So…you know all of that ankle pain I have been whining about since January?  The pain that I thought was my peroneal tendon. Well, I was wrong.

With Ragnar behind me and another Ragnar coming this summer, I decided to get serious and go to the doctor. The pain hasn’t really been bad at all. Actually, I only really feel it anymore if I push on it. But, I figured it was worth looking into. The doctor said my tendons are all great, but I have a low-risk stress fracture on the outside of my lower fibula – just above my ankle bone.

So, what does this mean? He said it is minor and low-risk. I can continue to run on it without major risk of it fracturing further. Doing so, however, will prolong the healing period and make the pain last a lot longer. Well – that’s better than tendonitis, I think.

And here is the interesting thing. As my knee IT bands have been flaring, I made the decision last night that I would stay on the flat pavement for a while and get them back in order. Moreover, I would do what everyone has always suggested and start with low mileage, working up slowly each time – instead of putting in too many miles, too fast and getting these over use injuries. Oh yeah – the stress fracture can be caused by rapid upping of mileage and over-use.  Duh.

Well, I ran 5k last night – actually a great run. 3.6 miles in 30:34 @ 8:36 min/mile.  That’s a great pace for me. I even got a PR for my 1k and 1 mile distances.  However, when I awoke this morning, my ankle actually kind of hurt. Kind of bad. Like it used and like it hasn’t for a while.

And this all reminded me of January (here and here) – when this whole ankle pain burst out of nowhere. Guess what I was doing? I was worried about my IT Bands, and putting in flat miles on the pavement. And, more miles than I was used to. A ha! The light bulb goes on. Miles on the pavement – caused the stress fracture – aggravate the stress fracture.

So – that’s that. I’m done with the pavement for now. I will roll my IT bands like crazy, stretch, and try to find flat trails for some short runs. My ankle has hurt after my last few trail runs – but immediately hurt after 5k on the pavement.  So, back to the dirt I go. I’m going to try hard and keep my mileage low -play it safe.

Meh. I didn’t like the pavement anyways!

The dirt is my true mistress.