Achilles Rupture Recovery

Bad night’s sleep. Again. Dragged myself out of bed to make a sandwich for my 15yr old then more or less collapsed back into bed and < click! > out went the lights. When I did re-drag myself out of bed, I could feel it was going to be another ‘Blackout Day’ if I don’t take care.

Traipse over to my partner’s, trying to concentrate on my gait; no time for coffee when I get there, just on to catch the train. The later-on train. Running shoes are packed for some walking at the office when I get there. Window on the train is, as always, dirty enough that it hinders me from taking a picture of the christmassy landscape … grey clouds are present anyway, so not much of a view of the mountains today.

The street from the train station to the office is straight as an arrow; 900m of traffic, nothing nice to look at. Never used to bother me, was done and dusted in 8 mins or so; now it just never seems to end, dragging on and on for 15+ minutes. And then there’s the effort of it too … from my pulse you’d think I was doing an extended jog … and then you look at my pace and see I’m creeping along.

Positive perspective: I’m walking on my own legs; the boot is set to zero; I have a crutch but I’m not really using it for more than a signal to others that I’m injured.

Once in the office, I pull on the running shoes; still warm from that ‘long slog’, my tendon’s not complaining too much at first; most of the pain, like a ‘good’ 3/10 comes from the joints of the balls of my toes at every push-off. Every 10 mins or so I’m getting up and walking up and down the 10m long office room. It’s not enough to keep it warm, of course; on top of that it gets fatigued, little by little, so that the tendon (really more like areas around it) starts to hurt on top of the balls of my toes … but at least it’s more like just a 1/10 … maybe a 2/10 towards the end of the morning, having put more than 1k steps in shoes behind me.

Man, it’s a relief to pull the boot on, ready for the walk back up that road to the train station around 12:30. Safe and comfortable, bigger strides with less risk. Even though I know it has its drawbacks …

Back home it’s time for a shower and boot liner change in preparation for physio; lunch while watching ‘Dark’ on Netflix; then it’s off on foot for the 900m to the physio practice. Note the same distance as the walk to work? But such a different experience: curves here and there, lots to look at, slower traffic, church tower with a clock, met a couple of people I know … and so the walk goes by in a flash (almost 😅).

Today I’m seeing the ‘boulderer’ PT – he’s happy to see me, comments on the complete lack of swelling, looks at 15 seconds of my walking from yesterday and says I’m doing great for 12 weeks. Then it’s a combination of massage, manipulation, clicks here and there, and stiffness I hadn’t even noticed is gone. Feels good.

30 mins of stationary bike to warm up for the tread mill; aiming for >15 mins of treadmill … but stop just shy of the 15 mins as my body gives me a ‘warning shot across the bow’ – it’s enough for today. Again, back to the comfort and safety of the boot. No full mobility drills for me today again, the tendon feels so stiff and somewhat painful.

Positive Moment(s): It was great getting a visit from my fellow ‘wall-crawler’, a trainer at the local climbing gym who does a great job of motivating the young to climb; we hardly talked about climbing, rather about technology, politics, ethics … he’s the kind of guy I could just talk to around the clock about a billion things.

Before that happened: my 15 yr old couldn’t resist showing me his top grade in English … after he’d spent some time this afternoon at ‘German intensification’ (unthinkable even 6 months ago … again, super proud of the steps he’s made these last 9 months and before).

I’ve noticed over the last few weeks how my ‘world’ has steadily gotten smaller. It’s not just about not being able to drive – I was more or less without a car for over 3 years from before the pandemic until well into it. It’s about things like having my daily exercises (which I admittedly don’t always do): I need over 20kg of weight for my knee … not something I can easily carry with me; I need somewhere to hook up the bands; I need my safe area (principally my bed) to be able to put my feet up; I can walk places … but nothing like as far as I was completely used to before the injury (10km, 20km, >40km in individual cases); my bike’s out of the question still, running of course too … hell, I can’t even hop over a puddle.

It’s Tuesday, ‘bouldering’ day. A highlight of the week. I mean, it always was … but now it’s like a supernova highlight instead of a floodlight. But hard work – even getting there … I have to check on the bus, plan for the bus time, be there early; then the bus drive takes twice as long as the car does; on top, I have about an 8-9 minute walk (600m) from the climbing gym to the bus stop. What was once a ‘hop in the car and I’ll be there in 10 mins’ is now a logistical effort of 40+ mins … with a deadline to meet … because if I miss the bus, the next one is at least an hour later.

Still, it’s a highlight of the week – I’m working on a traverse route to get around the gym in one go. Kinda hopeless – there are a couple of overhang areas where the routes are set fairly tricky … without the second foot to hook, push, etc., not to mention the risk factor (i.e. avoiding risky moves, climbing more than a few cm over the mat). But who cares … as always, boulder buddies, plus my ‘neighbour’ is there, and all are trying to crack a 7er route where the beta is really not obvious. I make some smart arse comments … ‘cos no one can tell me to show them what I mean 😁 😎. Coffee grinder is out of action -> the three of us taking a coffee break all default to a green tea … but it’s the chatting that really pulls us to a table in the bistro for a break.

