I am 8 weeks from my A race - BWR, and I was for once feeling good about my training progression, until this morning. I was diagnosed with a fracture to my big toe - “minimally displaced truft fracture of the distal phalanx of the great toe”, and the initial prognosis from Urgent Care is that recovery might take between 6-8 weeks!
I’m yet to meet the ortho specialist as it’s a weekend, but I’m hoping to solicit some wisdom from the TR community
Can I realistically train while recovering from such a toe injury and if so what should I be looking for / any hacks?
I am most likely going to miss key blocks of training on my TR plan. How should I factor this mishap into my training schedule- example continue as is or change plan, etc?
I broke both my big toes at the same time (ultimate frisbee injury) in the dark ages of the early 90s, and at that time, the only treatment was to tape the big toe to the next toe, and not worry about it. At least for me, it never kept me off my bike at all, as the stiffness of my cycling shoes allowed me to pedal.
The downside is that both big toes are pretty inflexible, and occasionally get really irritated.
I broke my big toe almost one year ago when I dropped my table sled off my table saw and it landed directly on my toe. Not fun!
Taped the big toe to the toe next to it…really all you can do. Took a few days off for the swelling to go down, but as long as you can get your foot in your shoe, you should be OK. Let pain be your guide.
If you have SPD’s, you can try buying a pair of SPD sandals if you can’t get your foot in your shoe. I have also heard of people cutting out the area around their big toe in an old pair of cycling shoes.
Last fall I had to get my big toe nail permanently removed which hurt like the Dickens. But I was able to cut the entire toe box out of an old pair of Shimano shoes and was able to ride inside just fine (outside was okay on occasion).
Conversely, I have a small bone defect where the outer bones on both my feet bent out then back in at my little toe creating a big (painful) bulge. I don’t need the surgery to fix it, but if I did I would not be able to even walk for up to two months, and then barely. It would be a full half year off my feet.
Moral of this meandering story is that feet can be very counterintuitive and difficult, so don’t take too much care for what you get on a message board and have a real conversation with your doc. Good luck!
I am seeing a specialist tomorrow to get a proper gauge of the situation and determine next steps
I have jumped the gun and ordered the Shimano sandals. I had no idea, and even if I cannot ride in them for a bit, I like the idea of airing the foot out a bit more than normal
