2 steps forward, 1 step back

Last week I sat out my second (consecutive) major race of the year. Earlier in July I had to pull out of Oravaman, my primary goals for the first half of the year, and it was Alpe d’Huez long course triathlon which I had to watch from the side lines on Thursday.

An ankle problem which has been bothering me since early April and a back issue which reared it’s head in May have failed to resolve themselves despite extensive treatment, rehab and yes, even rest. While the ankle hurt first the problem stems from my back surgery. The pinning and plating on my left hand side is just inhibiting movement enough to put extra strain where it shouldn’t and the return to a full training load at the start of 2016 found out the weakness. The metal work will probably have to come out otherwise it will just be a recurring problem and  I guess I have to be grateful that it is an option. It wasn’t initially expected that I’d ever be able to have it removed as the vertebrae that were bridged were it such bad shape, however they have repaired well enough that it is back on table.

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