A month of not-very-much

Here's what I've been up to in the last month:

• I took one week off after the HM, mainly because I felt too weak and light-headed to do anything else.
• I ran twice - 3 miles and 5 miles - the second week after the HM.  Still felt very weak and had to walk lots, plus my right ankle definitely wasn't happy.
• I ran twice - 1.5 miles and 3 miles - the third week after the HM.  The first run was meant to be 3 miles but my ankle hurt so much that I stopped half-way through.  The second run was on the treadmill and, although my ankle ached on and off, at least it wasn't pain.
• Rather than risk tipping my ankle niggle into injury territory, I focused on using the stationary bike, elliptical trainer, and rower at the gym as well as re-introducing weights.  It's not running, but something is better than nothing.
• I saw Adam a week ago to see if he could figure out what is going on with my ankle.  He rattled off the name of one of the tendons in the ankle/foot, agreed with me that it was likely another ankle impingement (I had one years ago, pre-Adam, that took months to clear up), and proceeded to try to unimpinge me.  Here is my ankle, post-treatment, with apparently normal bruising and swelling:

Looks worse than it feels.  Really.

•  Adam's instructions were to keep using the cardio machines but treat them like running sessions (e.g. do intervals on the bike) rather than just faffing around whilst watching Bargain Hunt.  He said no running for the next two weeks and repeatedly assured me that I would easily be able to start training at the beginning of April for the Reykjavik Midnight Sun Half Marathon.  I found this very difficult to believe and badgered the poor man until he gave up and said that I could run outside as long as it isn't windy (because that's when I lose my form and go over on my ankles).  Given that there are very few days anymore when it is NOT blowing a gale, this essentially amounts to me doing what I've been told.  Sigh.  He's so clever.
• I've been trying to walk for 3 miles on the days when I'm not at the gym because this doesn't hurt and I figure that a bit of movement will be good for healing and mobilisation.  Yesterday's walk saw me try some very short bursts of jogging with the wind at my back just to see what it felt like.  My ankle felt stiff but otherwise fine, both during and after the walk.  I'll try a bit more run/walk next week and see how it goes.

Oh, and I've booked a Chi Running/Yoga weekend for the end of May (anyone want to join  me?), ordered a Yoga for Runners dvd (as the timings of the local classes are impossible for me and I've finally bowed to the inevitable conclusion that I NEED to sort out my muscle imbalances and develop at least a nodding acquaintance with core stability), and booked our plane tickets to Iceland (even though, given the way that my Year of Fun Running is going so far, we may be contending with a volcanic eruption). 

I'm definitely a work in progress.