Fewer miles + More elevation (on stairs) = JOY!

Turns out that it is not necessarily walking time that is causing excessive joint pain but mileage. 

The longest walks (two laps around Green Lake at 5.8 miles with no elevation gain in two hours) are the most painful.  Long walks (four laps on the NE 74^th St Hill at 5.0 miles with 1,200 ft of elevation gain in two hours) are plenty painful.  Over the last couple of weeks my level of frustration and disappointment has been building because I've not been making further progress, with joint pain holding me back.  After these walks, I'm hobbled the rest of the day and much of the day after.  I've been dejected enough to begin contemplating punting on this whole rehab thing. 

Then, yesterday I returned to an old workout haunt, Golden Gardens Park, to climb the steps from the beach to the top of the stairs at the corner of NW 85^th St & 32^nd Ave NW.  I went four laps up & down for 2.8 miles (less miles) and 1,000 ft of elevation gain (similar) in two hours (the same amount of time), and it felt very good compared with walks of greater distance.

Rather than walking the longer trail I used for workouts before the accident, I stayed on the super long set of stairs leading a more direct and steeper path to the top, but as steps are easier for me to navigate at this point than a slanted trail, this ascent route felt much better.   Comparing yesterday’s workout with what I used to accomplish on the Golden Gardens Hill I am half as fast with less than half the pack weight.  Before, I was doing four laps per hour with a 50-pound pack for three hours, so a total of 12 laps, nine miles and +3,000 ft elevation gain.  Yesterday I did two laps per hour with a 15-pound pack for two hours, so a total of four laps, 2.8 miles and 1,000 ft elevation gain!   

The good news is that I purposefully took easy yesterday and because the joint pain wasn’t too bad, I anticipate being able to increase speed and pack weight over time.

After yesterday's workout I walked out on Golden Gardens Beach to the shoreline for the first time since the accident and enjoyed a fantastic view of a very high tide and calm winds making the Puget Sound look like a glassy smooth bathtub filled to overflowing.  It was just after sunset and the Olympic Range was clear on the horizon with a few clouds hovering over the peaks.  It was a perfect setting to be overwhelmed with thankfulness for the workout, my good fortune, and the beauty of the world, filling my heart as full as the Sound.  Quite often an interesting thing happens when I send up fervent thanks; I often sense a clear response encouraging me to get over the thankfulness (already) and to get busy living a life worthy of the good fortune that I’ve been allowed.  All right, all right, I respond, . . . just saying thanks!