Barefoot Drama

Arrived to the Okanagan mid-July with a road bike, mtn bike and cross bike, ready to ride though a weird obscure pain beneath my big toe (sesamoid bones) dictated otherwise.

 

Saw local podiatrist Dr Greg Lindsey pretty quick, who treated the toe as worse case scenario (fractured). He suggested I wear an open toe rigid rocker shoe, with a dancer's pad stuck to my foot. The dancer's pad had a cut-out to take away the pressure off the ball of foot. The shoe stood higher than my normal shoes. With the hobbling and the uneven shoes, my foot, calves, probably hips... were sore in weird places with the compensation.

Not sure how the toe got inflamed. Everything I do is in barefeet (the naked foot!) and I was carrying heavy loads on rough rocky terrain. Ok, hard lesson learned - shoes have their place at times!

Pod doc advised full rest off the feet. Yikes, no biking or running. I did want to spend more time paddling so that vision came thru!

switched from the 19.5' Valhalla to the agile 17' Think EZE, super fun in waves

It was excruciating to weight-bear for the first few weeks. I managed to get the surfski to the water with minimal hobbling. The rocky shore was no help. Once in the boat, I was fine!

I went on short paddles focusing on technique, and avoiding the crazed people on motorboats and jet-skis. I paddled 1 to 1 1/2 hours daily still bummed about not riding though enjoying the awesome views from the Okanagan Lake.

Although the hobbling set me back abit, paddling kept me SANE. From the stories I read on the internet of healing from sesamoiditist, people seemed plagued with a chronic injury without putting rest time in. It helped ease my mind about healing time and no bike training once I wrote off cycle-cross season.

Mary Mike Marg - 3 M's

Weeks into healing, my old track running friend Mary was visiting from Switzerland. I thought what the heck, let's go on an easy trail run like we used to. Surprisingly, my foot handled it fine! My optimism to get back training grew. A chat with the podiatrist and he set me up with wicked orthotics to allow for less pressure to the sesamoid bones.

Mike, Dominic, Mary, Nigel, Marg - Mission Hill

First week back on the bike mid-August took more effort than I expected with sore muscles. After a week, it got better. It was great to be back ON the bike!

Pine needles started collecting on the surfski though still went out a few times a week.


UPDATE Jan 1, 2013
All good with the sesamoid bones until I went to a yoga class. I totally forgot about being on my toes in downward dog. That night, my foot was achy. I realize I need to watch out for any movements without full support of the foot.