It's extremely frustrating and I even get in a bad mood when I run. I think I might have increased my mileage too fast. I have a hard time catching my breath now too, even at short distances.
It sounds like your ankle has seen plenty of mileage and, by the description of your surgeon’s plan, that you have damage to the articular cartilage that caps your talus bone.
Mental toughness is skill. You need to learn how to suffer. You practice perseverance everyday when you are out training in the bad weather, when you ride or run further than you have ever gone.
My dog is an intelligent runner. She does a big stretch before she does anything. She starts out slowly and gradually builds up speed until we are running very fast.
“Less is more,” is a common buzz phrase in endurance sports today. It refers to the trend of training less but focusing on intensity and quality rather than on quantity.