Mobility — Ankle Dorsiflexion

The gate is ankle dorsiflexion. Both ankles fail the 10 cm screen, the left is the weak link — and the left is the side that broke down on Sep 13.

Baseline — knee-to-wall test (2026-09-13)

Heel flat, knee driven forward over the second toe, measured big toe → wall. Clinical screen: 10 cm.

Side	Distance	Verdict
Right	6 cm	Restricted
Left	4 cm	Significantly restricted

2 cm asymmetry, left worse — and the left is the ankle that failed at ~2 km on week 2's Sunday long run.
Consistent with the log: bilateral calf/achilles tightness on the first 2–3 km of three consecutive runs (Sep 6, 9, 10) before anything actually hurt.
Still to test: repeat with the knee bent (heel down). Straight-knee worse → gastroc. Bent-knee worse → soleus. Changes drill emphasis only, not the plan.
Also untested: front-pinch test — if the restriction feels like a hard pinch at the front of the ankle rather than a stretch, part of it is a joint block, not muscle.

A big calf is not a long calf — hypertrophy and length are separate qualities.
The front of the leg (tibialis anterior) is likely overloaded rather than tight: it stabilises an ankle that can't move. Stretching it does little; letting the back lengthen is the fix.
Flat feet + limited dorsiflexion = the foot overpronates harder and the peroneal tendons absorb every landing. Hours of jumping in flat shoes is what finally collected the bill.

#	Drill	Dose
1	Knee-to-wall mobilisation	2×12/side, heel glued down — left gets an extra set
2	Gastroc stretch (knee straight)	2×45 s/side
3	Soleus stretch (knee bent)	2×45 s/side
4	Eccentric heel raises (3 s down)	2×10 — off a step once pain-free
5	Squat with heels elevated	Keep it. Lower the wedge progressively (book → thinner book → flat)

Start with the back of the leg. No aggressive range work on the peroneal side until walking is limp-free and single-leg heel raises are pain-free.
Ankle circles: pain-free range only while the left outer ankle is still sore.
The heels-elevated squat is not cheating — it loads the range that exists and trains the peroneal. Progress = lowering the wedge, not dropping the lift.

Goal: 9–10 cm both sides, asymmetry under 1 cm.
Realistic rate: ~1 cm per 2–3 weeks of daily work; 6–8 weeks to a flat-footed squat. Early gains (joint capsule / neural) come fastest.
Re-test every Sunday morning, same protocol, log both numbers in the run note. This is the mobility equivalent of pace — effort in, number out.

Hard pinch at the front of the ankle, no change after 6–8 weeks of consistent work → joint block, physio.
Any return of point-pain at the lateral malleolus during running → stop, re-test weight-bearing before the next run.

2026-09-13 (Sun) — week 2 long run stopped at ~2 km. Preceded by a Friday concert (flat shoes, hours of jumping/dancing, alcohol, bed after 3 am) and a Saturday of left lateral-ankle ache that only hurt at rest. Run: HR never reached 150 (deliberately slow), both calves tight first, then left lower-leg tightness + left lateral malleolus pain; walked home with a half-leg limp. Pain halved after 15 min sitting — soft tissue, not bone. Working hypothesis: peroneal (fibularis) tendon irritation on an ankle with only 4 cm of dorsiflexion, i.e. the range deficit is the upstream cause.
2026-09-06 / 09-09 / 09-10 — bilateral calf–achilles tightness for the first 2–3 km, resolving mid-run. The warm-up signature of the same restriction.