By: Mizuno Race Team Member, Mike Aish
Well, it sucks not to be running, but I think it might be even harder when you know that the reason you’re not running is because it was your choice.
Towards the end of last year I was training well, but things just weren’t coming together. As much as I tried, my body just was not cooperating. I was doing everything that I could to fix all the little issues I was having, but nothing was working for longer than a day or so, and let’s just say I was starting to get beyond frustrated.
One day I was getting my calf dry needled to try and loosen it up and the PT says, “I think you might have a piece of bone floating around in there, you might want to get that checked out”. Great, I said….
After heading over to see Dr. Jason Glowney at CU Sports Medicine for a few x-rays, it was easy to see what the problem was. I had a bone spur that was growing through the center of my calf and was starting to push against the vascular system and the nerve. As someone nicely put it, “It looks like a chicken wing growing off the bone.” Awesome, I said….
By some miracle I was able to get in with Dr. Michelle Wolcott at CU Sports Medicine in Denver, and then book an appointment for surgery to have it removed the following week. Now I must say that at the time it seemed like a good idea. The weather was really cold and icy, and if I was going to have to take a few weeks off, if I did it right now, I would still have a load of time to get back in to training before my racing season started. “Lets do it,” I said…
Never book surgery in the afternoon. It was 9:30pm on Tuesday when I finished up my last meal and they didn’t roll me and get the knife out until just before 5pm on Wednesday. I was hungry to say the least. When I came to, it was late and let’s just say I didn’t feel that that great, but I still had both legs so I was happy to roll out of the hospital and get home to recover on the couch. “Lets go home,” I said…
It’s funny because before and right after surgery, the doctor tells you that it’s a simple thing, real quick and easy so don’t worry about it. Yet when we went back for the check up a week later she tells me that it was the most interesting case she’s seen all year, and that it could have been a little dicey as the spur was pressed right up against the nerve. “You didn’t want to tell me this before hand,” I said…
So it’s been 3 weeks and I should be able to start jogging very slowly soon. I may have put on a few pounds, but remember that my days have been spent watching TV with a bag of chips and a bottle of coke. I’m pretty sure I don’t smell that great, because without a training routine I keep forgetting to shower and I know the wife really isn’t that impressed.
It’s hard to be patient and rest. But all the leg, hip back and neck pain has gone so I can’t be too mad. It’s amazing how the body can try and compensate for an injury-I was a walking mess. Next up is the challenge of getting myself fit and then race ready. I’ve got big things planned this year, but first I need to get walking.
So if your asking about this year, I say, “Bring it on.”
Michael Aish is a former New Zealand Olympian, 2000-10,000/2004-5,000m, and current ultra marathoner for the Mizuno Race Team. With PR’s of 13:22 for 5K and 27:46 for 10K, Michael has been tearing up the ultra scene for the last four years, with his most notable performance being a 2nd place finish in the 2014 Leadville 100.