So who’s prepared to do this for the Comrades?
Monthly Archive for April, 2007
So things are going well.
Very well.
It’s hard to believe that less than two weeks ago, I was still on crutches. I’ve been going to physio 3 times a week, doing several sets of lower leg strengthening exercises, combined with little “tricks” as the Graeme, my physio, calls them. The “tricks” are little exercises to loosen up the ankle, as it’s still rather stiff. However, according to Graeme, my progress so far has been very good, so good in fact that he has me running…
Well let me correct that, I have to do 3 minutes of running, 3 times a week, on grass. My ankle is relatively strong, so this exercise is designed to get me used to the pounding that occurs when running. So this evening I head down to a patch of grass, and start my slow jog. I was very nervous. It’s like getting a car back from a service, and wondering if everything works ok.
All I can say is that my 3 minutes of running has been the best 3 minutes of exercise of exercise I’ve had in a long time. Compared to cycling (or crutches) running feels so natural, so free. I had no pain in my ankle, but my foot did feel a bit stiff, which is normal, I’m told.
At this rate, I could be running regularly in about a month. It’s still early days, so it still requires patience, but so far, everything has been going very well.
Since I haven’t done any serious running this year, never mind in the past 6 weeks, I’ve been looking for a way to compare my current fitness levels to how it was late last year. It’s one thing measuring your resting heart rate, but there are more accurate methods.
Polar watches offer “Fitness test,” mine included, which predicts VO2 Max. How accurate it is, I’m not so sure, but it’s an indicator nonetheless, and should give me an idea. Well I did the test, and got a result of 55, which compares to a value of 60 I got in November 2006. According to this, I haven’t lost much fitness.
However, a few weeks before I had my operation, I suffered through a 5km time trial, although my ankle was fine, I could hardly walk the following day. I struggled to a disappointing 19:21, you can see my report here. You can see my average heart rate is 184 bpm. I thought it would be interesting to compare my HR to my PB 5km time, set on the same course.
Have a look at the graph below:
The top line is my HR from my recent time, and the bottom from my PB. My average HR was 6 bpm higher for the SLOWER time. And I ran nearly 80 seconds faster! That’s a clear indication of a drop in fitness.
So for the future, I plan to run the the time trials at the same pace, then watch as my average HR drops. Should make for an interesting test.
So the cast was literally sawed off this morning, quite a dramatic event. It’s looking good though, I even managed to walk out of the hospital without the use of crutches. My days of a cripple are over. I have to wear my A60 ankle brace for approximately 6 weeks when walking, but I obviously don’t have to wear it when cycling or swimming. I have an appointment with a physio tomorrow morning, so I should have a much clearer guideline for my recovery then.
It’s very strange to be able to walk all of a sudden, but the feeling of freedom is amazing. Most of us take walking for granted, so it’s good to get a wake up call once in a while.
In just over 1 hour, I’ll be in the doctor’s room, having my cast removed. I’m fairly confident that everything will be ok, but I have some fears. What if it isn’t ok? How long before I’ll be able to walk again? Never mind drive… I guess these fears are normal. Realistically though, the ankle is feeling really good, so I shouldn’t be worried. Wish me luck.
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