Running advise from my hero

Things have been tough lately. Its getting closer and closer to race day, and I'm still not running. Its been 5-6weeks now, and I'm falling apart mentally. Everyday I try to make the best of the situation and train as best as I can. Its just hard to work so hard when you're not sure you will even start the race.

So I was over at my parents house the other night and started talking/crying to my dad about all this mess. I am SO lucky to have him. He's my hero. He is an Olympic sprinter and a marathoner....where did those genes go!?!? He knows everything about running, and understands how important this is to me. Only another runner can hear "I NEED to run 26.2 miles, I really NEED to!" and not look at you like you're from another planet.
We talked for a long time, I told him about my peroneal nerve entrapment and what I've been doing. Here is his advice: Heel lifts. He uses them and thought maybe they would work for me. So on Saturday I stuck some heel lifts in my shoes before going to work. It will be hard to tell if it works or not, but I'm going to walk around in them for a few days, and see what happens.

We also looked through some running books and I ended up borrowing the one in the picture. From reading it and talking to my dad I decided to also use an ankle wrap everyday when I'm walking around to help stabilize my ankle. The peroneal muscles are used to evert the ankle, so stabilizing the ankle will take that pressure off the muscles and allow it to focus on healing that nerve. It also serves to add compression to the area which can increase blood flow therefore speeding up the healing process. (hopefully)
Over that wrap I use an ankle brace that I bought at CVS awhile ago. It has two rigid stabilizers on each side of the brace, so it really helps out. Hopefully between the rest my ankle muscles are getting and the heel lifts and the elliptical training, things will start to look up. I'm not going to try running for another week. Maybe on Friday I'll attempt my 2.5mi run to the gym...maybe...

On a positive note, I got a workout routine for the elliptical machine from an inspiring lady who recently finished her first Ironman after training through a similar injury. (Thanx Colleen!) Basically I substitute my runs for elliptical workouts, I do it 3 days a week:

Day 1 - 1:30, 45min Zone 3
Day 2 - 1:15, 4x8min Zone 4 w/ 2min recovery
Day 3 - 2-2:30, long run Zone 2

The HR zones for the elliptical are 10 beats per min lower than your normal running zones. Hopefully I will get to where I can run to the gym, do my "long run" then run home. That would be good for my racing confidence.