Just as things seem to be getting back to normal and my training/race plan for the rest of the year is sorted (10 mile race in mid-October, half marathon in early December) I get a setback…

During a long run last Sunday I managed to twist my left ankle quite badly (somewhere deep in Wimbledon Common, which otherwise is a beautiful place to run). I was able to continue running - it was just a nasty twist but with no immediate problems (apart from me thinking, “ow, that was nasty!”. I continued on with no real pain and managed a respectable 11 and a half miles on the day.

After plenty of R.I.C.E. (rest/ice/compression/elevation) there wasn’t a great deal of improvement so I headed to the local hospital on Wednesday for a professional opinion. A physiotherapist saw me (I’m most impressed that I got to see a physio) and after poking, pulling and twisting decided that I have what is known as a Grade I Ankle Sprain (stretching of some of the ligaments on the outside of my ankle).

I can put weight on the ankle, I can walk, I can balance on it alright - its just that there’s a pain around the ligament that is damaged (the physio said there’s probably a few torn ‘fibres’ in there).

The recovery plan is to not run until I can comfortably hop around on one leg and it doesn’t hurt and continue to swim/cycle as I want to, but not too much/hard. With a bit of luck I’ll be back jogging in a couple of weeks and will be able to increase the mileage from there.

Its frustrating in that I wanted to do well in the 10 mile race I’ve entered in a few weeks time (after being overly enthusiatic in the first couple of miles in last years race and paying for it) but I guess at best this will turn out to be a training/tempo run. The 10 miler was always a stepping stone race towards the half marathon in December so if it doesn’t go to plan then so be it.