So, after reveling in the glory of my amazing 20-mile run Saturday morning, I developed some soreness in my lower left leg. Sort of in the same area of the shin splints that gave me so much trouble for so long, that seem to finally have been held at bay (knock on wood) by a combination of custom orthotics, lots and lots of PT, and lots of corrections to my running form - that same area that will probably forever be an area of concern to me, and where even the slightest twinge has me on the phone with my physical therapist.
It was in that area, but also a little lower, right around the inside of my ankle. At first it wasn't too bad, but as the night went on, it got worse. And as I was laying in bed going to sleep, it was throbbing.
I went to sleep with images of me spending hours upon hours with an aqua belt on, jogging back and forth in the deep end of the pool at the Y. Not quite a nightmare, but pretty close.
And when I woke up, I was really scared that that vision was going to become a reality. I was almost limping around the house. Not. Good.
I was doing my best to not totally freak out, though, and the boys (just Gabe and Dante) and I carried on with our day - which was really fun, and did a great job of distracting me. We went to a pancake breakfast fundraiser for their school, then to run a few errands, then out to lunch, and then I took them to Monster Mini Golf. It was fun to just hang out with the two of them, without having to chase Carmine around. We had some good laughs, and I almost forgot to worry about my ankle.
And, as it so happens, as the day went on, the pain seemed to be fading, and by the time I was in the kitchen making dinner, I realized that it was just about completely gone. Odd. Wonderful, but also very odd - that a pain so bad it had me almost unable to walk normally a few hours earlier had now all but disappeared.
It felt 100% normal this morning, so I decided to test it out for a few miles on the treadmill, so I'd have an idea of whether or not I'd be able to carry on with my training this week. Two miles, and all was well.
As I ran, it occurred to me that the only thing I did differently during my run Saturday was wear the compression socks. It also occurred to me that perhaps, by now, I should know better than to try something new on a 20-mile run. But I really never imagined compression socks could result in pain.
I'll never know for certain if that's why I had the mystery 12-hour ankle pain, but it seems like an awfully large coincedence, so I think I'll save the compression for post-run recovery for the time being.
And happily, I'll be back at it tomorrow, for my tempo run. I have a race on Sunday (5K), so I don't want to do both my speedwork and my tempo run - I think that's a bit much for the week before a race. So I'm going to drop the speedwork. I feel like the tempo is more of a crucial element for my training - I'm getting so much out of those runs - so I'll do that tomorrow, and an easier-paced run on Thursday.
I have pretty high hopes for this race. I know I'm in the middle of marathon training, and I shouldn't get too hung up on a 5K, but I haven't raced since early December, and I've got several weeks of speedwork under my belt, and I know that's going to translate into some pretty good speed.
I feel pretty confident I can at least run my current PR of 21:57, and I'm hoping I can run even a little faster than that. Gotta get to work on my goal of running a sub-21 5K this year.....
I am bound and determined to START SLOW, though. It's really difficult for this race, because it's such a flat course. But I want my first mile to be over 7 minutes - and after that, all bets are off.
There's one very small hill on the course, just after the one-mile mark, and once I get up that hill, I'm going all out : )
It's going to hurt really bad, but I'm also going to love every minute of it!
yay! and nice tempo run!
Posted by: Wes | January 31, 2012 at 11:02 AM