brickhouseracing

My ankle injury seemed to be doing very well- most of the swelling was gone, and my foot (for the most part) had returned to its normal color rather than the odd shade of martian green it had been for the past few days. I was even walking with no pain in the area. SO, naturally, I attempted an easy, on-pavement jog last night with some friends. Not a good idea- although everything felt fine in the first 5 minutes of relatively flat pavement, once we jogged up & over a couple of small but steep pitches, the pain started creeping back up the side of my foot/leg. Going against my will to continue and not be defeated by injury (again), I walked. Luckily, I had Turbo, my Belgian Malinois, and Temesa, one of the Warthogs (group of friends I frequently run with), to keep me company.
Although it was (mentally) painful to stop running, I can tell that the physical consequences would have been much greater- even with just a few minutes of stress to the area, the space between my anklebone & Achilles tendon filled back in with swelling, and it’s painful enough today that I can’t help but limp a little. Thankfully, it’s not bad enough that I can’t ride my bike, but I’m not happy to have the nagging pain again.

Looks like I need more time & probably some at-home physical therapy before I strike out on foot again!

So I’m at the (somewhat dangerous) point now where my ankle is swollen and hurts until I take my anti-inflammatory meds, but then it feels OK. Using a neoprene Ace ankle support, I went for an easy ride yesterday and a harder ride today. I decided to switch my Time pedals (with re-centering float) to my old Speedplay X5s (free-float) in order to allow my ankle to stay in whatever position feels most comfortable.

On a side note, today’s ride included three 3 min VO2 intervals. If you don’t know what a VO2 interval is, it’s basically the highest possible intensity you can sustain for any amount of time. I decided to mix it up a bit today- #1 was in a 15-20mph tailwind. I was hauling ass- passing cars were pacing me and giving me crazy looks because I was sustaining speeds close to 30mph. Interval #2 I did up the two largest hills in Germantown (the first into a headwind), and #3 was on my favorite interval road that runs behind my house. Maybe I’m crazy, but I absolutely LOVE intervals. The harder, the better. It carries over to my love of time trials. Something about the pain cave seems like home.

Surprisingly, my busted up ankle didn’t keep me awake last night. I stuffed a couple of pillows under the sheets to elevate the covers off of the area. This morning, I am able to rest my foot flat on the ground (with little or no weight), and I’m able to put my toes on the ground with very light pressure when I’m walking (on crutches). Also, I can move it passively a little bit- the swelling is still bad, and it’s impinging on the range of motion.

I’m happy with the overnight progress. It’s definitely unexpected with as much as it hurt yesterday. Today’s plan is on/off ice and elevation to try to bring some of the swelling down.

I met up with the Warthogs today for a Swamp Stomper training run. Unfortunately, about 10 minutes down the trail, I slipped on a wet root and turned my ankle pretty bad. After sitting on the side of the trail for a couple of minutes, I decided that I’d try to run it off. A few minutes later, the pain wasn’t subsiding, so I stopped to check it out. My ankle was starting to swell up. I decided to run along slowly, but that seemed to be worse. Before I could question as to whether or not I should continue, I turned the same ankle on a leaf-covered rock. At that point, I was hopping on one leg and cursing. I turned and began walking back to the car (about 2.5-3 miles). Soon, I decided to jog slowly (walking was just taking too long). It was painful, but tolerable.

On the way home, the swelling and pain worsened. I was worried that it was broken, so I went to the minor med place to have it x-rayed. Two and a half hours later, I’m on crutches with an air cast- no break, but a lot of pain and swelling. I can’t put weight on it without severe pain and a very disturbing grinding/popping feeling.

I’m not sure what to do next. This month is really important to my training for the race season. If I can’t get back on my bike soon, it could negatively impact my early-season races. Hopefully I can heal quickly and get back on within a week.

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