Easy Does It

Daily Quote:

Runners need 400 to 800 milligrams of sodium per hour during warm and hot weather conditions. The average pretzel or saltine has only 30 milligrams of sodium.

--from ultramarathoners Karl King @ James Raia

Today is my scheduled Recovery Run and it'll be very easy due to yesterday's 14-miler.

11:00 a.m. Recovery Run. 5 miles. Life Fitness Treadmill set at zero grade/elevation. All 5 miles were at 6.0 mph (10 minute miles). Average heart rate: 139 bpm. Cardiac Drift: 144 bpm. No aches nor pain and right ankle is fine. Didn't do any weights after my run as I had to leave for a much needed haircut. My head feels lighter! My hair is almost cut to military length and hopefully won't need another haircut until fall.

My friend Boscho at the about.com forum was concerned about my ankle and asked, "Did you think why this happens or what is the cause? It could be overtraining, muscles imbalance, running shoes, etc."

I wrote to Boscho at about.com forum site the following post:

Howdy Boscho!
Yup, I've had this same ankle soreness on and off for the last SIX YEARS! I believe that the soreness is not related to my running, but to my job, which is sitting in a cab sometimes for 12-hours straight...if I get out of the cab so I can lift heavy luggage into the trunk I can feel the stress pulling on my ankles, or if I have to leave the cab for a trip to the bathroom it takes awhile for the ankles to warm-up and adjust to walking. When cab business is slow and I have more time to walk the airport's cab holding area and do stretches I never have ankle problems.
During my runs I usually have no problems, unless I try to run too fast, too far, too soon. My races in the Las Vegas Marathons and the Boston Marathon I didn't have issues with the ankle, but remember my ankles did suffer during the Salt Lake City Half Marathon with that last section on cobblestones. I also had issues with the ankles on hilly 5k races, but on flat courses doesn't cause any pain. That's one reason I set the treadmill to zero grade when my ankle complains as it doesn't cause any stress nor pain on my ankle. I also find that heel lifts are helpful if the soreness lasts more than two days. The RICE treatments usually gets me back to running fairly quickly
When the ankle starts hurting when I first awake, I strive to treat it immediately, which often cures it for weeks before another episode. I doubt if it's due to overtraining as I've ran harder and longer last year at this time, plus I'm very cautious about increasing my mileage. Currently I have no pain whatsoever with my ankles, but will still be conservative with my mileage increases.