Over-use?: Re-visited

Last year I wound up getting a case of sesamoiditis in about March or so.  My right foot hurt a bit at the US Cup at Bonelli, and later that month at Fontana I remember sitting in the shade under the EZ-up in tears, wanting to talk myself out of racing short track and Super D later that Sunday afternoon.  My foot hurt.  Having to run uphill in cycling shoes on pavement for that Super D was pretty brutal.  The following week I wound up taking 4 of 5 days off, with one long ride on Wednesday that only seemed to make it that much worse.  I had gone to the podiatrist and gotten “molded” for custom orthotics to go in my regular and cycling shoes.  That Friday was Justin’s accident, so all bet’s were off.  I wound up getting my custom foot beds about a week after that, and with the 2.5 weeks off plus the foot beds my foot healed up and aside from minor discomfort for a few hours here or there it was fine.

That is, until New Year’s.

We put in our monster week.  I don’t know if I ignored or shrugged off any pain and discomfort early in the week as having cold feet and doing a lot of walking around barefoot on granite, or if my foot just really wasn’t bothering me.  I don’t recall having a lot of issues riding New Year’s Eve, but for some reason I do remember that night not wanting to take my shoes off because I thought at the least the custom foot bed was providing some support and my foot was starting to hurt.  New Year’s Day walking around was a little uncomfortable, and at the end of my 3 hour ride on Sunday I just wanted out of my shoes and off my foot entirely.  It hasn’t gotten better since.

I have spent a LOT of time the past week trying to troubleshoot what is going on, why it happened again, and if there was any specific trigger.  Bike fit?  Volume?  New shoes?  Cold feet and not enough circulation?  Caffeine?  Not enough beer?  Too much beer?

Taking my geekdom to new highs with Specialized’s Stumpy II shoe

I at least waited until Keith told me to take a few days off before I started carbo loading

Last week was a recovery week anyway, so we were taking it easy. As is evidenced by Justin taking off ahead of me as he was doing 1-leg drills

So, what’s a girl to do when she’s down? Go shopping, of course.

Doing my part to stimulate the economy.

It’s a scientific fact (n=1) that 2nd breakfast is far more satisfying after you’ve gotten in a good hard winter ride.

I tossed out the idea of swimming, so spent part of Saturday evening on the phone texting and talking my way into a heated pool for Sunday.

Hey there empty 25-yard lap pool!

Luke had mentioned trying a kick board, so I grabbed this from the pile. Definite torture here.

The lap out is fine, but the last 2/3 to 1/2 a lap back is brutal!

Here is “the foot” in the spa Sunday morning. Oddly enough, it looks worse today.

The podiatrist told me the “discoloration” is due to “tissue breakdown”. Same as last year.

Sunday’s workout, brought to you by Speedo

2nd breakfast after the swim and really short gym core session

Hmm, still not all that satisfying!

Sunday afternoon Steph took me out for lunch. Gotta love the Pliny! Thanks for the company

Back on the bike Tuesday, so we will see what that brings. A still very easy and low volume week is in my future, and just hoping for some healing.

The doctor, for what it is worth, modified my foot bed to add more padding. As for a long-term solution?

First and foremost I guess it means that I need to be more accountable for any signs my body is giving me of discomfort. I was mostly focused on paying attention to the emotional and mental signs of fatigue and wearing down that week of high volume, since usually it is the stress that gets to me and outwardly lets me know I’m on the edge. This time, without stress from work and the alarm clock I didn’t have any emotional or mental breakdowns; it was just physical, and I still can’t say for sure if there were early warning signs or not, and whether I shrugged them off or just didn’t notice them, if I had them at all.

Lesson learned? Pay attention to EVERYTHING.