I screwed up (and I'm paying now)

  1. 79pmooney

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    I've been running since I went east a week and a half ago. A chance to give my toes a break from cycling shoes (my right pinky was very swollen and red, about two days from needing anti-biotics when I left). My toes have loved the change.

    Yesterday I went for an easy run. My legs were feeling pretty tight but rather than spend a lot of time stretching or risking a pull with a hasty stretch, I figured I'd just run easy since that is all I can do anyway. 3/4s of the way through my run, I felt building pain for about three steps above my right ankle on the inside, then a sharp almost "pop" and real pain. Limped home and have been limping since. That area of my calf is now swollen and last night a little red, now a little dark.

    So it seems I have quiet time coming. Time to spend time limping, stretching and on the weight bench. (Though the stretching will omit that lower right leg.)

    Ben

    Posted 4 months ago

  2. AluminumFrog

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    Running bad - jackhammering bone on bone worse than using PEDs. Sooner or later you pay the piper. Piper is patient but sooner or later he collects. Surprises me that people with issues related to any kind of joint problem abuse themselves. Ego is a vicious task master.

    Posted 4 months ago

  3. TheShortWhiteGuy

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    I had that happen about 7-8 years ago. It hurt! My ankle was so swollen, that it looked like I had somewhere between cankle and a muffintankle. This was the only time I had a cortisone shot to relieve the pain. Ended up with lots of rest and ice.

    Life is too short to be small. - Disraeli

    So, why not be petty? - The Short White Guy™
    Posted 4 months ago

  4. ChinookPass

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    Sux Ben. But I'm sure You'll come around fine.

    AF, I'm not sure I'd disparage all running. I have a 60+ year old friend who runs 2-3 marathons a year at about a 4hr pace, has done it for years, and gets along just fine. Yeah it's not for everybody but who says this has anything to do with ego?

    Posted 4 months ago

  5. AluminumFrog

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    Chinook,

    I regretted posting the ego part, I was thinking about CK and all the abuse he put himself through despite his gawdawful achilles issues or whatever...

    Although AluminumFrog has to say, when people refer to themselves and their body parts in the 3rd person the ears of AluminumFrog are hearing sounds like the dragging of fingernails down the blackboards that used to be common in the schoolrooms that froggie attended when froggie was a tadpole.

    Posted 4 months ago

  6. hoshie99

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    Get it checked out Ben - you can tear your achilles and all manner of other things.

    Posted 4 months ago

  7. Cosmic Kid

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    As someone who has despised running for most of my adult life, I have come to learn the benefits of it, and encourage everyone to incorporate at least a small amount if it in their training. The weight bearing aspects of it help increase bone density and it can help identify muscle imbalances which can be glossed over on the bike.

    Ben, get your calf checked and look into some ART treatment. It can provide significant relief for such injuries.

    Just say "NO!!" to WCP!

    "Want to get faster? Work harder, eat better, cut the crap. Instead of talking the talk, work the work"
    Posted 4 months ago

  8. bodynazi

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    Bummer Ben - time to get a bucket of ice water... good on developing pain threshold tolerances too :) Maybe see a Dr if it's not better in 5 days

    I too used to loathe running - and still do however it does have a place in a total fitness program.

    I run 2.5 miles 1-2x/week for The Program (TM) 1.25 mile jog/run 100 pull, 200 push-ups, 4 sets hanging straight leg raises + 160 squat jumps then 1.25 mile jog home.

    Also one of the best things I've discovered is a 14 min running treadmill workout: 15% grade. 4 min warm-up. 35 seconds 9 mph, rest until the top of the following minute, 35 seconds 10 mph, rest to top of next min, then 11 mph, then 11.5, then 12 mph with 1 min cool down = fookin' about kills me regarding red-lined maximal efforts.

    Not fun, but very effective for gaining and maintaining fitness.

    Posted 4 months ago

  9. PlanB

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    May I ask how your toe became red and swollen in the first place? This sounds like something to do with friction from a shoe that doesn't fit properly.

