Speed workouts and ankle issues (Read 41 times)

I got really into running 50 days ago. The decade before that, I was lazy. But I'm skinny and I liked running as a teenager, so it was easy to get back into it. Currently I'm running every other day, doing about 30km per week with the intention of consolidating this for a while rather than increasing it further

I lightly sprained my ankle 20 days ago doing intervalson the pavement next to the athletics track (track itself was closed). This was only the second time I ran at a pace below 6min/km (probably I ran about 4:35-4:45 for 500m repeats). I didn't notice any particular instance where I took a wrong step. Still, there was some swelling and blue color. I iced the ankle regularly and rested it, and I cross-trained on the elliptical for 11 days before slowly transitioning to the treadmill and then back to outdoor running. Even on the 2nd day after the injury, I could walk without any signs of pain. But I knew I was supposed to take it easy because the ankle would hurt whenever I pressed on it with my finger. Over time, this went away almost completely.

Back outdoors, I didn't notice any further problems up until two days ago, when I did yet another interval workout. After the 3rd 800m at a 4:24 pace that I'm completely not used to (the fastest I normally do is 5:50), I got some ankle pain again. It only showed up during walking (was fine during the run itself when I finished the workout). Fortunately, it doesn't quite feel as though I "re-injured" my ankle (no swelling, pain was short-lived). The pain seemed similar in kind, but only about 20% as bad as on the initial day when I injured the ankle. I took yesterday off. Today I went for an easy run on soft surface with the intention to quit if I notice even just a slight issue. Fortunately, I didn't notice any problems.

So this ankle issue seems connected to high-intensity workouts. Those are very new to me. Some questions: 
- Any chance there's something off with my foot motion when I try to run extra fast? I have been paying attention to running form and think my cadence and posture are probably decent. But maybe I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with my feet exactly.

- If it's a matter of getting used to the speed and the forces on my ankles, how do I ease into it without risking more injuries? Any specific strength and stability exercises I could do to build up protective resilience? 
- Assuming I have the patience to take another 14 days off from speed work (and maybe generally taking it slightly easier), is there any way I can still work on speed/strength? When I was injured initially, I did intervals on the elliptical trainer (glutes and quads became very sore). Are those at all useful for something?

Run mainly easy miles the first 3-6 months.  Even walk breaks are fine. You are a new runner and any running is a big time stress to ankles and body-even easy miles. Throw in faster running and injuries are inevitable.

+1

You can build volume also.  Just keep it slow for now until you are used to it and then you can start challenging yourself with the pace which you will need to do for further improvement.

As a plan you can build one thing at a time.  So volume first, then speed.  Never both at the same time.

And when you are a new runner, you are not fit enough for the speed to do anything for you.  You can get through it, but you will not make gains from it.