Racing (or not) with AS

Last year (2018) was a bit of a write-off as far as racing was concerned.  After an early January HM, run with a slightly sore knee, I ended up jot being able to run for about 2 months afterwards.  Eventually going to see a fantastic physio he quickly diagnosed Patellar tendonitis due to lack of strength in my legs for the pace that I was running at.  A few sessions and a decent amount of gym fixed this, but started to reveal other underlying issues - and eventually pointed to the fact that my regular flare ups of back and leg pain were likely due to something else.  Come the end of last year, and following some MRIs, blood work, and some fantastic experts it was confirmed that I was suffering with ankylosing spondylitis - and that this was probably the reason I've had issues for the last 20 years.

Knowing what the condition is has been fantastic, as I understand now that pain and flare-ups can 'just happen' and mentally this is much easier to deal with.  My coach and I can then work around these in an effort to keep me fit and ready to race.  (And hopefully I may get on to some other forms of treatment in the longer term to improve things further).

Races, however, happen at fixed times and dates, and this puts me in the position I'm in right now.  Feeling great last weekend I entered a local duathlon for tomorrow, but come the middle of the week my back and legs were feeling sore... and some exercise to try and loosen things up hasn't helped.  Its Saturday morning and everytime I go to move I'm worried that its going to feel like someone is stabbing me in the right hip, and I'm not sure if the leg will take my weight or collapse a bit under me.  Not the best place to be with a race tomorrow... I know the bike will be fine as the tucked position takes the load off the sciatic nerve that's being irritated - but the run (especially the first one) could be interesting.

However, there's still 20 hours until the race, so I'll do the only things I can.  Get my kit ready, take the anti-inflammatories, and go out for a bike ride with the family and hope these will all help.  The thing I know is that this can go as fast as it appeared.  I just hope I can mentally be ready to smash the start line tomorrow... the physical stuff will happen, or it won't.