The recovery Continues

I am back at this and will be keeping a more consistent presence thanks in part to this Covid crap and the final realization that I need to recover from my AT properly instead of the usual BS I used to justify shortcutting my rehab.

So how did i get here? Easy, just think you are 25 when you are over 50 and the saying "play stupid games - win stupid prizes" becomes all too real. After having the doctor look at my range of motion and finding it was 1 degree on my left foot. Which by the way was the worst he's seen in his 15 plus years of practice. I was determined to do my stretching and eccentric raises to get right. It worked for about two months and I found one excuse after another excuse to not stretch for 6 minutes a couple of times per day. 12 minutes. Come on. How lazy can one be? Well the AT returned with a vengeance and this time on the exterior of the ankle. That was new.

After about four weeks of getting slower and nursing this thing, I was getting nowhere. I recalled a presentation for a local podiatrist about his protocol for return. When I heard it, my first thought was this was just too conservative, but now I was ready to give a real account. To prep, I stopped running for two weeks to ease into the rehab. No pain but let's see what happens when we get after the protocol. Week 1 - 20 minutes brisk walking every other day. No pain and move to week 2.

Well, the result was good. I am stretching every day and on the non-brisk walk days enjoying the Nordictrack. Hello, 1990 called and wants it's home exercise equipment returned. This also included 3 rounds of golf walking (no carts fro me ever) but that's another blog post. So on to week 2 which consists of 20 minutes walking every other day with 1 minute light runs x 4. Today was day 1 - no pain! I can't begin to say how excited I am but there's a way to go.

For now, I'm sticking to the plan as challenging as it is. I'm doing it correctly because I yearn to get back to the roads and trails with no hurt. As we get older, we need to play things smarter. I haven't done that in the past but perhaps this old dog can learn a few new tricks.

Next post, let's talk some golf.

Stay healthy and safe but most importantly, keep moving.