Middle Pack

If you really don’t fancy another camp on a sodden field, or are taking your non-camping friend up to the lakes then please do have a think about dropping in on one of my friends new business ventures.

Wild in style is a luxury glamping yurt company so next time you fall off the fells and want some comfort then get in touch with wild in style and see if they can help you out.

The yurts have a Wood burning stove.. with wood, we actively encourage fires – its good for the soul. Its got raised wooden floors with tasteful rugs for ambience and comfort. A fully equipped and functional kitchen, including a cast iron gas hob (no charge for gas) that gives off plenty of heat and means you aren’t waiting around for kettles to boil!

You would have 2 very comfortable bed settee / futon beds with freshly laundered linen for all beds including cotton sheets, feather pillows and winter duvets so there is no chance you will be cold.

A Large central skylight gives light during the day and then atmosphere at night, with electric lighting so you don’t struggle on darker nights. You also have table and chairs so you don’t always need to use a settee..

So you need for nothing.

With Regards to proper sports related posts. Well normal service may be resumed at some point soon.

Its been a while, I have occasionally looked at the site and felt guilty for the neglect but I really have had very little to write about. But finally I have something sporting relate to talk about.

Two weeks ago I finally managed to get to the front of the queue for surgery and I went under the knife. A weird experience and I may like morphine a bit too much, or hate hospitals so prefer to be smacked out whilst there?

The surgeon  trimmed a bit of bone and tidied up my tendons.Kept me in overnight and then let me go after 24 hours with strict instructions to do nothing for two weeks.

Two weeks later the pot is off and I am walking (well kind of walking, more hobbling). I have a huge scar and a long way to go with regards to recovery but I have optimism for the future. I know you don’t all like these kind of pictures so if you do want to see check out the scar

I have a feeling this years events may be pushing it a bit. My ideal was to be up and running for the Rab mountain marathon, however I really want to take things slowly so we will have to see what happens.

In the meantime I am on the lookout for a turbo trainer to get rid of my extra winter insulation and I can finally bear the idea of going along to races as a spectator, knowing i will be there sooner or later.

On another note, my bog has just passed its third birthday a month or so ago. I never quite realised it has bee going for so long.

Yesterday I got my MRI results back on my ankle and it doesn’t sound healthy. In some ways I am glad that they saw something there as if they didn’t I was back to square one, however I was hoping for a little less than I got…..

Marked tenosynovitis and tendinopathy of the peroneal tendons with reactive bone marrow oedema and spurring of the peroneal tubercles. Similare changes are seen over the lateral malleolus. The lateral tendons are intact although the ATFL is thickened suggestive of chronic injury

Well that doesn’t sound good?

The medial tendons and ligaments are unremarkable

hmmm unremarkable ligaments?

Then we get towards the front of my foot / ankle

There is beaking of the talus and osteophyte formation at the anterior margin of the tibial plafond with chrondroimalacia of the articular cartilage and subchondral bone marrow oedema consistent with degenerative change. In addition, at the lateral talar dome there is an area of chrondroimalacia with underlying subchondral bony change suggestive of an old osteochondral injury. Degenerative changes seen at the calcaneocuboid joint with chondromalacia and bone marrow oedema in the cuboid.

Now in all honesty I am not sure what most of this means. It seems that although the tendons are intact they are rubbing against bone spurs therefore being irritated. There may also be signs of early stage arthritis in my ankle, however this is all based on my scientific googling of the various words.  I could be miles off target.

This means fell running is parked for the foreseeable future, in fact running full stop I am continuing to put on hold so the bike will get even more abuse in months to come.

So the next step is being referred on to an orthapedic specialist which means being put on another list whilst I wait to find out what is going to happen.  In the meantime I will be getting my MRI results on a disc as the nosey person in me wants to see what is going on.  So as soon as they arrive I will get them up there for all to see.

Just swapped a few bike bits and got myself a new bike! Said goodbye to a pompino and and old Peugeot and replaced it with a Condor Italia-X cyclo-cross bike.

Condor Italia-X

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Decided I loved the pompino but I wanted gears and this appeared on gumtree.com so thought I would just try my luck with both my old bike and the Pompino for a straight swap. It seemed to hit a note as the guy already owned a Bob Jackson and an Orange and liked Yorkshire frames and fixed / singlespeed.

Have I done the right thing?

I have got to admit I am not sure who got the better deal? He seemed happy with it all and I seem to have got a great bargain out of it? I am already missing the pompino though and its only been gone an hour?

Anyway only just got it and took it for a ride round the block. Big test will come tomorrow when I get a decent ride in.

I have neglected writing my blog for a while now as in some ways nothing has happened worthy of writing about.  In other ways there has been a lot going on.

Since the FRA relays, I have all but stopped running. I had a poor performance at Tour of Pendle which was a painful experience with my foot and a reasonable run at the Calderdale relays, albeit painful the next day.  I then made the consious decision to stop running training and try for a rest. All apart from the Open Adventure series, which I was determined to register a score with, having not managed to do 3 out of 5 events before (more of that later).

I have been going to Carnegie Sports Injury clinic and really resting, following physio advice and hoping to get to the bottom of the issue once and for all. Unfortunately they were also unable to do much, although they did make some progress in loosening the ankle joint and removing a fair bit of swelling. They did however write a letter for my doctor to recommend that I have a MRI scan.

I am now awaiting an MRI scan on the 19th April and will return to the physio once I get the results of the scan. I have never had an MRI and am a bit unsure of what they will find? I am hoping they find something, but hoping it is not too serious? If anyone has had one please do let me know the procedure? What they found and how it was treated?

It doesn’t mean I have been totally resting. Regular bike rides have kept me entertained on a weekend and the evenings and I did manage 3 Open adventure races. They will be a separate post so keep coming back.

So what next?

To be honest I don’t know? The blog has usually been centered around races but that will make thin reading so the focus may need to change.

I know one area I will keep developing is the maps page and I have only really played around with things but would like to get a load more bike and running routes up there for people. If anyone has got any gpx or kml files of races, or bike routes they would like to send me please do let me know. You can drop me a line using the Online form or leave a comment

Be good to know what people think of the redesign? Not fully finished but I think it is getting there. I know there are a few things wrong in Internet Explorer and these will be fixed but you should use a secure and faster browser such as firefox anyway.

Hoping this is the start of a blog resurgence but we will have to wait and see?