In my last couple posts I haven't exactly said how I sprained my ankle. I didn't really want to talk in depth about it, it was still very raw and the timing of when it happened was REALLY bad.
I rode up to Richmond Friday evening with Marcus Barton, who was also doing the same race on Sunday. As we had planned as soon as the trail run had finished Saturday morning we pre-road the mountain bike course (about a 50 minute ride), to get a feel for the course. I was feeling good a fresh, I also felt good about my bike handling. About 30 minutes into the ride through a section of the trail that was relatively wide 3-4 feet, there was a small cluster of rocks in the middle of the trail, maybe 8 inches around 4 inches high (an obstacle I don't even have to think about, I could easily go to either side of it or over the top of it). Unfortunately I either didn't see it or didn't focus on dealing with it, more likely didn't see it. I hit the rocks and it knocked the bike out to the side, my right foot unclipped and came out to catch myself (this happened automatically) unfortunately the way I hit the rocks it threw me down, and instead of my foot coming down on the ground squarely it hit on the outside of my foot and my ankle just rolled. After finding my glasses, which had fallen off as well. I got back on the bike, I was able to continue riding, but it was very painful, I didn't have much power with my right leg, and any time I had to step down on my right foot, it hurt a LOT. I knew at the time that my race was probably over even before it started. After getting back to the hotel room I began icing it and keeping it elevated, to keep the swelling down as much as possible. By the evening it was very swollen and I could hardly put any weight at all on my right foot, I knew unless something changed dramatically I wouldn't be able to race. After waking up Sunday morning if anything it was worse, and knew I wouldn't be able to swim or bike, and couldn't even think of walking, much less trail running.
I wish I could say that it was in some major crash going super fast or something a little more exciting, but it was during a slow pre-ride through an easy section of trail, not the best of stories.
I rode up to Richmond Friday evening with Marcus Barton, who was also doing the same race on Sunday. As we had planned as soon as the trail run had finished Saturday morning we pre-road the mountain bike course (about a 50 minute ride), to get a feel for the course. I was feeling good a fresh, I also felt good about my bike handling. About 30 minutes into the ride through a section of the trail that was relatively wide 3-4 feet, there was a small cluster of rocks in the middle of the trail, maybe 8 inches around 4 inches high (an obstacle I don't even have to think about, I could easily go to either side of it or over the top of it). Unfortunately I either didn't see it or didn't focus on dealing with it, more likely didn't see it. I hit the rocks and it knocked the bike out to the side, my right foot unclipped and came out to catch myself (this happened automatically) unfortunately the way I hit the rocks it threw me down, and instead of my foot coming down on the ground squarely it hit on the outside of my foot and my ankle just rolled. After finding my glasses, which had fallen off as well. I got back on the bike, I was able to continue riding, but it was very painful, I didn't have much power with my right leg, and any time I had to step down on my right foot, it hurt a LOT. I knew at the time that my race was probably over even before it started. After getting back to the hotel room I began icing it and keeping it elevated, to keep the swelling down as much as possible. By the evening it was very swollen and I could hardly put any weight at all on my right foot, I knew unless something changed dramatically I wouldn't be able to race. After waking up Sunday morning if anything it was worse, and knew I wouldn't be able to swim or bike, and couldn't even think of walking, much less trail running.
I wish I could say that it was in some major crash going super fast or something a little more exciting, but it was during a slow pre-ride through an easy section of trail, not the best of stories.
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