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How much riding do you normally do? If you went from sofa to touring, you're more likely to get something like this than if you're busting out 200s every weekend. So that's the first thing I'd think about - sudden uptick in volume, like a tour, could be all it takes. It may be one of climbing or descending creating the issue or it may be the whole lot.
I'd still also think about position though. How might you reduce the need for the ankles to be involved so much - is your saddle too high? Are your cleats too far forward? etc. I'd expect if you were out of the saddle climbing you wouldn't need to be on your tip toes so much so perhaps you did a lot of seated climbing or perhaps it was the descending? I used front and back brakes mostly so I could take the load off my legs when descending on the longer fixed rides.
hippy-
Thanks for all the helpful advice - exactly why I wanted to ask this here! Definitely not sofa to touring but I don't exactly do 400k every week either, so uptick in volume is definitely the reason, but I wanted to know if there were things I could nonetheless do to lower the risks of a similar thing happening.
I don't quite have a gauge for how high the seat should be beyond 'does it feel comfortable and do I get my whole range of movement', but trying to pedal unclipped (I have two-sided pedals) with a more midfoot contact point and less use of the ankles has shown the saddle might be a tad too high. Is recruiting the ankles for pedaling (and braking) generally bad technique? Although I do a fair amount of seated climbing, even out of the saddle I definitely push down and pull up with the ankles on steeper gradients (when I'm just trying to get up in any fashion possible). Used the brakes for the same reasons as you, though I generally try to avoid use of them if possible so the first recourse was almost always resisting the pedals on the gentler descents and recruiting brakes only if need be (I can't lock the rear when descending).
youClown
Completely normal range of movement and no grinding, really only flares up when I try to put pressure on it, either skidding or resisting or when I am accelerating. It's definitely to do with the 'ankling' movement, because I definitely use the ankles both for hill-climbing and for hill-descending.
Have gotten it before so I know it'll go away (but thanks @marcomarcos for pointing out the danger if I keep at it); think the point of the question was, should I avoid this as bad technique, and just use my brakes more/give up earlier at steeper gradients?