Injured Again?!?

Well it’s not as bad as I feared, but I am once again in a state of rest.  Last Thursday I had a pain in my right ankle when I was running.  It continued to persist afterwards, so I iced it and bought a brace that I wore for the next 2 days.  By Sunday I figured I’d be fine to run while wearing the brace, so I laced up and hit the road.  About 3/4 of a mile in, the pain was back, so I headed home cutting my 4 mile planned run short to 2 miles.  At least I’ve learned not to push it when I’m in pain.  This time the pain was unbearable and I could hardly walk for the rest of the day.  This is when the dread began to set in…

I had just got into the groove of training for the WDW Marathon and the last thing I want to do is rest.  Yes, as you can see from my weekly review last week, I was overdoing it.  Five days in a row of lower body cardio is probably not the best thing to do when starting a training program.  But still, this was discouraging.

I was able to get an appointment with my orthopedist yesterday, who confirmed that it was just tendonitis which is easily curable with rest, ice and anti-inflammatories.  Because of my colitis I can’t take prescription anti-inflammatories, so the doctor prescribed a topical medication called Voltaren Gel.  I keep calling it Voltran Gel, but sadly it is only this:

And not like this:

Anyway…I have to apply the gel 3-4 times a day along with ice a few times as well.  This along with no running for 5-7 days and I should be good as new.  All in all, it’s much better news than I was expecting and I can live with taking a another week off.  At least this is in the beginning of my training plan, so I have enough time to recoup.

In the meantime, I’m going to focus on strengthening my legs, including my feet and ankles.  Squats, lunges, heel raises and stretches are all in my future.  Interestingly, there is an article in the August issue of Runner’s World on strengthening your feet and ankles with exercises that help develop the “muscle control you need to prevent overuse injuries.”  Sounds like just what I need!   The exercises include Single-Leg Directional Hops, Three-Point Lunges, Squat Jacks, and Single-Leg Mountain Climbers.  These look intense, but I will try them out when my ankle gets a little stronger.  I also found this great article on their website about the benefits of strength training barefoot to prevent injury.  Interesting theory and something I might try.

Has anyone else suffered from tendonitis in your foot and ankle?  Do you have any suggestions on how to prevent it from reoccurring?