Again, it’s been a while. Sue and I had kept up our lockdown walks and being a teacher and on my feet all day, I was getting a bit concerned about the state of my left ankle and foot. I had got injured just after the Hampton Court half back in February 2020 and never really recovered. I had given up all hope of ever running again, let alone racing but when walking and standing was getting painful I knew I had to do something. My left ankle and the tendon that runs under it was constantly inflamed and twice the size of my other ankle but I just got used to living with it, but it was a constant, nagging ache that would sometimes flare up so I couldn’t walk at all.
So the summer holidays came around and that seemed like a good time to deal with it. I wouldn’t need to be on my feet as much and I would be able to devote a bit more time to the physio. I took myself off to Mika at Kingston Physiotherapy and he seemed to think straight away that he could get me sorted and running again. To be honest, while pleased, I didn’t really believe him but I was happy to give it a go. So for six weeks I had a weekly massage on the ankle and he gave me some daily stretches to do. Within a couple of weeks it started to settle down and went from being painful to just ‘not quite right’, which was a huge improvement. The stretches Mika gave me were nothing special; just the standard calf, achilles, quad and hamstring stretches that any age grouper knows. I was a bit sceptical that they would work, but of course, they absolutely did!
After those initial weeks, he then gave me some additional exercises using a physio band to strengthen the ankle joint. This would work the tendons hard as my joints were so weak and it felt like it was doing more harm than good. Mika said not to worry about some discomfort and that would be normal; trust the process, and all that! By the end of my summer break I was walking completely pain free and also I just felt generally much more elastic and loose. The real noticeable difference was when getting out of bed. I had got so used to literally hobbling out of bed after a night’s sleep that it just felt normal to feel really old. The difference was so marked, I almost couldn’t believe it.
At the end of the summer I thought that I would try to start running again. I took it very steady!
It was very, very achy and didn’t fill me with a lot of confidence, but, and this is a big but, while it was uncomfortable at the time I didn’t have a major reaction the next day. No swelling or flare ups. This was good!
So I just did a couple of runs a week on a flat 5km loop, gradually building UL the strength in my foot. The major issue I had was corners and cambers where I had to take it very gently. The runs themselves would be quite achy but I could feel more strength in my ankle every day and more and more I’d have no pain or discomfort at all. I started doing a few gentle interval sessions, always monitoring what was going on and making sure that there was no adverse reaction from each run. I wanted to start to get aerobically fitter, rather than just plodding as I had the confidence in my body to run faster, so I’ve started to do parkrun again to push myself a bit. Two down so far and already within striking distance of sub-20.
So despite a few hard runs and interval sessions, my joints are holding up. I’m not getting the terrible DOMS that I used to get after a hard parkrun. I’ve actually really enjoyed the process of doing the rehab and getting my body strong for running. It s been a while.
