Blog: Julie Dibens Unsure Of Kona Future

I was a little hesitant to post my post-Kona update. The day it was about to go live a few things changed on the ‘snaggle toe’ front, and to be honest I couldn’t be bothered to change it…or even post it. Pretty much since then my head has either been stuck up my ass in sorrow, or glued to the rim of an adult bevereage. Ok, so it really hasn’t been that bad, and I’ve actually had a chance to really enjoy the off season for once…but it sounded good right?

THIS EXTRACT IS TAKEN FROM JULIEDIBENS.COM

So an update on the snaggle:

I was puzzled by the initial diagnosis of having a fractured snaggle. I just didn’t buy it, and looked for a few other opinions on the MRI scan that I had done. Of course they all came back differently. It’s a picture of my foot damn it….how hard can it be! Tell me what’s wrong and tell me now! Just kidding. Well that really was what I was thinking…but I know it’s not as easy as that. Even with detailed images of my foot things can be tricky to diagnose. Things went initially from just rest, to surgery, back to rest, back to surgery and then back to rest and see. After 4 weeks of consulting with some great medical people, we finally came to a conclusion we are happy with.

A quick summary:

As I have said before back in 2004/2005 I had surgery on Snaggle #1 (aka 2nd toe) to stop it dislocating. They ended up fusing the toe and doing some tendon transfers. This took 3 surgeries to get it to where it was manageable. It was never 100% pain free, and I knew that I was always going to have limitations due to the fusion in the toe. I just had to manage things the best I could. Things were under control it seems until I really stepped up the mileage as I prepared for racing the Ironman distance. With my snaggle #1 non functional, the snaggle #2 had to take up all the slack, and eventually it started to scream and yell. What I have in the 3rd MTP joint (metatarsal phalangeal joint for those less educated in the medical jargon out there) has a fancy name called Freidbergs disease….which I understand as the metatarsal head has been worn away and flattened off. Due to the anatomy of my feet (super high arches and tight calves) it also means that every time I run/step the met head is pounding into the ground. Good times little snaggle…good times.

So what to do:

Even though microfracture surgery is an option, it appears that it wouldn’t fix the problem. It may give me some short term relief, but that would only be after a fairly lengthy lay-off and rehab. I think I have also learned that any time you are cut open and things are done surgically that you may just be opening up a can of worms to get other problems….and should be the absolute last option. The alternatives to microfracture surgery, was to rest it and rehab it, or look at getting a prosthetic toe…..even though the latter sounds kinda cool in a sick kinda way, I opted to rest and rehab it.

What does that mean:

Well it means I walked around in a boot for the first 3 weeks. The only time I was sans boot was for little dips in the pool, and rides on my bike. Since then I have started rehab’ing (mainly strengthening, stretching and ultrasound) while still not running. The plan will be to start back proper running after 6 weeks.

How does the future look:

I think only time will tell! I believe I can get it back to a manageable state. With improved foot mechanics, calf flexibility, and a stiffer shoe, I hope that I can get it back to a manageable state. I will have limitations due to snaggle #1 and his buddy snaggle #2, and will more than likely have to adapt my training and possibly racing plans. It may mean no more IM…but we will see. I still have a hunger ….ok, it’s more like a starvation to compete in Kona, but in all reality my foot may not allow that. If I had the choice of trying to get to Kona and risk not racing at all, or racing successfully over the Olympic/ middle distance and Xterra, I would have to choose the latter. I think my body “could” handle 1 IM a year, but with the new qualification rules this isn’t possible so the Kona dream may have to go on hold. There are soooo many other races out there that I can get excited for and ones that I hope to be at next year include 5150, Rev3, Abu Dhabi, Vegas, Xterra and the list goes on.

For now I just have to take it one step at a time. The first step for me to focus on is getting my body ready to run again. After those first few weeks of running I think I will have a better idea of how things are going and we can take it from there. In the mean time I am just keeping a base level of fitness by swimming and riding when I feel. I want to freshen up the mind and body, but I also want to be ready to start structured training on Jan 1st. So for now I’m just keeping things fun and going with the flow.

Thanks to everyone for their continued support and belief in me.

THIS EXTRACT IS TAKEN FROM JULIEDIBENS.COM

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Paul Moore

Paul Moore is the Online Editor for Triathlete Europe. When not glued to a computer he can be found writing books - most recently Ultimate Triathlon: A complete training guide for long-distance triathletes which you can buy on Amazon

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