The fear of re-injury fades; respect for the injury remains
(Mar 2nd-8th: 3 mins read – still mostly notes)
TL;DR:
– My beloved chucks return ☺️
– Daily gait exercises now doable barefoot
– Introduction of a ‘Morning Routine’
– Managed 1km @ 10min/km on the treadmill
Milestones (& significant events)
| WK20 | Milestone / Significant Event |
|---|---|
| D-1 | Silicon inserts unnecessary in running shoes |
| D-2 | First day out in chucks – sunshine, t-shirt and shorts: spring is here! |
| D-3 | Heel-to-toe gait exercise: barefoot doable! |
| D-4 | Achilles.Rebuild “Morning Routine” change – first dynamic’ movements: “Rebound calf raises” 1km @ 6kph = 10min/km / 0.6miles @ 3.7mph = 16min/mile Stationary bike load increased to 180W |
| D-5 | |
| D-6 | |
| D-7 | Approx 8k steps / day average |
< Note: For a complete list of milestones click <here>.
Physical health (& progressions)
A summary of this week’s physical stuff with various metrics to monitor progress.
Body statistics / metrics
Weight: kg / lbs
Calf size: cm (morning)
Knees-toes: cm (warmed-up)
Elongation: all good
Single leg load:
Double leg deficit:
< Note: decided the knees-to-toes measurement simply needs to be done at a time when the tendon is warm … no point in associating a time with it, because the time of day seems to be irrelevant. Actually, perhaps it makes sense to do a cold/first thing as constant reference and then a warmed-up one too … >
Physio drills / weights / reps / etc.
Ankle Mobility (stage 3) – aka ‘Morning routine’: This looks like being the ‘paradigm shift’. With a bunch of easy-to-perform exercises, no weights necessary, I should be able to do this anywhere; on top of that, I can cut the reps and/or sets to adjust the time ‘on-the-fly’ from around 35mins for the full unit down to maybe 15mins Doing the rebound calf raises is also a psychological boost at the moment, feeling like a real bit of progress.
Consistency: 100%.
Ankle Strengthening (stage 2): .
Consistency: .
Lower Body Strengthening (stage 2): .
Consistency: .
Real-world movement / exercise
Walking: Finally hit 6km/h (10min/km) on the treadmill over a km; walking in the ‘real world’ is getting close to that, mostly around 10.5-11min/km with a cadence of around 120-125 being no problem in the Brooks Arishi; walking in my beloved chucks is something I’m obviously going to have ease myself into … warmed up and with the silicon pads, it’s ok, but cooled down, and with rucksack, it’s still a bit too much -> tendon gets sore relatively quickly.
Cycling: Stationary bike load upped from 150W to 180W, to start with just 10mins … tendon tolerated it fine, so I guess next week I can up the time to 20mins.
(Note: see here for benefits of low load cycling for Achilles rehab)
Climbing: Sunday saw me attempt a VI+ route … got about halfway up. I reckon it’s doable, despite me still not using the booted foot at all, just the knee, but I’d been bouldering a while and the forearms got pumped. The following efforts, going down the grades gradually to VI, VI-, V+ and finally a IV+ were less of a ‘top performance’ climb 😅, more of a sweaty pump … but, as always, still nice just to be able to climb and know I’ve done something good for my condition.
Mental Health (& daily happenings)
It may seem odd that I feel the fear of re-rupturing has faded. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not indifferent to whether it happens or not. However, after my couple of close-calls last week, and the way my tendon and calf are definitely gradually getting better, I’m trying to keep things a little more in perspective: I’m being pretty sensible, I think, wrt everyday movement and behaviour, I’m mostly doing my physio (my local PTs have said I’m working way harder than most), so there isn’t really much else I can do.
So, if it happens, or the tendon ends up having healed on the long side … well, that’ll be the way it is – I’ll get through that, like I’ve gotten through everything else in life.
Future-Sol’s reflections (< to come >)
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Achilles Rupture Recovery 
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