Rest Time

So, after my run this weekend, something was not right with my ankle/foot. At first I didn't notice it. However, as Saturday afternoon became Saturday evening, my ankle started throbbing. It was strange. It felt like I had sprained or twisted my ankle. Yet I don't remember doing anything like that on my run. I started icing it and wrapping it in hopes of getting it to feel better, as I had a soccer tournament on Sunday.

I woke up Sunday morning, and the ankle still hurt just as bad. Determined not to let my friend, andrew, down, I decided to suck it up, wrap it, take some tylenol, and play through the pain. I iced a few times in the morning, and then drove up to Pennsylvania to play some indoor soccer.

At the tournament, I was pretty worried about the ankle. I had taken about 6 extra-strengthtylenols, yet the pain was still as strong. Luckily, at the tournament, they had a Certified Athletic Trainer there to help with injuries, etc. I spoke with him before our first game. I showed him where the pain was and told him about my 6 mile run. He asked me if I was wearing new shoes (no). then he asked if I had changed surfaces....BINGO. After a month of doing nothing but running on asphalt, I did my 6 mile run on hard pack, dirt, and rocks on the local trail. I didn't even think about this....I'm an idiot. The guy taped my ankle, explained to me what was going on with this one tendon in my ankle, and told me to rest it. So, of course I played in the tournament all day. and played pretty well too. Once the juices started flowing, I didn't feel the pain as much. It didn't reall impact my mobility. It did however impact my kicking- as every ball strike felt like someone was jabbing an ice pick into my ankle. Finsihed up the day, and headed home.

So, I have decided to give myself a 2-3 day break. This week was on the lighter side running-wise as the schedule called for a 5k this weekend. So the rest could do me some good. I'm also going to take a day or two off of P90x, since I don't want to put any strain on the ankle so it heals. Hopefully this will do the trick and I will be "bringing it" soon again....