My initial thought was the rather obvious, “that’s not good,” and I immediately to start working on it. I started with a cold shower to reduce the temperature, and then used a little elevation to help reduce the inflammation. Due to the inflammation I decided not to do any stretching or self myo-fascial release.
I've never had any issues with me right ankle so I had no reason to think it was anything serious. I stood up again, and had full range of motion. I could also walk without pain so concluded that it nothing to be worried about and set about locating our nearest Whole Foods Market in Las Vegas.
The store was about 1.4 miles away from the hotel according to google. Despite being jet-lagged, dehydrated, and with a still slightly swollen ankle, we decided to walk rather than work out the bus system. My crime here was not fully appreciating the seriousness of the damage I'd initiated on the plane. My brain decided that 1.4 miles is nothing (and it isn't usually). I figured that once I started moving, things would free up.
Sadly I was wrong and I felt my achilles tighten up about half way. Did this cause the damage that saw me go on to fully rupture my achilles during the SSDT? I'll never know which of the many things that went wrong in the 3 weeks was the major factor but I do know that they all played a part. It'll play on my mind for many years that I simply pushed to hard. The take home message from my injury? Don't ignore pain...