Chronic Ankle Pain - 1st Marathon in 12 Weeks
Hey everyone, I‘m 12 weeks out from my first marathon and to be frank, I’m a bit desperate for help.
Background:
My left ankle has been the bane of my training this past year. Before explaining where I’m at currently I should probably give some background.
Prior to spraining it while hiking (June 28th, PT called it a grade 1.5 lateral sprain), I was running l 100+ miles a month in both March and April. May around 90 (vacationing). Then of course the sprain happened later in June. Should also add that the sprain was quite serious. While it didn’t bruise, my lateral ankle was very swollen and impossible to walk on without crutches for the first week.
For recovery, I gave it a solid 6 weeks off running entirely and focused on cross training with an indoor bike. Fast forward to 6 weeks I go I was able to hop on it, and do short 1-2 mile runs so I started gradually building back up.
Recent mileage progression:
• Week 1: 8 miles
•Week 2: 12 miles
•Week 3: 20 miles (big jump I know)
•Week 4: 22 miles
•Week 5: 24 miles
•Week 6: 26 miles
•Deload week: 21 miles with my last run being 9.
I should add that this de-load week wasn’t spurned by any sign of injury. It was purely a precaution and as fate would have it, I’m injured during it for no apparent reason.
The pain: It started out as stiffness in the medial ankle, usually hours after a pain-free run, I’d be laying in bed or on the couch for an hour or two and getting up would notice my left ankle sort of stiff. Call it a 1/10 in terms of pain. That was the case this whole last week. As of yesterday the situation has worsened substantially. My dumbass noticed the pain while getting out of bed - that never happens. But thinking it was a fluke I went ahead with my morning long run and after lacing up and doing my standard warm up I felt fine. 1 mile into the 9 mile long run it started up again…and it only worsened throughout the run. Ego go the best of me and I pushed through it. As of now it’s localized within the arch and shoots up straight into the medial ankle.
The foot: It isn’t swollen but it is quite painful to walk on. Again, most of the pain is medial, shooting out from my heel and up-right into the ankle. My PT thinks it’s Baxters Neuropathy. I’m not inclined to believe its simple plantar fasciitis as massaging the area doesn’t help and it only started hurting in the morning yesterday.
All of this being said I am anxiously waiting to see my PT and or a podiatrist next week. Any advice or suggestions would be hugely appreciated. I was nearly back to where my VO2 left off prior to the ankle sprain in June. This set back is disheartening to say the least.
Photo context (I apologize for the feet pic ahead of time): The blue lines are for where the foot actively aches, especially when walking. The red circle is where it is painful to the touch. Like a deep bruise.
About me: 6’1, 210lbs, running in NB 1080v15s. VO2 max of 50.
The folks in r/marathontraining seemed to be in consensus that it is PTT. Curious what you all may think.