What to do? Run, Walk, or Bike?

Today was supposed to be a run day but the past few days some aches and pains would crop up, like for example yesterday my left ankle started to hurt in a different way for no apparent reason. When I woke up I still hadn’t decided whether to try to run, walk, or ride the stationary bike. This morning the ankle felt ok but I still wasn’t sure so I thought I would just go with a one and a half hour walk. Then my neighbor asked me if I wasn’t running today so that gave me the impetus to at least try a run/walk workout and if that aggravated my left ankle than I’d just continue walking. I could feel discomfort at times but it didn’t get worse so I just kept on going until I finished six miles at a 10 minute pace for the combined run/walk. Hooray! I finally did a six mile run/walk! This is my longest since the marathon two weeks ago. The thing I like about this kind of workout is that I can still sometimes run with a full stride for four minutes and I could even attack some short hills which I like because it really challenges my aerobic capacity. At the same time the one minute breaks help my ankles recover which in turn enables me to run longer. It’s not quite as fast as the 12 mile run with Linda when we averaged 9:55 minutes per mile but then I started slowly today so I can get a better feel for my left ankle. Besides, it’s only been a couple of weeks after finishing the Long Beach Marathon. I don’t want the left ankle to become as bad as the right because if that happens then I wouldn’t be able to run anymore. There is still some room for improvement as far as the pace goes with the run/walk technique and that’s something to test in the near future. In the meantime, it’s still a recovery period for both the body and the mind.