First of all: do not panic

Second: do not mess up your body with anti-inflammatory pills. There are natural ways of reducing inflammation and your body will take care of it:
* To provide raw material for the production of lipoxins and resolvins, that guides and resolves the inflammatory process. These substances are produced from polyunsaturated fatty acids. Therefore we recommend consuming: Bluefish in abundance.You can also consume some oil omega 3 supplement. With one gram of EPA and DHA other day will suffice.
* enlarge the action time of anti inflammatory substances: you can achieve this eating carrots, Carrots, Willow bark, Dandelion, or blueberries
* Directing immune cells straight to injured zone with heat. This helps good peripheral vasodilatation is generated and the arrival of the regulatory cells of the process is quick. As to chemical stimuli we know that an adequate amount of Arginine is also a good support. Arginine nutrients are: Gelatin, Meat and seafood, Nuts.

Third: replace your run workouts with aqua swim or elliptical if your pain allows. Even better if you could find an Alter G machine around you.

Trust your training/ Trust your body

When my wife sprained her ankle last September, she could not imagine running until mid-December, and she did not try running on it until after January 1.

Maybe ask for a medical deferral w/ a doctor's note.

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As a previous poster said, don't panic. You still have time to work something out, and there are options for dealing with the race.

TREATMENT: On top of what has been previously suggested for healing, Google what others' experience has been. I've always had better luck when I have set aside established medical opinion and taken my recovery into my own hands. For me specifically, bandaging sprained ankles very tightly has helped, as has using one of those wraps you find at the drug store when I run, but I can't explain why. Ice and NSAIDS have most definitely not helped, but again, that's me.

TRAINING: You still need to train, but you don't want to do work outs that aggravate the condition. That means that running is definitely off. Swimming might also be limited unless you can find a way to push off the wall without flexing your ankles. You might be swimming with a pull buoy for the next month and gently touching off the wall with your good leg. Biking should be OK. Overall, the hit to your fitness if you take some time off won't be as bad as you think.

RACE DAY: You likely have a plan for how you want to race, and that means running the marathon. I'd suggest taking the next month and developing a Plan B, which is about answering some questions ahead of time: What happens if you can't run the marathon? What pain thresholds will mean that you DNF? Are you OK with walk-run? If so, what intervals? Will you add anything to your special needs bag?

Good luck!

An Ironman pal of mine aqua-jogged/ran for a long time due to an injury. He said he stayed really close to his regular running shape etc...

I strained my calf about 7 weeks before my first Ironman last year. I started aqua running which, although INCREDIBLY boring, really helped. I also swam solely with a pull buoy and the bike was fine. I did transition to running 4 weeks before, but never did more than 14 miles before the race. I raced great. I would try the aqua running and not try to run much at all before the race. good luck and sorry to hear...try not to get discouraged. Shit happens and if you can get through this, you will look back fondly on how you reacted to this. I'm proud of overcoming injury and it's made me stronger for future curveballs.

1) water running. You would be amazed. From what I hear, you wont gain any fitness, but you wont lose what you have. My physio treats some serious triathletes, one who had a stress fracture 4 months before an IM. She water ran until a month up to the race then did a few short stints outside, and managed to KQ.

2) You are doubtful to have any real fitness gains before you start your taper in a week or so. Don't panic. The hay is in the barn at this point.

3) Walk it off, ya nancy!

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Long Chile was a silly place.

Sprained ankle 2 weeks before marathon. Pretty bad sprain with popping, bruising and a whole lot of swelling.
wrapped, taped and worked on balance as tolerated. Progressed from pain free walking to minimal pain with running. Was able to run marathon with minimal pain.

Ankle is still gets the occasional ache and trying to cut causes sharp pain

I've had some success with having a pan of hot water and a pan of cold water. Place your feet in the hot water for 5 minutes, then the cold water for 5 minutes. Repeat for 30 minutes.

The hot and cold water (maybe some ice in the cold water) should be as hot as you can comfortably stand.

Good luck!

Mark

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Triathlon and Running Race Timing
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Thanks everyone. I am trying to stay optimistic and really hope to do this race. I'll walk-run if I have to... just want to come in under 17 hrs!

