Back to old shoes

As last Saturday's run seemed to fatigue my peroneus muscles to the point of pain; I've decided that this week I shouldn't do a long run but aim to do equivalent distance over several runs. I've also been reading about the importance of tempo runs to develop VO₂max an thus work towards a faster pacing. Those things suggested that 7km around the woods would be a good idea the evening.

I've also been thinking that some of my ankle pain is due to shoes with low heel drop and so I rescued my Ultra290s  from the loft. My suspicion is that a year ago their claimed 8mm drop was to extreme for me on the Canalathon and initiated the problem. Then for the Peak District Ultra I trained in shoes with 6mm drop, as noted here, and that set things off more. I'm using those shoes now as my regular trail shoes. So, if I return to 8mm will I help recovery?

I don't know, but the Ultras certainly felt easy on my feet this evening. Importantly the heel counter didn't rub either. My legs had a number of tight spots that the roller helped and now I need to massage my ankle and then get some recovery done.

Ankles

The (potentially) sprained left ankle was fine during a countryside walk on friday and no trouble walking to and from the pool yesterday. So I decided it was worth a 'test' today. I know that runners are often accused of testing injuries before they are healing so I was very careful and dressed prepared to walk. I went for 2.4km on the local streets with a spot of ascent and descent. The left ankle was fine.

I did notice that the right ankle was irritated by the Ultra 290 shoes that I'd put to one side a few months ago due to their annoying effect.  At home it occurred to me that perhaps the heel lock lacing that I was using to stop the shoe slipping might be making them too tight and thus rub on tendons around the heel on every step. I set the shoe back to ordinary lacing and jogged up and down the street. Although it was avery short trial I don't think the shoe rubbed as much but I did notice the heel being loose. That's no good!

Largo

Today cormorants were added to the list of wildlife spotted on the Fife Coastal Path. We started at the Alexander Selkirk Memorial in the pretty village of Lower Largo and headed westwards.

I'm sorry to say that the section from Levin to Buckhaven was a bit grim; it has a long industrial heritage but is now reeling from loss of mining and maritime engineering. The mines might have brought money but judging from the information boards they were less than ideal custodians of the land!

West Wemyss was very pretty but we really wished the community cafe were open. This was compensated for by the excellent cafe in the Harbourmaster's House at Dysart.

My ankle was far happier today walking in the Ultra 290 shoes although every so often I got the hint that it'll take a while to settle down again. I suppose this shows that the boots are clearly a problem in their current condition.