An easy recovery week... well, easy-ish...

After twisting my ankle a week last Sunday, I figured I should take it easy last week and this week to let it recover. But, it felt a lot better after a few days so last Wednesday I tried it out for a few miles and it seemed okay, so did a few miles along a beach on Friday, then since the weekend normal running business has pretty much resumed. I still have a slight swelling on the front of my ankle, and a nice go-faster purple stripe along the outside of my foot - both perhaps suggesting that it's not quite better yet - so I'm keeping it well supported when I'm running and am not doing anything too long. Luckily, I got a pair of these for Christmas:

I got them as walking boots primarily, but liked the fact that I could run in them. They were £60 from Northern Runner. They are pretty much MudRocs with ankle support, and I've been wearing these to run in since doing my ankle. I get more funny looks than usual if I wear them with shorts, but that's okay. They are fine for running - they weigh less than a typical pair of trainers, have got excellent grips and are very flexible and responsive. I'm thinking that I might wear them for the WHW section between Kingshouse and Kinlochleven since I've heard it is quite rocky and hard work on tired legs and feet (if I get that far).

So I did about 30 miles last week (16 were on the run I hurt myself on, the rest were a few easy runs on soft ground). I've started doing some ankle strengthening exercises - brushing my teeth with my eyes closed standing on one leg (right leg in the morning, left leg in the evening), and feel likeI'm running quite well this week. I guess I'll need to be careful when I stop wearing the boots since I expect it will take a month or so for my ankle to get back to full strength.