Achilles Rupture Recovery

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The fifth ramp-up run on Tuesday (5 x 150m walking / 600m running; end at 3.5km) went pretty well, no pain just a little on/off discomfort – got the average pace down to just above the 6min/km mark, what with the walking breaks down to ‘just’ 5 now:

Later and on the next day, I had, as before, discomfort on and off in both ankles, somewhat more on the affected side, that would come and go, depending upon what I was doing or not doing.

Friday saw me going for the sixth ramp-up run (4 x 150m walk / 750m run; end at 3.5km). I have to say, for better or for worse, I was pretty intent on getting an average pace – despite 4 walking breaks – of under 6min/km. And that I did, including a peak pace only just over 4min/km:

However, I did have some pain the next day, although it came and went … same place as the last times (but a bit more persistent), in the ankle; the tendon and calf stayed quiet. And that, despite me clocking up over 18k steps on my iPhone alone (i.e. probably more like 19-20k). Mixed messages … buuut that fast pace was probably a bit much. Next time I’ll take it a little easier, with my eye on a sub 30min 5k inside the next 3 weeks or so, now that I’ve cracked that little milestone.

This week saw the start of some ‘real’ mountain biking … still no real trails, but some downhill speed, rocky paths, bumps ‘n’ stuff with me standing up on the pedals over roots, rocks and steps almost like pre-injury. My cardio condition is still shit 😅 … but it can (hopefully) only get better; it was great to get back out onto the local ‘mountain’, get at least a few kms ‘under my belt’ and get a view of the real mountains.

(Note: see here for benefits of low load cycling for Achilles rehab)

Tuesday’s boulder session saw me actually get somewhere on a 7er route – note: I have never completed a boulder route of this grade … generally, it’s a case of “let’s see if I can even start it, or do a move or two”, so being able to do about 6-7 moves in a row is a good sign. All in low, overhang area, so the main danger would be exerting too much force through a plantar flexed toe on a powerful reach, or doing a hard heel hook with an intense pull … I just don’t do these yet.

With my weight at nearly 70kg, however, I’m waaaay to heavy for such an overhang route …. buuut at least it seems to have stabilised at around 69.5kg since about a month; I’m expecting this to start slowly going down as I become more and more active again and this should run parallel to an increase in everything else that goes towards helping to boulder/climb well.

Saturday: the annual Boulder Cup competition at my climbing gym. Up until about 6 weeks ago I had assumed this would be a no-go … but I decided I would sign up a couple of weeks ago, for multiple reasons: mainly, it was just a really fun day last year, with a great atmosphere; on top, it’s a great way of supporting my beloved climbing gym, and the family who runs it. I figured, even if I was top fit, and being in the ‘seniors’ class (40+), I still wasn’t going to do more than take part … I looked at it as my plan being to come last 😅 … and have fun.

I stayed clear of the couple of routes that had ‘dyno’ elements; ditto for those with a high, overhanging top-out; the hardest 5 or so routes were also simply out of my range at the moment with my overweight and strength still wanting. Despite these things, I suprised myself by clocking up 400 points (out of a max. 750) … not too shabby compared to last year’s 490, I figured, all things taken into account 😁 😎.