Ultrasound

Distance 17.5km [total: minimalist 256.3km: Barefoot 1935.2km] Week 48

Wednesday, 23-Nov. 7.5km
A very windy Wednesday, especially at the beach where the wind blowing up from the south was around 35kph.
The beach has some good crust sand and also wet sand, there was quite an incline on the wet sand though and that seems to irritate my ankle.
It was tough work running into the wind but with the barefoot style it is much easier than how I used to run back in the days of shoes. Running into the wind back then would have seen me stop numerous times to rest, now, with gravity on my side, its a breeze so to speak.
I still have not shaken the ankle pain off, it is persistently hanging on. My portable ultrasound unit arrived at the beginning of the week and I have commenced treatment, starting on a medium setting for 10 minutes twice a day. I just move the head of the unit in a circular motion around the area where the pain is coming from. This is meant to break up any build up of scar tissue, the tissue is the bodies response to the injury, it encases the joint in strong fibrous support material so stop excess movement while the tendon heals. The only problem is that it is not removed after it has healed and you are left with a stiff joint.
It is making a difference, the ankle feels less painful after and has more flexibility.
I am hoping that in a couple of weeks I will be back to full fitness and back to running on the roads again.

Saturday, 26-Nov. 8km
I got my short summer haircut today in preparation for the warmth of the summer months. Although I was getting to like the longer hair. The day was blustery with black clouds all around threatening rain, the wind was still blowing as it has been for most of the week. There was plenty of firm sand to run on today which makes for faster running. I kept the stride short and cadence up at 180. The ankle still niggled but not in the way it has done a week ago.
I was satisfied with the run and extended it out a little to 8km. I finished up just in time to avoid the downpour that followed.
I have been treating the injury site with the ultrasound, a 10 minute session in the morning and another in the evening. It is making a difference even though you don't feel anything as you are massaging the area with the ultrasound unit.
I also got to try out my new Thera Roll which arrived yesterday. It takes a bit of getting used to and when you do roll it over a tight area it really digs in, it is very hard to relax and let the muscle release. Some areas are just too painful, the ITB down the upper sides of the legs, they probably need a lot of attention.

Sunday, 27-Nov. 2km
Drills, back to the Pose drills. I had intended to go for a run today as the weather was perfect but once again the ankle was playing up, a cramping spasm made it sore. As an alternative I decided to go across to the nearby field and get some long overdue drills to sharpen up my form. It has been so long since I last did some I couldn't remember which drills I used to do. Interestingly my ankle felt better doing the faster sprints that it does on the longer runs. I also found some advice on the net that I will follow to see if it makes an improvement. Where as I have been doing eccentric calf drops that strengthens the calf the advice was to do 4 x 1 minute up on my toes, this must be done 4 times a day. I will try this for 1 week to see if I find noticeable difference.

Neil