Bike a lot. Keeps blood flowing and swelling down while maintaining fitness. Do simple things to maintain range of motion. All this comfortable, not painful. Also ultrasound worked awesome for me to get rid of swelling, a single treatment made a huge difference.

Training: Swim a lot, Ride a lot, do some underwater running
Race day: lots of kinesio tape and painkillers.

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res, non verba

I sprained my ankle last week and have a 70.3 in two weeks. I have been pretty bummed about missing my biggest two weeks of training and knowing that I won't be having a great day on race day. My plan is to swim a lot, bike what I can bike and do a few easy runs the week before. I tried a run yesterday and my ankle is worse today. Hopefully I'll be able to put it together on race day.

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A false humanity is used to impose its opposite, by people whose cruelty is equalled only by their arrogance

I couldn't run in the 4+ months leading up to IMAZ in 2012. I just swam and biked a lot. Still almost broke 11 hours with a 4:45 run, which wasn't a bad run considering I had not run since the end of June of that year.

I tried aqua jogging but it was dreadfully boring and I couldn't deal with it and dropped that after two weeks. I just added another bike ride so I was riding at least 5x per week.

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I wouldn't bother with the running. Zero benefit, plenty of risk. Just swim and ride and stretch and recover.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Having sprained both my ankle and my wrist in the last year I have had mixed results with just sucking it up.

I twisted my ankle 10 days out from the Niagara Falls 10k. Managed to set a new PR due to just resting it in the days leading up. But then suffered badly after from some referred IT band and knee pain.

My wrist sprain came from a 1mph bike crash 3 weeks before the Paris to Ancaster bike race. I kept using it as soon as I got an all clear xray. Not broken meant no excuse to not use it.

In both cases my doctor recommended keeping the joint moving. Immobilizing it would have been a mistake.

Good luck with that.

http://www.caringmedical.com/sports-injuries/rice-why-we-do-not-recommend-it/
http://www.physioroom.com/injuries/supplements/nsaids.php


RICE has been on the outs for a while. But everywhere you go on the web you will find it touted.
NSAIDs are equally suspect. Asprin, Tylenol, Advil, whatever. Relax, smoke a joint.
Binding? Who knows, that area seems to be populated by chiropractors.
Massage? Couldn't hurt.


Getting your significant other to kiss it better seems on the whole to be the safest way to go (but wash first).
If it's just a mild sprain you'll be fine, swim more, period (and don't eat).

How did your Ironman turn out? I just injured mine with a month to go and curious how you recovered and trained.

Can't agree more Re: water running. This is probably the best thing you can do if you have the all clear to get in the pool. Get yourself a water running belt and find a local pool with a class. You can gain cardio fitness from water running as well, it's just that the impact and loading is removed and you gain leg speed without too much loading.

If you're only a few weeks away from a full IM then this is actually a great way to get that last bit of speed work in during your peak anyway. As long as you're cleared to do the race this may not be as big an issue as you think.

Shouldn't you be in full taper three weeks out from HIM? Your max volume days should be behind you.

What everyone else said about water running :)

Loads of experience with it myself and for others. If your ankle will tolerate it, it's a great way to go. Good luck!

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Yanti Ardie of Y Tri Multisport & Majick Juice for lasting critter defense & skin soothing
~ World Open Water Swimming Association Coach & Official
~ IRONMAN Certified Coach (Founding Member)
~ Triathlon Australia Professional Development Coach
~ 3 by the Sea: my Journey from death to ...

tylenol is not an anti-inflammatory as others have stated/implied. I don't normally take pain meds unless the pain is something that is preventing me from sleeping. as others have stated, aqua jogging if pain allows you to. a good sports med doctor might be able give you better guidance.

Since it was over a week (almost two) when I made my post and a little over 3 till the race I ended up missing almost all of week 5 and 4 leading up to the race. Week 3 still was supposed to keep the intensity and drop a little if the volume and a sharper two week taper.

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A false humanity is used to impose its opposite, by people whose cruelty is equalled only by their arrogance