Later, as usual, the upper body/core work in the exercise corner follows, then it’s on to do some actual climbs. The weather is so mild I can climb outside – 9° plus sun – which is good because they’re route-setting inside. Warm up on a V- (5.6), then try an overhanging V (5.7) – surprisingly, it works 💪 ! Fucking hard work though 😅 ! Back inside the hall, I almost manage a V+ (5.8) … but it’s the third route, my strength is slowly fading and I really want to climb down in a controlled manner … so I tick it off as a ‘non-finisher’ for today. I’d like to hit a VI- (5.9) by the time I’m a month into climbing again (so in about 10 days). All with the backdrop of my peak being an VIII (5.11d), putting me into the ‘advanced’ (currently, I’m just scratching at the intermediate level).

Positive Moment(s): .

I noticed this morning how the first steps in the morning (taken still in the boot, principally due to time before work being not the right time to be ‘experimenting’) are becoming easier – I still notice the ‘pulling’ on the tendon first thing, but it doesn’t feel stiff, rather just a little tight … which I’m still really happy about. By the time I’ve gone to the toilet and back, it’s already a bit better; by the time I leave the flat, I don’t notice it any more and after the 900m to my partner’s, the boot liner is already drenched in sweat and the foot/tendon are not just ‘warm’ but more like ‘hot’.

However, despite this, and the currently suddenly very mild weather (3° at 8:45, expected high of 11°) I’m still relying on the boot to get me to work and back: firstly, there are still individual black ice patches when I start out; secondly, the distance I have to walk is, I’m pretty sure, still too far to safely do without the boot (also due to the extra load on my back for the trip to work – my rucksack weighs almost 25% of my body weight).

Sooo … what’s in my rucksack to make it weigh 14.8kg / 32.5lbs?!

My rucksack – I had thought it was around 12-13kg … but I guess a few more things have crept into it in the last few weeks. And I do tend to take stuff ‘just in case’ … in many cases, because I didn’t before and then regretted it: I have a little camping stool – and it’s really small – which I have needed at least twice at times when I’d thought I could spare myself that extra half a kilo. Other stuff is much lighter … but it obviously all adds up.

What I do know, however, is that the work laptop and the home laptop (used on the train, like now), plus cases, plus rucksack (1.5kg / 3.5lbs empty) already tot up to around 8kg; the stainless steel 0.5l / 17 fl oz water bottle adds another 3/4 kg and a few other things I will not be shedding bring that weight up to min. 10kg / 22lbs. So it’s not going to be much less than 12-13kg even if I optimise.

< will have to come back to this >

Positive Moment(s): Breakfast on the platform whilst waiting for the train – managed to get my yoghurt ‘breakfast’ meal ready early today, took it with me … and used it to fill a 10min ‘late train’ window; on top of that, it was a beautiful sunny day’s train ride through picturesque scenery … seen it all before, but it’s different every time, particularly with sun and snow like this:

Ah yes … and then there was the milestone I mentioned above:

“I overtook someone on foot for the first time since the injury!”

What I didn’t mention: she was about 90 and creeping at a snail’s pace with a walking aid. But I loved the smell of burning shoe rubber as I simply raced past her on the inside. I did tip my baseball cap politely as I went past … it was a funeral she was visiting, after all. Ok, no, I didn’t really. It was all an internal thing, I have to admit 🙈.

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VACOped flat sole on the treadmill.

Positive Moment(s): .

Correction about nothing to see:

Positive Moment(s): My English mate’s dad with his replacement knee.

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Positive Moment(s): Dinner with partner + overnight.

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Positive Moment(s): Enjoying a) breakfast in bed at my partner’s, b) a ‘Dunkles Weißbier’ with my potential son-in-law after climbing, and then a little later, c) Mac’n’Cheese made by middle son.

Doing 2 x 15-20 mins concentrated walking sessions a day: at work, it’s a bunch of small walks, at home it tends to be one bundled ‘figure of 8’ in the living room plus occasional walks up and down the hall. In both cases, I’m staying in the ‘Pure Flow’ running shoes (6mm drop plus the 5mm silicon heel raises -> 4°)

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The lower body strength unit goblet squats and RDLs up to 14kg; wall sit at 1min 15s; calf raises (only non-affected leg) are still at 100% body weight … but soon to be ‘upgraded’ with 5kg or so.

Walking: didn’t quite hit the 10k/day average (on the iPhone) I thought I was going to, because I managed to chill a bit at the weekend … still, the 9

• 9k steps average.

Cycling: still just the stationary bike at the physio practice, essentially for cardio purposes; did

Climbing / Bouldering: Ramped up to 3 sessions this week, on Tuesday morning (as always), also Thursday morning (always used to be a regular session up until 18 months ago) and Sunday afternoon; am still ‘just’ aiming for low-level traversing in the boulder hall, for the automatic belay routes I’m good with a V, have managed a couple of V+ routes too – but