(June 8th-14th: <10 mins read)
TL;DR:
– 🏃 End of ‘ramp-up’ runs
– 🪩 Clubbing leads to first DOMS
– 🧗♂️ Re-start lead climbing
– 🤕 Mild ankle pains due to overdoing it
Milestones (click to collapse)
| WK34 | Milestone / Significant Event |
|---|---|
| D-1 | 🏃 12th and final ‘ramp-up’ run – an easy 5k w/o walk break (33:44) 18k steps |
| D-2 | 🧗♂️ Spontaneous ‘fall training’ – w/o thinking, I stress-test my tendon 🤦♂️ |
| D-3 | (this is 234 days / 33w 3d post-injury) |
| D-4 | 🏃 Another 5k, now with ‘strides’ – 8 short 20-25s bursts (28:30) 21k steps |
| D-5 | 🪩 First night out in 8 months (friends DJing): – ‘dancing’ (jumping around) = calf stress |
| D-6 | 🧗♂️ Spontaneous lead climbing session: – a calmer, more focused re-intro to clipping |
| D-7 | 🧗♂️ Sunday bouldering session: – controlled fall from a tough 5er 34 weeks / approx 13k steps per day |
< Note: For a complete list of milestones click <here>.
Real-world exercise (& movement)
I have a loose kind of activity plan forming (I’ll be listening to my body, and adjusting accordingly):
Running: 2 days a week, Mon/Tue (easy volume) and Thu/Fri (‘speedy strides’ / intervals)
Hiking: 1 day a week, Sat/Sun, depending upon running
Climbing: 3-4 days a week, Tue, Thu/Fri, Sat + Sun (this is assuming that at least one of those days will be very easy)
Cycling: no concrete plans … cycles to work will depend upon train schedules (i.e. when my youngest son’s train to school is running again); other than that, for sure occasionally to get to the climbing gym, maybe to get to the start of hiking, and – with good weather – maybe just some longer, fun rides.
Physio: of course, this should carry on ‘as usual’, in general with a higher priority than the sports (work before fun, to a degree) … which, all-in-all is a fairly large volume of activity.
< Note: For my physio protocols click <here>.
Walking / Hiking (click to expand)
Did no real walking this week, certainly no hiking – would have gone out on Saturday, but due to dancing on Friday, was not in a fit state to push it on Saturday.
Running (click to collapse)
Ramp-up run nr. 12, the last one, was on Monday. An easy, average pulse 130, 5k without a walk break – a bit under 34 mins. No time target, rather I tend to use an average pulse of 130 when doing a ‘comparison’ or ‘marker’ run – I find it is simply more meaningful to compare 2 versions of the same run done at the same average pulse and see what kind of pace and time comes out.
After some communication with Chris, I got another email, this one saying it’s time to add some ‘strides’ into my runs – I know these as intervals: a burst of speed for a fixed time or distance, repeated a handful of times to get out of the ‘trot’ of jogging and start getting yourself ready for some speed work.
Following my activity plan, Thursday was the next running day – theoretically, I’m trying to adjust my daily cycle to have me in bed by 21:30-ish to be able to get up between 5-5:30. Key words: “theoretically” and “trying”. So today the run was not done first thing, rather shortly after 16:00 … and then I did a RUBBISH job of watching my pulse and pace 🙈:
Despite the actual run being absolutely pain-free, the next day I had ankle pains, again; same old place, in the front towards the outside of the ankle. It only hurts when I walk (1/10), particularly downstairs (more like a 2/10) and, so far, it fades during the day once I get walking.
At the beginning of the week, however, it was back on the second day (Monday) in the morning too, after the hard hike on Saturday, so I’m hoping it’s ‘just’ my ankle getting used to the extended, harder loading (the hike and now the run with intervals).
Cycling (click to expand)
Next to nothing ‘special’ done this week, just A-to-B stuff, although this was fast, in general, with average maintainable power definitely now over 200W; my return from the climbing gym on Sunday was the second fastest ever, with an average speed of 41km/h (25.5mph):
Climbing (click to expand)
Tuesday’s session saw some bouldering in a different gym for a bit of a change – they set harder, I was struggling with the 4’s, even a couple of 3’s I couldn’t do; did manage a couple of 5’s but maaan were they tough. Too heavy, too weak still!
With mixed feelings I headed back to my normal climbing gym to join my usual Tuesday group for a coffee followed by a (rope-)climbing session. A guy I met through the gym who lives close by was there – he’s been looking to get me on a rope instead of just the belay automat for some time, hadn’t fit time-wise until this week. And suddenly he’s got my boulder buddy J agreeing to go on a rope too … and then he even got her doing a small bit of fall training 😮! And then he had me doing the same … and I literally, in the heat of the moment, just forgot about my Achilles – next thing I know, I’ve dropped about 4m and swung into the wall, catching myself with both feet; the injured side tweaked a little bit, uncomfortably more than painfully … but that was it. Dodged another bullet 😅 🤦♂️ !
Saturday saw me doing another spontaneous lead climbing session: a climbing trainer friend called me, asked if I fancied a climb … and so off I went. No high performance, rather, a further chance to practice belaying and clipping with a (semi-)professional … he’s just super chilled, very patient, an excellent teacher.
The climbing week ended on a positive note: my friend who’d had his shoulder operated on shortly after my injury turned up to our Sunday bouldering session which was really nice! On top of that, I started pushing the boundaries a bit, had a (more-or-less) controlled fall from near the top of a tough 5er, leg was fine, not even a niggle of a pain – I mean, I landed more on my left than right, rolled nicely … and if I fall badly it might be different … but my leg seems to be pretty tough in the meantime. Besides: you can never know for sure without trying.
‘Dancing‘ (click to expand)
So, just to be clear – I used the apostrophes because I can’t actually dance properly 😅. It’s jumping and hopping around, an attempt or three at shuffling, that kind of stuff. But it was, I think, the heaviest prolonged calf/tendon loading I’ve had since the injury. At any rate, the calf muscle ache/soreness (more fatigue ache than stress soreness) lasted through Sunday morning, i.e. over 36 hours; the ankle pain persisted through Sunday … low level, max 1/10, often more discomfort than actual pain.
