Week 15. Remember the basics.
My recovery has continued to be uneventful and encouraging. However, the reminders that I am not 100% are regular and important. Especially when I walk, I am cognizant that I have a ways to go. This is not true on the bike, where I feel virtually no effects of my limitations. Maybe I need to mix in more walking with all of my biking? Many people have noticed, though, that I seem to be walking normally. From my perspective, it does feel kind of normal, but deliberate and not fast.
As my recovery has been progressing, I have been slacking on some of the basics, such as wearing my pressure socks and icing my ankle. The consequence was I began having more pain when I walked. I believe this is just because I have been working it quite a bit and I was not doing much to keep the swelling in-check. Since I got this simple reminder again, I have felt like an addict when hooked to my Cryo Cuff. If you don’t know what this is and you need to ice your ankle, I would strongly recommend this system. I have come to crave the feeling of the icy water as it slithers around and suffocates my ankle in a watery embrace. Frankly, it just feels good and seems to be good for me.
Since I am commuting to work on my bike this week, I cannot take my Cryo Cuff with me. So, I took a special bag designed to be filled with ice and strapped to whatever body part you need to ice. While this thing seems like it should work pretty well, it does not. It cooled things down some, but only did about 20% of the job the Cuff does.
On the biking side I had a great week. On Wednesday I rode a moderate 40 miles after work. Then, I did my normal weekend of group rides with 50 on Saturday and 30 on Sunday. Surprisingly, as I totaled my mileage for August, I discovered the 614 miles is the most I have ridden on my road bike in a month for the past 4 years, other the year I biked across Iowa in July 2007 for the RAGBRAI ride.
Although I have not been on my mountain bike yet, I will be participating in a 4-man team doing a 24-hour race 3 weeks from now. This race format is a lot of fun. It is a relay structure, where the first rider takes a lap, 13 miles in this case, then the next rider takes a lap and so on. The goal is to be the team with the most laps when the 24 hours is done. I am confident of doing this since I will ride less than 1 1/2 hours, then rest for 4 1/2 hours or so before riding again. It feels good to be making plans to compete again…not to win, just to be in the game.
I have post-poned getting on single-track trails on the mountain bike just to lessen the risk of re-rupture due to a crash. I rarely go down, but I do believe my chances are higher on the trail with so many more obstacles. My first time out will likely be this coming weekend.
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I guess it reminds you though that walking is a complex exercise and not to be looked down on! Lugging our own weight around against gravity is quite a big deal!
Great to hear about your progress.
614 miles isn’t too shabby at all, well done. I managed about 30 on the flat bike path, and 100 at most on the trainer! Thanks for the inspiration!
Dylan