The frustration of sitting still

The frustration of sitting still

In the previous post I mentioned an injury on my foot, or specifically my ankle and the good hopes I had it would be fixed soon.
Well, we’re now about 6 weeks further since then and the issue is still not resolved. I will try to give you an idea what goes around in my head during this period 🙂

As some people say that us Dutch people are very laid back in their thoughts and reactions

I decided to go for a new set of shoes (since the old ones already had about 1200km’s on them) in the hope, together with the physiotherapist visits, it would help solve the issues on my foot. Since the 10km test-run I did on the new shoes did not go really smooth I went back to the physio explaining the ongoing pain on the top of my right foot and the ankle area. The preliminary conclusion being a short moment during a training towards my Iceland adventure where I sort of twisted my ankle upwards. The strange thing being I did not have any issues during or shortly after the 55km in Iceland. Only after a week when starting to run on the road again, pain started to happen. So different surroundings, ground and shoes are all factors to take into account.

As some people say that us Dutch people are very laid-back in their thoughts and reactions, I kind of denied accepting this fact this time. I want to get to the bottom of this issue since sitting still for already about 4 weeks totally is not my thing. The last feedback from the physio was an approximation of 4-5 weeks of no running, still. This was the moment where I had to start thinking of serious alternatives to get my cardio up to par again and to keep it like that, at least as a base for being able to run the Athens marathon, this November 2017, which normally should not be an issue for me. The typical top-5 bullets as alternatives you will find when googling for ‘injured runner alternatives’ are;

  • Cycling
  • Swimming
  • Rowing
  • Boxing
  • Elliptical

I’m not really a swimmer, would have to take lessons to do a proper chest-crawl. Rowing, dunno, think the rowing season is kinda over at the moment and I do not fancy an inside rowing session, neither inside boxing (simply, I hate the gym, I want to go sport outside and I do not mind rain/ice/snow). Elliptical and cycling were the options left for me. Elliptical I sometimes already do (hate it) and cycling I had planned for 2018 to have a look at. Well, long story short, I bought myself a very nice race-bike and welcomed myself to the race-cycling world 🙂

My new pride 🙂 Cube Agree C:62 Disc 2017 with 28mm rubber soles.

My answer was a firm NO!

I can tell you this cycling is a very nice alternative next to running; the cardio and heart rate is within full control of yourself (and, ok, maybe some influence by wind). The first thing my youngest son asked me was ‘Are you going to become one of those agitated cyclists now?!’ My answer was a firm NO! Because I know exactly what he was thinking and I totally agree with him. Somehow you have two types of race-cyclists, from my perspective;

  • the ones who think, once they go sit on their saddle and clip their shoes, they are the law on the roads. You better run and hide because, hey, me and my beer-belly and peers are now professional cyclists! Go Away! And you better not be running ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD!! (hey, we runners know we need to run on the ‘opposite’ side of the road, right). I have been cursed at a few times regarding that, which I totally ignore btw).
  • the ones of the more social type and who actually greet runners, understand the ‘running on the other side principle’ and who I would classify as fellow sporters during that personal Sunday-morning sport-event.

When running (…) I mostly run by myself, sometimes I run with a friend and basically I only run races with more then two people. For this cycling I think it will be the same, I love to ride by myself not having to take others into account with the speed, guiding, missing a turn or having to stand up or even stop for a moment because my arse hurts 😀 This last part, I’ve been told, is something you have to get used to (not that it hurts, but I guess you need to ‘build’ something on your arse to handle it better). Some other fun-facts I noticed in this cycling world;

  • Don’t go cycling during the rain, chances of running a flat (that’s the term of getting a flat tire) are huge!
  • Get a good & light wind+rain proof coat because, different from running, you WILL get cold. (but wait, I should not cycle in the rain?!).
  • Get a good set of spare-parts and tools might you run a flat, now that’s an interesting part also since finding the right inner-tube (‘Biba’ in Dutch cycling terms), the right tools, a little pump, or, go high-tech with mini O2 pressure-cans, can be a challenge also. It’s an insane world of choices and terms!
  • Do not go fix a flat inner-tube, you fool. You replace it with a new one, which you obviously always need to carry with you, with a minimum of two. Throw away the punctured ones at home.
  • Cyclists do not greet each other.
  • Cyclists always (try to-)look mean and exhausted and if they’re SO familiar on that road they follow it blindly.
  • Don’t cycle blindly
  • Other cyclists (the slow ones) are slow and they do not hear you (since a little bell on your race-bike is VERY inefficient with regards to speed and weight).
  • Get a little bell on your steering-wheel, ignore the nonsense around it.
  • etc etc. I probably will come up with more later, these are just my first observations after one (1!) week 😉

I saw averaging a 30-35km/h round is pretty OK and doesn’t take me a lot of effort 🙂

Will this mean I will not run anymore and will dedicate my cardio-life to cycling?? Hell no! The moment the foot & ankle feel they’re up to some km’s again, I will. The combination of cycling and running I think is very good and I noticed it helps if you are pretty fit from running, you have a good head-start as a cyclist also. I saw averaging a 30-35km/h round is pretty OK and doesn’t take me a lot of effort 🙂

I have an appointment with a new, specialised, physio tomorrow, let’s see what the verdict will be, fingers crossed…..

To be continued (oh and I have the feeling it will be a good one with more funny experiences of cycling 😉 )