Running partner

Andrew went running with me today! This is not only unprecedented but also highly unlikely ever to have happened, especially without coercion from me. But yesterday, in an apparent fit of madness, Andrew asked if he could come running with me. It was great to have him along! It was such a beautiful morning that I wished we could have stayed out longer than 5 minutes. But my ankle had been hurting some yesterday, and I didn't want to overdo it. When we first started out today I was having a little ankle pain, but I think it must have just been muscle tightness because it subsided quickly instead of getting worse. That's a good thing!

Andrew did great on his first run and I hope he decides to accompany me on more of them as I slowly build my stamina back up!

Third "barefoot" run

I did another 5 minutes in the Vibrams this morning. My muscles were still kind of sore from the last two runs, but not terribly so and they loosened up with a little movement. I considered adding a sixth minute, but decided that I shouldn't try to push it at all until 5 minutes feels easy. It's tempting to add time because it feels ridiculous to go through all the prep for a run when the prep takes longer than the run itself. (It takes almost 5 minutes just to get the crazy shoes on.) But I know I need to be very careful here or I will likely injure myself.

Good kind of sore

Wow, my legs are really sore today! From two five-minute runs! But it's the good kind of sore. And hey, I only have to increase my stamina about 60-fold in order to get through a marathon...

Second "barefoot" run

When I woke up this morning, I was surprised to find that I had some muscle fatigue in my ankles and lower calves from yesterday's 5-minute run. Fatigue from a 5-minute run?! It was the good kind of fatigue, though -- the kind you get after you've done a challenging run with a non-injured body. I'm really just that out-of-shape, and my body isn't used to the crazy non-shoes. So, since I didn't seem to be having any injury-related pain, I decided to do another 5-minute run today in the Vibrams. The run felt just fine. It does seem odd to go for such a short run; I have to remind myself that it's worth it to spend more time getting ready for the run than actually running. I have not had any ankle pain today, which is great. Tomorrow will be a recovery day.

The good, the bad, and the experimental

The good: I made it to Michigan, along with cat, car, and fiance! The trip was mercifully uneventful and provided a nice rest for my ankle, since there's not much walking around to be done when one is spending 8-to-12-hour days in the car.

The bad: In spite of the rest, the physical therapy exercises, and the boot, my ankle is not really better. Granted, I haven't been able to stay off it as much as I should due to moving, but it really isn't better at all. I can't keep wearing the boot indefinitely, because the boot has become progressively more uncomfortable; there are a couple places where it has to be cinched pretty tightly in order to fit right, and as a result those places have developed chronic bruises that just hurt when the boot is on.

The experimental: I have these crazy "shoes" called Vibram Five Fingers that are supposed to simulate barefootedness while providing a little protection from anything sharp that one might happen to step on. There's been some research evidence recently suggesting that barefoot running is more natural to the human physique than running in high-tech super-supported running shoes (duh) and -- more interestingly -- that it might be associated with a lower injury rate, since running shoes put an unnatural amount of impact onto the heel of the foot. The experience of running in the Vibrams is completely different from running in running shoes; instead of landing on your heel with each step, for example, you land on your forefoot. Yesterday, I thought, "Well heck, maybe I should try going for a little run in the barefoot shoes." I figured that it would at least put a little less stress on my heel and ankle than if I went for a run in my regular shoes. So, this morning I ran for 5 minutes in the Vibrams -- my first run in over 2 months. It felt weird, but good. It didn't hurt my injured side any more than my non-injured side. Now I'm thinking that perhaps these shoes will allow me to start very gradually running again without worsening my ankle problem; in the best of worlds, maybe they would also facilitate the healing of the injury by getting blood flowing the tendon areas without stressing them too much. Maybe not. But if I'm not too sore tomorrow, I'll try doing another 5-minute run in them.

Reboot

Well, it seems I've progressed backward over the last week in terms of ankle healing, so today the physical therapist took me off exercise for the weekend and told me to pretty much completely stay off my ankle if possible for the weekend. If I absolutely have to walk... it's back to the boot. Argh!

