Struggle to get fit for TMM 2021

After consulting Dr P - head of sport ortho at Sparsh hospital on 13th May restarted cycling with a 50m/12K  ride on 15th May. After couple of weeks of ankle and hip mobilisation excercises restarted running on 3rd June after a long break of 10 weeks - the previous run was on 17th March.  Starting with a 32 min /4Km run  scaled up to 17Km over 4 weeks. While cycling even up to 30Kms did not stress the ankle much the running has been a real struggle. Though running slow (usually between 6 and 6:30/km pace) and despite weeks of ankle and hip related exercises the ankle hurt specially when running beyond 8-10Kms. It also seemed to swell quite a bit.

Desperate to try and address this I started focusing on improving cadence from about 159 strides/min to at least 166 strides using a metronome beat.  Along with this I also tried to  focus on the gait. However, it did not help at all. I felt I was not lifting my legs properly and was tending to shuffle at times.The cadence was also stuck mostly around 162 or so. It is as if I had forgotten the basics of running after doing it consistently for 20 years.  After a virtual strengthening and stretching session  with S the ankle feels better only to feel as bad during and post a run however short and slow it maybe. In order to minimise the variables I switched out of being a vegan to normal vegetarianism. Physically it has not yet made any difference though mentally I feel worse. 

To make matters worse dengue forced me to lay off from all exercise for  2 weeks + in the second half of September. On resuming running from 28th September the ankle discomfort  and swelling manifested itself even in a 3Km/21m run. With TMM 2021  just 3.5 m away it is going to be a real challenge to get fit enough to run the marathon virtually to keep my streak going. At this point in time running a full marathon distance looks dauntingly impossible. The only 20K+ since TMM was in March and have struggled through only one run greater than 15Km since then. 

Based on the advise of Dr P of Sparsh I plan to consult the sports ortho Dr H this week and see if any further investigation is needed to determine the cause of the ankle swelling. Though Dr P feels confident about his diagnsosis of Peroneal tendonitis, he suggested further consultation and investigation to rule out anything else before scaling up the training for the marathon in January.Whatever the outcome , I am determined to run/walk the distance come what may.