The road to recovery, long bike ride...done!

After four weeks of sitting around with a solid two and a half week stretch reliant on crutches, I can celebrate some success. The ankle gave me all of my days especially at night when the pain woke me at times. 


A group of friends were going out for a medium long ride this morning +- 100km. I decided to go along, and tested the ankle on the turbo trainer last night. The foot felt fine, so I prepared my rig for the Saturday morning ride. The first half of the session was easy as we had a couple of extra (slower) riders with us. I was not so lucky after we said goodbye to them at the half way point. 


My two riding companions, clearly making the most of the 5 weeks since I last joined them on a long ride rode steady into the wind on the way back to London, and I was soon falling behind. 
Watching them stop and wait for me about 3 or 4 times made me decide to spare my legs/ankle/pride and head for the nearest train station to complete the journey by rail. I completed 75km and I was quite tired, but happy that I was back in the saddle...and about to get out of it! 


The journey back was a little bit of a train smash, not literally :-). I first discovered that I would have to travel about twice the distance back as there were no direct trains to my stop. After buying my ticket and crossing the footbridge, I took out my phone to call my wife to explain why I would be two hours later than expected. My bank card flew out with my phone and floated right onto the track! All I can say is sorry to the passengers on the line, and those waiting to buy tickets, as the kind man at the ticket office abandoned his station and got the train signallers to halt trains on their way past us so that he could jump on the tracks to retrieve my card. 


My ankle feels good tonight, and walking has become easier during the past week. My guess is that it can be attributed to my wobble board, and persistence at doing stretches and strength exercises for about an hour every evening. I will continue to do this, as it has been proven to be invaluable for recovery. I am also convinced that it will strengthen my ankles to make them more robust than ever before.


I am quite excited about this year, as I have just finished re-reading the Triathlete's  Training Bible by Joe Friel. The book gets quite scientific, but that is what I love about it. The reason is to work out my training plan for the Ironman Cozumel in November. Currently I have a marathon, some sportive rides and a fair amount of triathlons as B and C races planned in the run-up to the big daddy. The goal is to be as well prepared for my first long distance race as possible, the rest will just be done in preparation.


I hope to be back and running in another two weeks, so I should (hopefully) be documenting and updating my blog as proceedings gather momentum!

My bike getting some well deserved rest, and sun.