Achilles Rupture Recovery

< 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 … >

Ankle Mobility (stage 3) – aka ‘Morning routine’: This is the key, I’m now sure of it – nearly 3 weeks and haven’t missed a single unit; after completion, even if I cut the sets to just one (tbh I almost never do 3 sets), the barefoot walk to the bathroom is / feels almost completely normal.
Consistency: 100%.

Ankle Strengthening (stage 2): .
Consistency: .

Lower Body Strengthening (stage 2): .
Consistency: .

Walking: Saturday saw me going for a walk with my eldest daughter again, directly after coming back from my partner’s -> 900m plus the same 2.7km round I’ve done 3 times so far … almost zero fatigue when we got home; late afternoon I headed out for a 1.5km round at a local copse for the first time in ages, first time at all in 5 months without crutches / boot … it includes a short stretch of relatively steep incline. I felt THAT by the time I got home; the next day the tendon was extra stiff in the morning -> was obviously a biiit much, but other than the stiffness no negative effects.

Climbing: Tuesday boulder session was weak on bouldering, but still pleasant; for that, on Sunday I had a mix of positive and negative experiences:
– positive: completed a handful of 3 and 4 grade boulders
– negative: realised I have developed a fear of slipping
That fear of slipping … I mean, maybe it’s a positive thing, all things considered 😅 … it’s not just the height, as I’m bouldering to the top of a few even in overhang area. BUT, those are with jugs, I take it slow, they’re easy, if I concentrate the risk is very low. When it’s more ‘unstable’, worse grips, I really get nervous, like that feeling at the top of a climb before jumping off to be caught by the auto-belay … which I still ‘suffer’ from after all these years climbing.

Oh yeah: it was also one of my bouldering friends’ birthday … and her kids were there … plus the other friend’s kids were there too … so that was a fun afternoon coffee break 😁 😎 ! Their kids are amazing, actually … 4 girls aged 6-9, they get on in general like a house on fire; I played ‘Lava Monster’ with them once, which was fun … be much better AFTER the injury is done and dusted though 🤪 … when I can actually run ☺️ !

Don’t get me wrong – this is not a complaint. It is a recognition of something that Chris pointed out:

“On the one hand – I do appreciate the hyper awareness of your body, providing excellent feedback for us to make sure we are addressing every single we can. On the other hand – I do like athletes to just find the wins along the way, as a constant focus on whats WRONG can definitely take a mental toll.”