Just a quick update into my thoughts before the operation. I am, without a doubt, rather nervous as this surgery is what they call, “Elective Surgery.” I have chosen to have the op, and while it wasn’t advised, I could have easily put it off for several months / years, and been fine. Well as “fine” as I could be without being to go for a pain free run.
What is extremely strange is that I’m walking around as normal, my ankle only reminding me of the pain it has caused on the odd occasion. So I’m going to walk into the hospital tomorrow morning, on both legs, and then one day later, limp out on crutches. I suppose it’s normal to think this, especially in situations like this.
One thing is for sure, I will never take running for granted again. 
Saw this over at The Final Sprint:
“Sports do not build character. They reveal it.”
- Matthew Campbell
This is especially true for me, because if I wasn’t running, I wouldn’t be having this operation. Perhaps not so much revealing my character, more “extracting” it.
This is the first in a series of posts, recapping some of my races from last year.
At school I competed in many cross country and track events, but I never ran an official road race. I had attended several races, with my father having completed the Two Oceans 56km twice. Therefore it’s strange to think that my first race was only in April 2006, the Merrilyn Smith Memorial. I was roped into running it by my friend Joey (he’s honeymoon at the moment, so by the time he reads this he won’t be able to correct me )
The race is staged one week before the Two Oceans, so it’s quite popular amongst runners gearing down on their tempo. The route goes through the leafy suburb of Rondebosch and starts at the UCT law faculty, not far from the finish of the Two Oceans.
My fitness wasn’t great at the time, although I was active. Torturing myself on those terrible indoor bikes was a regular occurrence. I remember standing at the start of the race, my heart pounding, and frantically trying to think of a goal time for myself. I mentioned to Joey that a sub 50 minute time would be great, but in truth, all I wanted to was to finish the race without stopping. The race went by quickly and I don’t remember much from it, but I really felt good when I finished in 46:15, in a credible position of 46:15. That’s when the bug bit, I was hooked.
Looking at my stats of the race, I realise how unfit I was. At the peak of my fitness last year, a pace of 4:38 min / km would result in an average HR of about 150. During that race however, my average HR was 168. A clear indication of how hard I was working to keep that pace.
I can’t complain though, it was a great race, and it can take the credit for getting me into running.
Now that I’m officially crocked, I thought it would be a good idea for me to review all the races I ran last year:
- Two triathlon team events which included a 5km and a 12.5km.
- Six 10km races
- One 13km trail race
- Two 15km races
- Three Half Marathons
- One 30km race
So that’s 15 races and 213km of racing with a total time of 15 hours and 59 minutes, at an average pace 4:30 min/km. I can’t give an accurate average heart rate (HR) as I need to work out a weighted average, but my max HR was 196, which I achieved during the 12.5km run at the Jailbreak Triathlon.
I hope to do a post on each of the distances, and how I aim to improve the times once I’m running again.
So I made the call. My operation is provisionally booked for next Monday, the 26th of February. Once it’s confirmed, I’ll have a good think about my goals, and when I’d like to be running. After consulting with a biokinetist of course. I’m slightly nervous, but I know I’m doing the right thing in order to get me running again.
Update: Everything is booked. I shall be going under the knife on Monday, and depending on admittance time, I might have to spend the night in hospital. Then I get to spend the whole week off my feet and away from work, which is going to make this week all the more hectic. What I found rather funny, was that the doctor sent me a “quote” which reminds me of a car repair quote. The procedures I’m having done are as follows:
- Ankle Arthroscopy
- Lateral Ligament Repair
- Debridement
- Harvesting Graft
After extensive Googling, I’ve found no reports by patients on their recovery etc, so I shall be blogging regularly and going into detail on how my recovery is going. I hope it will be of some use to future ankle sufferers as to what they’re in for.
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