Did a sprint tri on Sunday, and shortly after beginning the run, felt a sudden (but relatively mild) pain in my right ankle, right below the medial malleolus. Finished the run OK, a little more slowly than I’d have liked, but not the fault of the ankle. (More the fault of biking a little too hard, I think.)
It’s continuing to be slightly sore this week, but not terrible. I work on my feet, and have been working long shifts, but it doesn’t seem to be getting any worse. Not improving, either. Have not been running on it, partly to try to rest it, and partly because I just haven’t had time with the long shifts.
I’ve got another sprint coming up on Saturday. Might or might not try a short and relatively gentle run on Friday - haven’t decided yet.
So yeah, I know that discretion is the better part of valor where running injuries are concerned. Mostly just wanted to ask the experts here what sort of risk I may be taking of turning this into something much worse - possible damage to the tendon, for example? Or is this more likely just a case of tendonitis, or similar? As it stands currently, it’s more annoying than painful.
You are playing around with likely PT tendonitis. Rest is definitely best-how much/long is not an easy question though to answer. Do you race in different shoes than you train in?
Yes on the shoes question - I wear Brooks DS Racers for short races and Kayanos for training. Not sure what I’ll wear on Saturday if I do race, though - had a weird issue with the flats in that last race, where the fabric peeled right off of both of the insoles midway through.
Am thinking now that I’ll probably skip the usual Friday run with my friend, then maybe cross my fingers and try to race on Saturday. If I do have to drop out, though, at least it’s the cheapest race I’m doing this season . . . Probably will lay off the running for a while after, and spend more time on the bike - would make some sense from a training perspective, too.
I assume that this issue is probably related to the abduction and pronation that I have on the right side. Overall tightness of both calves probably doesn’t help. Would it help or hurt for me to try some stretching while the tendon is still sore?
And am I being stupid to think that I can squeeze another short race out of my ankle?
Thanks for responding, BTW - I was hoping you’d drop in.
I did get some foot films done last year when I was worried that I was getting a stress fracture. Brought the students to the room across the hall, and positioned myself for all three views. I mostly just needed them to press the button - can’t reach it from the table. They still managed to miss my toes on the lateral view. I told them that if I die of some sort of toe cancer that they missed, I’m going to come back to haunt them.
When I got the bill, I was surprised to find out what my services are worth.
As far as the current injury goes, I’m gonna go with a pretty decent rough’n’ready principle of triage: if the patient walks into the room, the lower extremities are probably not broken.
However difficult it might be… rest, rest, rest, sleep and repeat. Depending on how quickly your body heals you should be good after 7-10 days worth of plenty of sleep, rest and healthy eating. take care.