It took me about a week to get enough strength in my calves to do the heel-drop exercises properly. After that, I was off!
When I introduced the 10kg rucksack, which felt heavy (so how am I going to carry this kind of weight on the MdS?!), I felt as though I was starting the Achilles rehabilitation all over again but a week or so of the rucksack heel drops saw me get used to it.
This has been my first week back at running/walking since the beginning of December 2010, when the Achilles tendon pain was just getting too much (and which led me to Dr. Speight in the first place).
Having religiously stuck to the exercise programme Dr. Speight gave me I have managed to run 10.5 miles this week, albeit very slowly. This is the most I've done in a week since July last year! What's been amazing is the effect on my Achilles tendons: some tightness (which I'm able to stretch out) but no pain for the first time in eons. I even managed an hour's run/walk today and while the Achilles tendons were a little sore they calmed down significantly after some deep stretching.
Touch wood, but I seem to have found a resolution to this problem I've had for literally years.
The plan for the next 6 months or so is to very gradually build the endurance and capability to stay on my feet without seeing me revert to having Achilles problems. I plan to do this as follows:
- no more than 3 runs a week;
- total mileage per week not to exceed more than 10% of the previous week's total mileage;
- get the training in to aim for an autumn marathon.
I do feel concerned though that this might be a little late in the day: back in 2009, when I got on to the MdS 2012 Wait-list (at position 83; I'm now at position 70), my plan had been to be marathon fit by the spring of this year . . . that isn't going to happen.
Am I going to run out of time to get fit enough for hauling myself and up to 15kg of kit across the Moroccan Sahara less than 15 months from now?
