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Tips for sore ankles while running/jogging?


chrisjs
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After realizing how horrible my cardiovascular endurance was, I started doing the Couch to 5K running plan.

 

I'm up to week 4 and I've having problems with sore ankles that's keeping me back.

 

When I run for more than a few minutes, both of my ankles are severely sore to the point that I can't continue running. If I rest for a minute or so, the soreness goes away and I can run again for at least two minutes before it hurts the point of stopping again. There's no particular part of my ankles that hurt, it's pretty uniform and it's definitely more soreness than true pain. When I'm done running, my ankles feel pretty much OK until I go running again.

 

I was having some soreness in my calves early on, and recently switched to actual running shoes designed for underpronating arches/feet. (Which mine are.) My calf soreness is completely gone now. I run outdoors on a rubber track, temperatures are between 20 and 35 F this time of year.

 

Any suggestions on this ankle soreness? Do I just need to give it more time or am I doing something wrong? Searching around I see a lot about ankle pain that persists after running, but nothing much about the soreness I'm having.

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if youve been out of running for awhile, slow down. you could be overtraining.

 

i took a really long break from running, 2 years plus, and when i got back into it i overtrained, didnt stretch enough, and ended up hurting my ankle bad enough to keep me from walking for a week.

 

i healed up from that, but i still get sore ankles, IF i dont stretch. just an extra five minutes before, after or both will make a big difference. there are lots of ankle stretches, do them all. worked for me.

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I just looked into lacing and never knew about those ankle support eyelets, I'll try using them along with maybe loosening the lower laces.

 

I do stretches beforehand but I'll try to do even more ankle ones going forward. I don't think I'm pushing myself too much.

 

Thanks.

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Do share which ankle eyelets you are talking about and what shoes you did buy.

 

About the pre-run warmups... / stretches. Someone told me (marathon runner) that stretches are to be done after running when muscles are warm.. before they are cold and you could damage / pull.

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I used to compete in running for years. Track sprints and hurdles to races such as the 5K and up. I too had a lot of problems with my ankles when I started. If you see any actual swelling in addition to pain you should ice them down especially after you run. Another thing that helped me was getting Active Release Therapy on the scar tissue that I had developed on my ankles. Not the most pleasant therapy but it was very effective for me. I would do a provider search on here if you are interested.

 

http://www.activerelease.com/

 

If not definitely start cross training because you went from no running to running pretty fast. You could also try ankle supports they sell them at any drugstore for a few dollars. They did help me ankles from swelling because of the compression they provide.

 

Good luck!

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I used to compete in running for years...I too had a lot of problems with my ankles when I started. If you see any actual swelling in addition to pain you should ice them down especially after you run. Another thing that helped me was getting Active Release Therapy on the scar tissue that I had developed on my ankles.
No swelling. Not looking to do anything like that therapy right now but I'll keep it in mind.
If not definitely start cross training because you went from no running to running pretty fast. You could also try ankle supports they sell them at any drugstore for a few dollars.
I've been weightlifting for almost two years now and occasionally cycle. This is the first high-impact thing I've done. I'll try out the ankle supports if the different lacing methods and stretching doesn't help.

 

Thanks!

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Good luck. You probably just need to get used to the impact. You should cycle and run or swim just to up your cardio without some much pounding on your legs until they are strong enough to handle it. The supports are pretty cheap and easy to get. I wear them for kickboxing now so I don't roll my ankle etc. which i have done in the past and done recommend

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MaryStella already suggested it but you should definitely cross train! I've only been running for a bit over a year, but have had virtually no injuries, I attribute this to all the different types of exercise that I do. I've done cardio on machines like elipticals, taken step and jump classes, etc. And of course there's the weight training part too.

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  • 2 months later...

Just wanted to follow up and say that with a combination of rest, better stretching, and better shoe lacing I'm doing much better. I just ran my first solid mile yesterday with an additional two 1/2 mi runs after a 1/4 mi walk in between each.

 

Not exactly a marathon, but this is much better than I've ever done. I'm now slowing down due to fatigue rather than pain, which is a very good thing.

 

Thanks for all the help.

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hey chris, just wanted to say congrats. i too suck at running--like really suck at it which is interesting because i definately consider myself fit. I can do all kinds of other cardio--just not so much as jogging for more than a few minutes without wanting to die! haha. so nice work man. hopefully when its nice out here i'm gonna start trying again.

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