(Apr 13th-19th: <10 mins read – just notes at the moment)
TL;DR:
– 1900km drive to the north sea and back
– Broad jump getting close to 2m / > 6′
– Almost flash a VII / 5.10c route
– Back to bouldering without the boot
Milestones (click to collapse)
| WK26 | Milestone / Significant Event |
|---|---|
| D-1 | 950km / 600mile driving in 1 day |
| D-2 | First stand-up shower in 6 months |
| D-3 | (this is 178 days / 25w 3d post-injury) |
| D-4 | Treadmill – moderate ‘hill climbing’: – 2km @ 5.6kph / 6° or 3.8mph / 10% |
| D-5 | Broad jump: 170cm / 5’8″ |
| D-6 | 🧗♂️ Without the boot: nice ‘n’ stable – 80% flashed a VII / 5.10c |
| D-7 | 6 MONTHS! 🧗♂️ First time bootless bouldering 26 weeks / approx 7k steps per day |
< Note: For a complete list of milestones click <here>.
Real-world exercise (& movement)
< Note: For my full physio program click <here>.
Walking
My pace is down to around 9min/km in the mean time, even reaching 8.5min/km – heart rate is still too high at approx. 105-110 for this kind of pace … buuut that’s at least partially thanks to around 69kg. That has to go.
This means a 3-4km walk (no inclines!) at a totally normal pace with other people is possible again.
Treadmill-wise I did a somewhat longer session, 2km at ‘just’ 6° … had me sweating, pulse up to a good 120.
Climbing
No bouldering on Tuesday, as I was on the way up to the North Sea.
But on Saturday, after a few hours out and about, I thought it was time to push the bootless climbing ‘boat’ out a little further: warmed up on a 4+, then a 5+ … a 6+ was also easy; a flash attempt at a 7 went pretty well, but at around 80% I felt I was getting close to pushing my luck, so I bailed; a 7- after that was doable. Felt good all-in-all … leg nice and stable 👏 💪 !
Sunday saw some bootless bouldering for the first time – no fear, but also no silly risks … just some easy 1-3 routes where the risk of falling was zero; in the small hall, there are some ‘cave-like’ overhang routes, where you’re close to the ground … so I tried and completed a 4er route too.
After that, it was time for a bit more climbing … no real challenges, just some endurance stuff, getting used to climbing without the boot closer to normal style.
Mental Health (& daily happenings)
???
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My thoughts on the coming Month 7
The end of week 26 is … of course the end of the first 6 months. The original idea of 3 months boot, followed by 3 months re-learning how to walk has been a pretty good measuring scale … I mean, I’m doing jumps since a couple of weeks, might have been further had I been more consistent during months 4-5 in particular. Buuut I’m not unhappy with how it’s been so far.
This would then lead us to the next 3 months of re-learning how to jump and run; one of the main – if not the main – pre-requisite for starting to jog is the ability to do 10 decent SLRs. I’m a way off that … but let’s see if I haven’t, to some degree, ‘just’ not been pushing hard enough.
Future-Sol’s reflections (< to come >)
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Achilles Rupture Recovery 