* distance from 3.2 miles to 5.6 miles
* elevation gain from 150 ft to 1,200 ft (yes!)
* time from 68 mintues to 124 minutes
* pack weight from 5 lbs to 12 lbs
Yesterday, I found out what two laps around Green Lake feels like. Four weeks prior, I had been very proud of accomplishing a single lap and I wanted to attempt twice the distance and set a new personal best.
Green Lake is a beautiful place to walk, especially in the late afternoon with golden light streaming over Phinney Ridge. There are usually many other people there running, walking, skating, and biking so plenty of distraction and motivation. If you time it right, you are done with your workout and can sit & recover while watching a spectacular sunset.
One downside of the Green Lake walk is there's no shortcut back to the starting point. Once you commit to going about half-way around you have no choice but finish, . . . well I suppose you could call for an Uber, but get real. My prior personal best was 5 miles (which was pretty tender), and just two weeks ago the farthest I'd gone was 3.2 miles, so although up for the challenge, I felt trepidation about the last mile of the Green Lake loop.
And for good reason! Although I completed two laps in a little under two hours I was definitely not enjoying the sensations emanating from my feet, ankles and shins for the last 20 minutes. Groan! Prior to the accident, I'd become inured to aches & pains associated scaling Pacific Northwest Peaks, and my misery index was calibrated higher than most. It is a struggle to rebuild this capability, and whoever suggested I'd bounce back quickly needs to be set straight.
Rebuilding the endurance of muscles throughout my lower appendages is flat out grueling, and after these workouts I wonder whether I'll meet the goals I've set and whether I'll ever again be on an alpine trail with heavy pack. Patience I tell myself; one step at a time. Regardless of these doubts, you can see in the charts below that I remain ahead of planned incremental improvements in distance, time, elevation, and pack weight.
It's time for a follow-up appointment with the Harborview Orthodpedic team and I'll be interested in hearing the doctors' responses to several questions about my convalescence:
1. Am I pushing too hard? When I described my walking routine to the scheduling nurse she indicated very few people do anything like that so soon after such extensive surgery, and that I should let my ability to manage pain & swelling guide frequency, distance, time, elevation, etc.
2. Is my left leg longer than my right? Given the amount of reconstruction the surgeons did on both ankles & shins it wouldn't surprise me if one leg ended up a different length than the other. The doctors had one shot at this, and separate teams were working on each foot, so no telling how well they coordinated on finished leg length! I sense that my left leg is a little longer, because when walking along a path with a slight cross-path slant my gate is much smoother when my left leg is on the "downhill" side of the path. It could be that because I have less feeling in my left foot/ankle/shin (and less range of motion) I favor it (walking a little club footed) and that may accentuate the effect of the slight path slant.
3. Is my left shin bowed? Especially when wearing shoes, it appears as though that shin comes away from the ankle at a slight outward angle compared with the other foot. It's like my left foot is attached a little off center (toward the inside of my stance). It's less noticeable without shoes. Have I caused this as a result of my walking routine?!
4. Should I upgrade the compression in my compression socks? Thankfully the doctors prescribed light compression socks to start with (which are difficult enough to get on by myself), but now I'm wondering whether "medium" or "stiff" compression might improve recovery after walks and reduce swelling.
Chart & graphs on my walking record thus far:
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