The run that didn’t happen…for me anyways (Runners World 5k)

“I didn't want to wake up. I was having a much better time asleep. And that's really sad. It was almost like a reverse nightmare, like when you wake up from a nightmare you're so relieved. I woke up into a nightmare.” -  Ned Vizzini, It's Kind of a Funny Story

A little bit of a dramatic opening I know, but suffice it to say I was actually depressed. Why? Well because I couldn’t take part in the Runner’s World 5K, I had been training and prepping for it, I wanted to nail my personal  best as this was the race where I first broke the 45 minute mark and really ignited me to keep running. So what sidelined me? What took me out of the race and my goal to beat my personal best? I sprained the ever living hell out of my right ankle. Swollen with many shades of black, blue, purple and green this injury was not going to allow me to run. How did I sprain it, well I fell on it, my left leg slipped out from underneath me and my right foot stayed firmly planted on the ground while my body completely collapsed on to it. Ive had numerous sports injuries in my life so I was fairly certain I didn’t break or fracture anything. Now before you ask, yes I did see a doctor and I was correct in my self-diagnosis that it was just a very bad sprain.

Walking to the Runners world expo trying to not limp too much, probably for my own pride, I started to get more and more depressed. I just kept thinking over and over again how I could’ve done something different to prevent hurting my ankle. When it came down to it, I couldn’t turn back time, I couldn’t undo the injury and I just had to sit this one out because if I attempted it I could make it worse and ultimately take myself out of running all together…that was not going to happen. So I picked up my packet and the bib that would never cross the finish line and walked the expo. The expo was a nice size with a number of vendors for running gear, clothing and food. I did end up getting a nice summer running shirt so it wasn’t a complete loss.

So I started thinking, which usually winds up me doing something dumb, about sprains and ways to prevent and take care of them so I could get back to running quicker. I really wanted to understand what a sprain truly was. I found some good resources and they all explained it the same that it is a wrench or twist of the ligaments violently so as to cause pain and swelling but not dislocation.

 Ok so now that I know and understand what a sprain really is; what could I have done to protect from getting one and how do I go about healing it and getting on the fast track to running again. Again after much reading and research I have found that one of the best ways is to make sure your ankle is strong and loose, also after your sprain is healed you should do exercises in general to rebuild it and keep it strong as you run again. Now by no means am I doctor or a licensed health care professional so with stating that here is a workout for my ankles I have found that I have done before and after races as well as during workout sessions to keep my ankles strong…maybe I should have done it a bit more to keep me from this current injury. I got this particular set of exercises from the website, familydoctor.org

 Ankle Circles
Sit on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you. Move your ankle from side to side, up and down and around in circles. Do 5 to 10 circles in each direction at least 3 times per day.

Alphabet Letters
Using your big toe as a "pencil," try to write the letters of the alphabet in the air. Do the entire alphabet 2 or 3 times.

Toe Raises
Pull your toes back toward you while keeping your knee as straight as you can. Hold for 15 seconds. Do this 10 times.

Heel Raises
Point your toes away from you while keeping your knee as straight as you can. Hold for 15 seconds. Do this 10 times.

In and Out
Turn your foot inward until you can't turn it anymore and hold for 15 seconds. Straighten your leg again. Turn it outward until you can't turn it anymore and hold for 15 seconds. Do this 10 times in both directions.

Resisted In and Out
Sit on a chair with your leg straight in front of you. Tie a large elastic exercise band together at one end to make a knot. Wrap the end of the band around the chair leg and the other end around the bottom of your injured foot. Keep your heel on the ground and slide your foot outward and hold for 10 seconds. Put your foot in front of you again. Slide your foot inward and hold for 10 seconds. Repeat at least 10 times each direction 2 or 3 times per day.

Step Up
Put your injured foot on the first step of a staircase and your uninjured foot on the ground. Slowly straighten the knee of you injured leg while lifting your uninjured foot off the ground. Slowly put your uninjured foot back on the ground. Do this 3 to 5 times at least 3 times per day.

Sitting and Standing Heel Raises
Sit in a chair with your injured foot on the ground. Slowly raise the heel of you injured foot while keeping your toes on the ground. Return the heel to the floor. Repeat 10 times at least 2 or 3 times per day. As you get stronger, you can stand on your injured foot instead of sitting in a chair and raise the heel. Your injured foot should always stay on the ground.

Balance Exercises
Stand and place a chair next to your uninjured leg to balance you. At first, stand on the injured foot for 30 seconds. You can slowly increase this to up to 3 minutes at a time. Repeat at least 3 time a day. To increase the difficulty, repeat with your eyes closed.

Ok so now that we have how to try and prevent and keep away from getting more sprains, how do we take care of it? Well after talking to my doctor she said use the RICE principle, which stands for Rest Ice Compression and Elevate. Now I have looked for that perfect quick fix for sprains, but it isn’t there, you just have to be patient and take care of it. I am not a patient person and I want to get out there and run hard and fast again, however that isn’t going to happen and I have to be patient. One thing I did add to the healing process is taking a nice long soak in the tub with warm water and Epsom salt.

How long will it take to get back to running again? Who knows, its all up to your body, up to you and the severity of the sprain.  It could be a couple of days or it could be months you never know, but if you don’t get frustrated and you actually take the time to take care of it you will be back lacing up and running in no time. So with that I am going to RICE my ankle right now…right after I get some pit beef bbq from a fantastic pace near where I live…I may not be able to run right now, but you better believe I am going to eat.

Be safe and have fun running,

JB