Silicon Inserts

I didn't run on Monday. 

I wasn't going to run on Tuesday either.  From the conditional future perfect tense of that statement, it follows that I didn't stick with that plan.

I visited Laces on Monday night, just to kill time for awhile after dropping Bailey off at ballet.  The shop was empty and Mike chatted me up about the Silver Strand.  The conversation focused on the state of my ankle and what the underlying issue might be.  Why wasn't it getting better? 

He looked at my ankle and knee alignment, and at my arch.  He agreed that while my arch is flat and flexible, it isn't so bad that I'm any more than a mild pronator and shouldn't be experiencing such persistence discomfort.  He was leaning toward suggesting I might want to see a podiatrist, which wasn't the answer I was looking for.  Maybe I'd sustained some damage to ligaments or even bone in that September misstep injury.

But then, on a lark, he pulled out some gel inserts and had me try them out.  They're like a silicon-based form that fits under the insole, and I put them into my K-Onas.  They felt interesting, and I liked the way my arch felt.  Mike liked the way my ankle didn't collapse inward and said I could test drive them.  See if they help at all, and if not, just return them.

Well, knowing myself, I knew I couldn't wait to run a test.  After the fatigue of the half marathon and the worry of the ankle strain, I was resolved to severely cut back my miles this week just to recuperate.  I planned on using the Cybex flowrunner, and Precor elliptical and Adaptive Motion Trainer to get my "running" exercise in, at least for the week.

But I thought just a few minutes on the treadmill with the orthotics wouldn't hurt.  So I set out with a plan just to run an easy 15-30 minute session before moving over to the elliptical.

Instead, I felt so good, I toyed around with pacing and wound up running for an hour, doing everything from recovery jogs to 5K-pace 800s.  I did feel like my heart rate is still unusually elevated for the level of work I was performing, but my ventilation was much more at ease than it had been on Sunday.

Best of all, even though it was a run of moderate length and decent intensity, the ankles -- both of them -- felt great. I had no lingering aches or pains as I might normally experience.  Now I recognize this was just one outing and not really getting up into the endurance range of 90+ minutes when the ankle really starts to give me fits.  But it was encouraging. 

Not set on what I'll do Wednesday.  I really should stick to my earlier conviction and get my cardio elsewhere and do some strength training, especially for the core. I might just have to leave the shoes with the inserts at home so I'm not tempted to do more "testing."