14 Miles On a Busted Ankle . . .

Okay, so I didn't do the entire 14 miles on a busted ankle, just the last seven.
How did I injure it you might ask?
Well, Jiu Jitsu of course. I was working with a newbie and Sensei had us tearing through various take downs. A review day of sorts. I was paired up with a newbie and when working on foot sweeps, "WHACK!" We collided ankle bones. Now, at the time I just it shrugged it off - it stung a bit - but no deal big deal.
Now the following day (Wed.) was my last long run before doing this half marathon on Sunday Sept. 27th. So I had to do it. I also had just gotten back from a whirlwind trip to Iowa. Now, while running there I also pulled a calf muscle.
Dear Reader, I just want to say this . . . I now understand how hard it is to train for two sports at once. Injury risk goes through the roof and eventually one has to suffer for the other.

So I did my run. It started out great. My pacing, breathing - everything was going according to plan. Even with ridiculous headwinds out by Ellis Island and a bad calf muscle this was going to be a terrific run. A training run that will get me to my goal of 13.1 miles in under 2 hours.

Alas, around mile 7 things started hurting. At first I thought I'd turned my ankle but that wasn't the case -so I kept going - and the pain kept increasing.

I know the logical person would have stopped running, but I am not that logical. I also realize that 3/4 of the key to being a distance runner is one's ability to manage pain & discomfort. So I trudged on.
Now I did 13.1 miles in 2 hrs, 8min. That's with an ankle I can barely put weight on, a bad calf muscle, huge headwinds . . . oh and the water was shut off in Liberty State Park -so I had no hydration . . .
Not bad right? Pretty freaking good by anyone's standards . . . but I was little sacred. The last .9 of a mile to get me home took 14 minutes. I could barely walk.
So I've been "ibuprofening" it and icing it. I think I'm going to take 2 days off from running. (It's all I can afford really with the impending race!)
It only swells and hurts when I get the blood flowing to it and it's sensitive to the touch - but no pain when I move it. And I can walk on it just fine - for a little while. I think it's a bruise on the inner ball of my ankle bone and it gets to hurting when the area fills with blood from use.

I guess I'll be on the elliptical trainer for two days. (Which doesn't cause any pain at all by the way.)
I hate the elliptical trainer for the simple fact that I believe they were invented for out of shape people.
Being an athlete - I have to be on it like a lunatic to break a sweat. I crank the resistance up to 20 (as high as it will go) just to get a bead of the wet stuff forming on my forehead. And in order to get my breathing up -I have to keep my limbs moving at max effort to the point where it becomes mental work to keep up the pace. I'd much rather run outside or climb on the treadmill.

Of course I doubt many people who run 14 miles simply as "part of their day" spend much time on an elliptical trainer . . .

I'm also sad because I'm not lifting right now. In an effort to shave off a little weight for the race to improve my time, I've moved to body weight work in an effort to shrink a little.
I love weights. They make me feel powerful and good about my body. But alas, we are trying something new . . .
I just worry about losing some strength. Some of the guys I grapple with hit the 300 pound range so I feel being able to bench 250 has its advantages.
I'll have to post this new workout. It's a combination of a grappling workout with the body weight workout I posted earlier and some things I picked up by watching a program on Parkour and the guys training for that sport. They are in amazing shape and I figured I could learn something from how they train.
Once I do this workout all the way through I'll post it and we will see if I survive it . . .

Until next time True Believers . . .