    One's fifth toe wouldn't typically, in normal pedaling, bear a great deal of direct load or be active enough to inflame either a distal or intermediate phalanx. In fact, the kinds of toe injuries that commonly occur in impact sports like running and basketball — everything from friction blisters to tuberosity avulsion (pseudo-Jones) fractures — are all but unknown in cycling precisely because, dynamically, our tootsies are essentially isolated in stiff-soled shoes. And as Froggie points out, normally one wouldn't, with a thought to repair it, submit a damaged toe to outright pounding.

    Off the topic, in Blighty we've done taskmaster as one word since, I don't know, Caxton, possibly. Twice in two days I've seen this written as two words (in the way that, say, past master would be). Damn it — I've fixed my kerbs and pavements only to encounter yet another puzzling challenge!

    Posted 4 months ago

  10. Orange Crush

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    Ben - the positive in this is that we still manage to screw up. Same happened to me last Monday, I knew it was better not to ride in conditions, went against my own judgement, and here we are.

    It shows that despite our advancing age, and you've got a few decades on me, we're still young at heart.

    The wise man said follow me...and he walked behind.
    Posted 4 months ago

  11. 79pmooney

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    PlanB, I've been riding cycling shoes 40 years. Toestraps all that time (but not on all bikes). I spent the last year plus on double straps to have more comfort pulling up hard when climbing fixed. (They also last longer.) But the drawback is that they impinge on my pinky toe a little. Also, not all my shoes allow me to move slotted cleats as far back as i would like. It doesn't help that my pedaling style has always been toes down, especially when I'm standing which I love and do lots of.

    Over the past year I have had to come back from a serious crash. I find that little things that my body can easily shrug off normally become issues on these comebacks. Add to that my new fix gear, a lifetime's high riding fixed, a lifetime's high riding fixed uphill and you have some toes saying "Enough! We want a vacation!"

    My toes have also not been helped by my inability to find really good shoes that are snug enough that my foot doesn't slide and cause ingrown nails are very hard to find. Some pinch of my toes I've always considered a fair trade-off to avoid real nail problems. Quite doable when I was younger and, just as important, those older shoes were leather so after a wet ride or two, they stretched around the points where there was pressure. (Shoe fit has always been a challenge for me. If I demanded a perfect fit for any kind of shoe, not just cycling shoes, I'd still be walking barefoot.)

    Ben

    Posted 4 months ago

  12. vtguy

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    Ben -- sorry to hear about the injury. Heal fast.

    Posted 4 months ago

  13. PlanB

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    I couldn't say how to get around the toe-straps issue. I began (and nearly finished) my own racing career in straps, so I do understand the problem. As to synthetic shoes, if an otherwise properly fitted shoe impinges in just that area of the foot, it can indeed be stretched. The DIY method is very effective: fill a zip-lock sandwich bag with water and insert it into the toe-box area of the shoe, then place the shoe, propped up in a toe-down vertical position, in your freezer over night. When the solid bag is removed the next day, the material will have stretched slightly due to expansion as the water turned to ice. Synthetic material will sometimes require a repeat freezing to get it to stick, or to reach the desired degree of stretch you need.

    Posted 4 months ago

  14. jpouchet

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    Ben - calf tears can be nasty. Ice it up well the first 24 and do get to a doctor. Make that a serious sports doctor not a family GP. They may have some good rehab ideas for you.

    With my business travels if I am not able to find a spin bike at the hotel I'll typically do the elliptical trainers if they have them. Otherwise it is the treadmill for an hour, starting at a casual pace. Safer options than running on the road.

    Get well.

    JP

    Posted 4 months ago

  15. AluminumFrog

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    PlanB,

    It's not everyday some one offers a wake up call about a misuse of grammar in a post about a work out issue and I want you to know I appreciate your humorous correction alot. Alright? Nevermind.

    Posted 4 months ago

  16. PlanB

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    As the unwashed masses would say, 'your' welcome.

    Posted 4 months ago

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