Those close to me know that my left ankle is notorious for ankle rolls. If you’ve ever rolled your ankle and not fully let it heal with the proper rest, rehab and strengthening, you understand how vulnerable and valuable the ankle really is. In early January of 2009, I was running on the sidewalk in Manoa Valley when I noticed a young man running a similar pace on the sidewalk across the street. Of course, my competitive spirit got me fired up and before I knew it we were both gradually increasing pace to outdo one another. So silly! During the month of January in Hawaii these large nuts about 2 inches in diameter fall from the trees and flood the sidewalks and curbsides for weeks. One of these darn suckers just happened to be in my path while I was dashing ahead to put this anonymous 7th grader to shame, and I ATE IT! It was one of those moments where I paused and felt almost embarrassed in front of myself and God, who obviously felt the need to humble me right then and there. I collapsed to the ground. Moments later, I stood up and tried to run it off. Yeah right! This puppy was going to require some serious attention.
The NACAC championships were just a few weeks away and I feared that that my attempt to outrun some random kid had jeopardized my first opportunity to represent Canada. An almost immediate x-ray confirmed that it was not broken, and I told myself that if it wasn’t a broken I was going to train through this sucker. Thanks to Sports Medicine Hawaii, I able to compete at NACAC; however, I did compromise the long term care of my ankle by returning to the roads so quickly. At the time I was so excited about the short term success I was having that I neglected to think about my long term success.
For months following my first bad sprain I didn’t set foot on a trail unless required during a race. Although I did complete months of rehab I still felt like my brain was not connecting to my ankle the way it used to. This is when I started to learn about these sensory receptors called propriocepters. The role of proprioceptors is to inform the brain of our muscle length, surroundings etc. After a few bad strains of the tendons and ligaments surrounding the ankle joint, these proprioceptors essentially go on strike. The result is poor neuromuscular control of your ankle leading to reduced ‘pop’ in your stride and the increased likelihood of subsequent ankle rolls.
So as the title of this entry suggests, YES! I did it again! To add to a couple months of training that graphically resembles a difficult cross country course, I am now out with a sprained ankle. An MRI in early June confirmed that I have Achilles tendonosis, not ‘itis’, but “osis”. Apparently ‘osis’ indictates a more chronic problem versus, it’s buddy ‘itis’ that is defined as inflammation. I took 2 weeks completely of running and with the second week full of cross training workouts. I even raced Robbie in mile repeats on the bike in the gym. If you are ever board with cross training in the gym, challenge a friend to some repeats on the bike. If you don't get a good workout from the bike workout, you will get the best ab workout of your life from laughing. a
Anyway, my recent ankle sprain has complicated my already existing tendonosis but I am on the road to recovery.
Lessons Learned:
1. Never take the opportunity to race for granted-you never know when you will be on the sidelines
2. Age is on my side, at 25, I have at least 15 years of competitive running left in me
3. Swimming isn't the worst thing in the world, in fact I think I secretly might be learning to like it.
4. I have the BEST SUPPORT SYSTEM in the world!
