On the uproll

Today was the Saturday group run with my coach and her athletes. I was a little nervous because of the roll to my ankle on Tuesday, but it was a good day.

I had my best average pace recorded by my Garmin, by about 30 seconds per mile better than any other run I've done up to this point and I maintained it over the entire six miles. Even my normalized graded pace, as reported by Training Peaks, was better by close to 30 seconds per mile. I had my best mile ever since I started training at 13:43, and that was on the flats, not the downhill portion of the course. As well, I think my gait was much better. I ran the whole way with the heel lifts in. I was pleasantly surprised when I hit the three mile mark and I was about 2:45 ahead of my target pace and time.

The only downside I had today was that with the heel lift in my foot was sliding forward a bit in my shoe and was starting to potentially give me a blister. However, my coach suggested a new lacing technique for my shoe to lock my foot a little better into place. I'm going to give that a try on the next run on Tuesday. I'm also going to try running in the Brooks Dyad since I did run better with the heel lifts in the Brooks Addictions that I was running in today. Keeping all of my options open.

After the run today, I also went for a massage to help knock down any swelling that was present after the run. I will say that my ankle actually looked pretty good compared to the normal amount of swelling I see. As well, my massage therapist is great about working on scar tissue so she spent a good chunk of time working on the scar tissue in the front part of my ankle. Afterwards, unscientifically, it felt like I could get more forward range of motion. She said that she could feel some good lumps of scar tissue under the two ports where the surgeons went in each time. I'm hoping that if we break that down, I will get some more range of motion. And well, while it does hurt working on it, it can't hurt to have more flexible or elastic scar tissue.

Tonight, more RICE.

I have more to do on the ankle, I'm not ready to accept that it's not going to get any better. Maybe it won't, but until I have exhausted all possibilities, no surrender!

I feel good and I feel hopeful.
Tomorrow I'm off to computrainer land with my coach and a group. Should be fun!

We're now less than four weeks from the 408k! And less than a week from my indoor triathlon.