What Goes Down, Will Come Up….Eventually!

After a month, the cone of silence has been lifted. 

My Achilles heel injury occurred on April 19th and since then, I’ve been experiencing my first true test of the thesis we grow wiser with age.  15 years ago I would have been determined to “beat this thing” and whip my body into submission.  But in 1996 I was forced to drop out of Western at Foresthill (mile 62) due to a deep heel contusion which I had contracted just 4 weeks before at the Western Camp training run.  It never really healed and I never gave it a chance as I continued to train hard right up until the end.

So with that incident fresh in my mind, and advise from many trusted friends, I decided to travel down a different path this time around with my injury.  I had 70 days to recover from the overuse injury - a grade 3 Achilles heel on the left foot.  That seemed like an eternity but then those are 2 months of prime training - peak training in fact - for the event.  So I determined that I would rely on my strong base which I had built up over 8 months (2,300 miles) and cross training to maintain my cardio and fitness - cycling, walking and lifting - all which I could still do.   It appears I made the right choice.

With 30 days until Western, the process of giving the injury a chance to heel, emphasizing cross training and intently performing a rigorous physical therapy regime daily, I may have been able to dodge a bullet…..and it “missed me by that much“- as agent Maxwell Smart would have said

Ironically, my fitness and strength have actually improved during my injury.  I jumped on the cycle trainer in my basement and did my best Lance Armstrong imitation, touring the Alps in France and Italy on my virtual real-life videos as I pounded the hills and kept the quads, calfs and hamstrings tuned-up along with my heart.  My weight lifting added work on my calfs to strengthen the muscles that support my heels and feet and although I’m not rivaling Johnny Drama’s implanted calfs, my guys are at least looking in proportion to my quads.   I logged the top four weeks of running-equivalent miles (my point system for converting running, lifting and cycling into a running mile of effort) since I began training: 100, 140, 151 and 119 miles (see my training log) and have begun running again as of last weekend when I was able to complete a 50K on the roads.

My breakthrough was the prior week when I went over to the Blue Hills to meet up with some of the Trail Animals and rather than running with them on a long run, decided to walk up the Observatory Road (.9 miles, 12% average grade) to test my heel.  I was extremely nervous as prior attempts to stress the heel at all had led to multi-day set backs.  So I took it very slow and steady up the hill.   As I reached the summit, I was greeted by a young boy flying his kite off the rock ledge which stretched out over the ski slope below.  It was a beautiful sunny morning with blue skies and a favorable breeze.  He nodded at me and I at him (queue the music, break out the tissues, ready the earplugs as I prepare to belt out, “I’m Freeeee, free fallin’…..”).  I felt good - the heel felt good - so I decided to head back down the hill which would be another test down the very steep decline. 

Much to my surprise - and pleasure - the heel was behaving.  So, in Forest Gump-like behavior, I did what any self-respecting diesel would do -  I just keep going, up and down and up and down……13 times up and down - just short of a marathon of hill repeats all walking!

Turns out that day was an open house for the observatory so they had arranged for a bus to ferry people up and down the steep sloped hill for visits.  So as I continued my sojourn up then down and so on throughout the morning, the bus driver began stopping and talking with me as he passed.  By my fifth lap we were friendly acquantaces, with him asking me what exactly I was doing and, “Do you want a lift?”   By the eight lap we were friends and he began urging me on, telling me how many laps I’d completed and, “You’re looking good” for encouragement.  The last three laps I was joined by Trail Animals C1, C3 and Big Ben who had just wrapped up their 4 hour trail run and wanted to throw in a few hill repeats of their own.  I welcomed the company and the bus driver, upon seeing the pack that had formed with the four of us ascending the hill, stopped and said, “You’re famous, I’m telling everyone I pick up on the bus about this crazy thing you’re doing - they love it.  They want your autograph!”

And so what goes up, must come down - it’s inevitable.  But good old common sense, determination and a little good fortune can make sure the correlary holds true, what goes down, will go up……. eventually!  That’s something I will be repeating to myself over and over again during my Western run - my mantra.

Marcy and I saw this yesterday - AWESOME movie!