Last Monday, I had a little "
procedure" Lest you think this is some horrible thing, it had to do with my (sigh) left ankle. That is the one that I had operated on in August of 2012, where a longitudinal tear was repaired. It's been over a year now and I'm still not back to normal (yes, this is a bit of a whine). I have been able to ride for about 2 hours but by the 2 hour mark I have been ready to saw my leg off. As my preferred type of riding/competition is endurance, 2 hours doesn't get you very far. Now, one person did suggest I just ride faster. Good idea. I did that in 2012, figuring if I could ride faster, my ankle wouldn't hurt so much. It did get me 3 top ten awards, but I was doing those rides in around 3 hours, so faster....might be a stretch. It was also suggested I drop down to trail rides. My competitive spirit just won't go for that. I figure I can do THAT when I'm 90. Anyway, I went back to the doctor and told him what was going on. He suggested we try breaking up the adhesions (most likely one of the big reasons there is still pain, along with age, lack of strength and lack of stretch). So, off to another office where I had dye, anesthetic (that was wonderful) and steroids injected in my tendon sheath. Kind of a neat thing, they showed me the tenogram (I believe that is what it is called) afterwards.
I rode Wednesday for about 30 minutes...very good, no pain.
I rode Thursday on the trail for about 60 minutes...pain at around 40 minutes, but I was able to do ankle rotations and finish the ride with minimal pain. Also, I wasn't dead lame when I got off, which has been the case up to now.
Galen's ears on our Friday Trail Ride at Mann Road, Sultan, WA
Monica and Mahri. Mahri was a star!
I rode Friday on the trail, only for around 30 or 40 minutes (Mahri's first trail ride, so it was short and slow), but had very little pain.
So, am I fixed? Probably not, but at least it's a somewhat more optimistic outlook than I've been having.
Will I be on the endurance trail next year? Stay tuned...
