muscle, and can help distribute the weight load if it is strong. Calf raises will help strengthen the calf and rehabilitate your posterior tibial muscle. Simply stand with your feet parallel to one another and raise up onto the balls of your feet. Hold that position momentarily and return to the starting point. Only do five repetitions and increase as you get stronger. Stop immediately if you experience any pain or discomfort.

Read more: LIVESTRONG

But as we know, just doing exercises is boring - i know, i need to ride and swim too, so why not just concentrate on that...because i like to run, and want to run!!

So, did a little research into taping, and look just like magic...

KT Tape time!!

And the KT Tape Forum even has an example of / discussion on my exact issue!!

So it looks like all that is left to do is to find a store with said KT Tape, and hopefully i'll be able to return to some reduced running... :)

Oh, and of course keep on doing the exercises... ;)

Update - Bad Training Week ...

The last few days have just felt crap...the week started OK though...

Saturday was great. Managed a fairly well paced 13km hilly run being dragged around the gravel access tracks at Lysterfield by a mate who's a bit quicker than me. That was followed almost immediately by an 11km (very) easy run around the local streets with another mate.

Sunday i was going to ride - but following a sleep in, i just subjected myself to 30mins of roller fun before we  went into the football, as Jamesy was doing AusKick on the MCG.

Monday night followed up with a 30 minute roller ride, hard 5k run brick session.  The run was fast (for me). And i felt awesome.

However, Tuesday morning i woke up and my ankle was in pain!

The injury from Two Bays is still haunting me!! 

So time to rest it...