She explained a little more about how I got injured, which was useful. When I was training for and running the marathon, there was a lot of wear-and-tear on my ankle tendons (which is normal when you're doing that kind of thing). But after the marathon, when I became sedentary, the tendons weren't getting enough blood to heal properly. Tendons don't have a great blood supply of their own, so they only get access to a good amount of blood if you're moving the surrounding areas (i.e., exercising), which I was not. So, since I wasn't moving, the tendons weren't getting much blood, and they would have needed blood in order to heal. What this means is that in order for them to heal now, they need movement that isn't stressful because that will bring blood to the area. The physical therapist told me that she actually wants me moving my ankle a lot (toe pointing, etc.) but not putting weight on it because it isn't strong enough to handle that yet. That made sense and clarified what I should be trying to do right now.

In the throes of moving

I haven't been at the computer much over the last week because I've been busy selling my furniture, packing boxes, and preparing to move across the country!

Last Friday I had another physical therapy appointment. I'd been doing well and not having pain. The physical therapist had me do about 10 minutes on the recumbent bike and told me I can start doing that in addition to swimming. She also gave me another set of strength training exercises to do (essentially one-legged squats). And, she told me to wean off the boot over the weekend, so that by Monday I'd be completely done with it!

When I woke up on Saturday morning, my ankle was hurting a little. I'm not sure why, since I hadn't started ditching the boot yet. Maybe it was the biking, or maybe I had just spent too much time on my feet the day before. It has kept hurting on and off since then. I haven't done any more biking, just to be safe. I really hope the soreness goes away soon! I had been doing so well and been basically pain-free for awhile until Saturday.

Slow progress is still progress

So I've now been swimming two days in a row, and today the physical therapist started me on some strengthening exercises for my ankle. I was able to do the exercises without pain, which is a really good sign! My left ankle is definitely a lot weaker than my right one, but she told me not to mistake the fatigue that comes with exercising it for the pain that would be happening if the injury were flaring up. I'm supposed to do 3 sets of 10 reps, once or twice a day, and keep on stretching and swimming. She also showed me how I can heat up my ankle with a heating pad before stretching in order to help with the Achilles tightness, which hasn't been going away.

I asked her how long she thinks it will be until I can start running. She estimated three weeks, adding that in about another week I could probably start running in the pool. Running in the pool will start to get my body used to running again without placing too much stress on the ankle.

Bonus: if all goes well this weekend, I can ditch the boot on Monday. This is especially nice because Tucson is starting to get HOT and the boot doesn't breathe at all. I am optimistic!

Swimming

I just got back from a swim, and wow, it felt great! Partly it was nice just to be moving my body, since I've had to be pretty sedentary lately, and partly the swimming itself was just really enjoyable. I did 20 minutes of gentle back-and-forth laps, not even putting my head under the water because I was wearing my contacts. It definitely worked out my muscles a little (especially my weak little arms) but wasn't terribly taxing. Now I feel extremely relaxed and fabulous. I can totally imagine continuing to do this even after I'm able to run again. In fact, I'm tempted to go back tonight for another swim, not for the exercise (don't want to overdo it) but just for the nice feeling of being in the water. Yay!

Boot update 3, and swimming fail

I have gotten really good at walking around in the boot. I figured out the other day that if I strap a rolled-up pair of socks into the area of the boot where my ankle bends, the whole thing fits a lot better and my heel doesn't slide up and down. Since that epiphany, I've been able to walk almost normally in the boot without much of a limp. It's still pretty hard getting in and out of my car, but if that's the biggest remaining challenge, I think I'm doing well. My ankle has been aching a lot today, though, and I'm not sure what to make of that.

I've been hard at work all weekend on revisions to a manuscript that I submitted for publication, so I didn't have the opportunity to go swimming (my physical therapy homework to be completed by Wednesday) until this afternoon. I was all set to make a visit to the rec center pool today, late afternoon-ish, when Tucson decided to have a minor hurricane starting at about 3:00pm. Wisely, I think, I decided not to go swimming after all. I will try again tomorrow or Tuesday, weather permitting.

Improvement, maybe

When I woke up this morning and took a few steps, my ankle felt normal (as in, the same as the other ankle) for the first time in quite a while. That seems good, or, even if it's a fluke, at least non-bad.

I've been diligently wearing the boot, doing my stretches, and eating my anti-inflammatory diet. Yesterday I had another dexamethasone treatment with the physical therapist, and my homework is to go swimming two or three times before my next session on Wednesday. The idea is to get my ankle moving in a very non-stressful way. She said that next week, if it's feeling a little better, she'll start having me do some gentle weight-training exercises to strengthen the ankle.

My goal this weekend is to stay off it as much as possible and ice ice ice.