There is no training log. Not today.

About 8.5 years ago I had a nasty injury to my left ankle. It was back when I was doing Kuk Sool martial arts. It was a night of “endless” kicking. In particular, you do a jump 360º spin kick, then when you land  you drop all the way down to the ground and do the same down low. Well, after so many kicks I was exhausted and when I came down landed wrong on my left foot and crumpled to the ground. X-rays were taken and while no bones were broken, certainly there was ligament damage. I should have sought a better treatment option than what was offered to me, but whatever… water under the bridge.

My ankle has never been the same and never been fully “normal” since then. Most of the time it’s a non-issue. But every so often something happens to make it flare up (last I can remember was when I chased some coyotes from my front yard… hiking boots, pavement, too much stiff impact). And sometimes weird things just happen, like I cannot extend my foot all the way without pain, like a ligament is hung up on something; eventually goes away. I don’t think much of it any more, I just deal with the pain and issues when they crop up and they eventually go away.

For maybe the last month or so, the left foot has had pain. You can see the ankle is puffy and more swollen than the right foot/ankle. There’s also been a constant ache in my heel area. I figured to let it go, this stuff happens: ice, Advil, rest, and it’s usually gone. But this wasn’t going away so I was thinking about a doctor.

Then this past Saturday night, I’m lying in bed reading a book, rotated my left foot to do some “ankle circles” and a sharp pain shot through me. It went away, but a few minutes later when I stuck my toes under the sheets so I could scoot my foot under the covers, the pain shot through me again and didn’t go away. Despite a long night of rest and 4 Advil, the pain persisted in the morning. I cannot walk without pain, and have taken to walking with a cane. It’s that bad, it’s that debilitating.

So no deadlifting today. 🙂

I found a podiatrist that seems to be well-regarded. I reckon this type of thing is right up his alley, so we’ll see what comes of it. As of this writing no appointment has been made, but will be done. This is too painful, it cannot wait. Something is wrong.

The crazy part is that all I’m thinking about is how I’m going to handle lifting! Obviously I cannot squat nor deadlift. *sigh*  Are my lower body days going to be just stuff like leg extensions, leg curls, and hyperextensions? Ugh. I doubt I can overhead press. Even bench pressing could be difficult. I don’t know what I’ll do… it’ll depend in part on what the problem winds up being.

But I always said to myself that if I got injured, it would be a time to try alternative programs that allowed me to specialize. For example, doing Smolov Jr for bench press.

Of course, the problem with that is the whole CarbNite fat loss issue. There’s no way to do such a specialization program without eating big and resting big. And depending what’s wrong with me,  my body may well be happier to not be killed by lifting so instead it can focus on healing the ankle.

I must wonder if CarbNite is part of my problem. I’m depriving my body of a lot of things, and I can feel the effects. My joints are under a LOT more inflammation and pain throughout my body. Carbs can be anti-inflamatory. I even wondered with my heel pain if there’s some sort of gout-like issue going on due to the dietary change and consumption. I just don’t know. There’s no question I need to drop the weight, but who knows… it may have to go to a more Carb Backloading approach with VERY modest carb consumption, and stretching out the fat loss over the course of many more months.

I just don’t know. Right now I have more questions than answers. Not letting it bother me too much tho… gotta see what the doctor says first.