After my crash at Leadville, my sprained ankle was in bad shape. But luckily, I’ve been recovering really well! This is a combination of luck and truly concerted effort. Here’s what I’ve been up to:
Rest
Was it tempting to jump on the bike or start doing upper body work the day after the race? Yes. Would that be a good idea? No. It was hard going from a planned rest post-100 miles to “only” having finished 50 (with 12 at a crawling pace). I had a lot of energy the day after the race, and in subsequent days. But I was also very aware of how much pain I was in, how swollen my foot was, and the damage I could do if I tried to get right back to it. So, I took a break.
Listening to experts + my body
After I had my crash, I went to the ER two days later (yes, I waited—I wanted to see if the swelling would go down on its own). They did X-rays but the swelling was so bad that they wanted me to follow up, so I had to go to an orthopedic surgeon when we got home. They put me in a boot, and I wore it as prescribed. I’ve since been to the surgeon for the initial consult. They kept me in the boot but also gave me the go-ahead to ween myself off of it as it started to feel better, since there wasn’t a break, just a bad sprain. I went back for a followup 4 weeks after the crash, and I was cleared to slowly return to sport. I’ve also been going to a physiotherapist (which my insurance partially covers but I would be paying for it regardless). I did wait until the swelling had chilled out—just under 2 weeks after the crash—before I went. She’s been great for giving me really specific exercises to do, which leads to…
*Actually* doing my rehab exercises
Self explanatory, but seriously. It’s been 4 weeks since first getting exercises to do and I’m so proud of myself for actually doing them!
Compression boots
Cannot stress how helpful my Normatec boots were at decreasing the swelling. I couldn’t use them the first few days because it was too painful, but once the pain had chilled out a bit, they were great for boosting circulation in my ankle. I’m still trying to use them daily—which should be easy, but honestly, we’re in a bit of a heat wave with broken AC, so sometimes it’s just too hot.
Riding bikes
I started on flat pedals so that way, I wouldn’t worry about turning my ankle. After two weeks of riding on very flat rail trail, I added in a couple more hills on my ride—and honestly, the flat pedals were super annoying at first, but as I transitioned back to clipless after three weeks, I realized how much smoother my pedal stroke has gotten! So, highly recommend flat pedals every so often. But really, I had already planned to do a bike block post-Leadville regardless, and this just gave me the extra oomph I needed to remind myself that biking is something I do deeply love.
Trying new movement options
I am LOVING Pilates! I joined a yoga studio near us for a month-long trial after two weeks of being home. My ankle was feeling stable enough to walk sans boot, and I knew that if I was very careful and mindful, I could handle yoga and Pilates classes. I did let instructors know that I’d maybe be modifying things around my ankle, and I have a yoga teacher certification, so I actually know how to modify poses! If you’re in a similar boat, I do love the idea of trying new things while you have time, but will add the caveat that you should definitely let instructors know what’s going on, and be very open to backing off when things are uncomfortable.
Keeping nutrition dialed
This was a serious struggle for me because I had an oral surgery scheduled the week we got back, so I was on soft foods for two weeks thanks to some complications. So, my version of dialed nutrition had to shift to accommodate that. But I focused really purposefully on three key things: protein to promote healing and to do what I could to keep muscle while I wasn’t doing much movement, anti-inflammatory foods (aka fruits and veggies) to promote healing, and plenty of carbohydrates—yes, even though I had a couple of lower training weeks, my body was GOING THROUGH IT and needed the fuel. I also was adding in collagen, including my own made-at-home bone broth, and generally trying to stay hydrated, again, to help with swelling.
Keeping calories up
Just to put a fine point on it: When you’re injured and have gone from a lot of training to very little as your body recovers, it is very tempting to drop your caloric intake significantly. You generally don’t feel as hungry anyway, and it’s tempting to see this as a good time to drop that five pounds (or whatever). It is NOT a good time for that. Your body needs fuel in order to actually recover and heal. So it is a bit of a mental hurdle, especially if you are someone who has weight loss or body image issues in the back of their mind. If that is you, and you somehow found this blog, I hear you, I see you, and I totally get it. If you find you’re struggling with this, definitely use this break to check in with a dietitian or therapist to talk it over!
Using anti-inflammatories purposefully
I was really specific in the first week after the crash about how I was taking Tylenol. On one hand, I did need the swelling to go down because it was impacting my circulation, and because frankly, I needed a break from how painful it was. But I also didn’t want to block the pain so that I wasn’t aware of how I was feeling, nor did I want to artificially drop the swelling. I think they can be really helpful in the short term, but shouldn’t be an all-day, every day solution… and if you are taking them with that kind of frequency, you definitely shouldn’t be training (in my opinion).
