Just run!

The title refers to the instructions given to me by my physio. I had another appointment today, which developed into a rather interesting talk.

She gave my heel area a good look over and checked that the tendon is moving freely and not grinding. Everything was fine and she could see a definite increase in muscle size in the calf, so it now just looks small rather than pathetic.

We discussed the running I have been doing and I commented on how I have been using the GPS watch to keep my pace slow to avoid too much stress. To my surprise, she suggested that I try to up the pace to the level I would normally train at, as this would probably give me a smoother run using my normal gait. I talked about how I spend all my training runs thinking about how I am putting my foot down rather than just running normally and she suggested that this could be making things more difficult.

Somehow, I have to retrain my brain to realise that there is no longer a mechanical problem with the foot. At the moment, my brain is trained to protect the injured area (built up over the last few years of running with the problem) and will not let me run naturally, probably causing the calf to tighten and therefore putting more strain on the tendon.

We have decided that I'm on my own for the next couple of months, though I can call at any time I need help or advice, and then she can assess the situation, hopefully for the last time. Her parting words were "Just run!", so that is what I'm going to try and do.

On a different note, I received one of my regular emails from a friend who lives in Spain (Hi David), commenting on the previous post which I thought I would copy part of here;
"Your photo of the trees at Buttermere, start of Scarth Gap ..... I planted them when I was a National Park Ranger, for footpath erosion control."
Small world!!

Road to fitness starts here

Had my second appointment with the physio yesterday and things are progressing well. I have just about got a full range of movement in the ankle, no pain at all and the scar is just about healed (disappointingly small).

This time I had to try lifting myself up onto tip-toes. Initially, using both feet together and the wall as support. With more weight on my good foot, this was fine, however, as soon as I tried to use my left foot only, I couldn't lift at all. It's a strange sensation as you look down at you foot, send signals from the brain saying 'lift' and watch as nothing happens. The whole area is obviously still protecting itself, so I now need to build up greater strength and confidence.

To this end, I have some far more dynamic exercises to do over the next few weeks. Lots of going up onto tip-toes, initially, both feet together, then more and more weight on the weak foot until I can do the lift on one leg only. In a similar way, doing concentric and eccentric soleus muscle contractions on a stair with my heels overhanging the edge. (A classic tendonitis exercise) I'm also going to make use of a balance cushion to sharpen up the muscle reactions around the joint.

Most importantly, I have been told to start using the cycle turbo trainer. I CAN DO SOME CARDIO-VASCULAR EXERCISE!!! This is the moment I've been waiting for as I haven't done any form of proper training since April. So, I'm going to be a good boy and start easy, build up slowly and hopefully start to lose a few of these extra pounds I've put on.

For those with some medical or anatomical knowledge, I received a copy of all the post operation notes that were sent to my GP. It turns out that when they opened me up, they found that the bursa sack that pads the tendon from the bone had burst/spilt so it was no wonder the tendon had started to fray. It has now been removed and the bone shaved back further from the tendon to compensate for this. (At least that is how I understood all the long words)

The more I think about the whole situation, the more relieved I am to have caught the problem when I did. This had full tendon rupture written all over it!

Physio visit

Had my first appointment with the physio today. Huge bonus that she has also done a fair bit of running so understands where I want to be and in the past has attended a lecture talk by the surgeon who carried out my operation.
I did not really know what I should or shouldn't be doing so have wrapped myself in cotton wool since the operation. The physio checked out the ankle, made lots of encouraging remarks about the progress and then proceeded to attack me with a vengeance, twisting, prodding, pinching. I wouldn't have used that much aggression on my good foot, but even within a short time the range of movement increased and along with it, my confidence.
She then gave me a variety of resistance bands and showed me some exercises to do over the next few weeks. In addition, I was advised to do some core strength drills to help speed up the recovery.

So, this could be me in six weeks time. Tracey has been very encouraging with regard to this stage of my rehabilitation!!!!!
This all gives me the first opportunity in five months to put together an exercise plan, though it's going to be difficult to include a winter base, speedwork and a taper before I see the physio again in two weeks.