Back in Action

Finally! After 8 days of virtually no running (1 mile total for the duration) I couldn't take the rest for my ankle any longer and decided to try it out this morning on the treadmill. Despite a dull, but tolerable pain in the trouble area, all went well. I had been nervous that I might start losing my running fitness soon, and I had a ton of anxiety from not running for this long. The anxiety wasn't because I wasn't exercising, I have been doing plenty of other cross training for that aspect, but just from not being able to do something that I so enjoy.
After a few minutes warm-up, I started running at a fairly conservative 8:30 pace. As I realized things were going well, I ended up turning the 5 miles into a progressive run and accelerated a bit every 1/2 mile to an ending pace of 7:20.
Funny thing is, prior to the injury, I had just decided to start working on developing more of a mid-foot strike as opposed to the slight heel strike that I currently have. As I employed some of these techniques this morning, the slight lingering pain that was still there seemed to improve and lessen with the mid-foot strike...all the more reason to keep working on it I guess. It's too early to tell for sure, but as this was the first time I had consciously tried working on this while on a treadmill, I could tell a noticeable difference in the ease of speed when using the mid-foot. It was apparent that I was running slightly faster - without more effort - because I would creep toward the front of the belt clipping the frame with my toes every time I did it for a while.
I've got my new bike set up on a trainer next to treadmill, so I hopped on it after the run for about 10 miles of cycling.
I need to remember to be cautious and take a couple more easy sessions as there was still a little discomfort, but I am thrilled to be back in action.