Finally I gave up the 'scoot' device for wheeling around my leg while it was in a cast. The scoot really is the way to go rather than use crutches, especially if you can't be still like me. I made it to the gym six days a week and sometimes twice which I'll describe below what all I was doing. However, I would not have been able to go to the gym and do some of the workouts on crutches. I would have been unable to do upper legs at all because I was in a cast that required no weight bearing. The scoot facilitated doing legs on the Multi-Hip Flex machine and I was able to work both legs.
So far my training 'recovery' plan is working. I have been able to control my weight and maintain my race weight or actually a pound below. Below is the typical weekly workouts I was doing.
Monday: noon 45 min. - 1 hour cardio on the Windjammer (650-950 calories burned)
after work 5pm full upper body workout on machines and free weights
abs 3 x 30 crunches, 3 x 15 football crunches
Tuesday: noon 45 min. - 1 hour cardio Windjammer (650-950 calories burned) after work 5pm 5 x (15,12,10,10,10) knee-lifts; 6 x (15,12,10,10,10,10) kick outs on Multi-Hip Flex machine. plates on this machine are numbered 1-16. Start with knee lifts 5-9 plates and continue with 10-16 for the kick outs.
abs 3 x30 crunchers; 3 x 15 football crunches.
Wednesday: everything is the same as Monday's workout schedule.
Thursday: everything is the same as Tuesday's workout schedule.
Friday: noon 45 min - 1 hour cardio on the Windjammer (650-950) calories burned)
If I skipped a cardio workout on a weekday I would get it in on the weekend along with an extra ab workout.
Using the Windjammer (Cardio Arm Machine) for the first seven weeks Post-Op I burned 27,659 calories in 31 hours in 35 visits.
Yesterday was the first day I went back to the pool for a one hour deep water running session. I was able to complete 24 laps which was near my maximum pool workouts that I was doing after the PRP injections this past September. The upper leg workouts I am sure contributed to the ease of a good intense pool workout. Getting back to the pool for a very good deep water run was euphoric, especially the first one being at a Pre-Operation level. The water is very invigorating for the whole body and my Achilles felt fine. In fact the bottom of my foot was the only part that experienced some temporary soreness.
The bottom of my foot has its strange moments of soreness, likely because that is where the tendon was harvested. The more I am on my feet the more my foot swells. Even if I go out to eat and my foot is under a table, the swelling is worse. I'm am trying to prop it up a little more each day.
After the cast came off this past Wednesday (6 weeks and 3 days Post Op) I am now in a walking boot with three heal lifts. I am suppose to use crutches for another week as I wing myself from those and remove one heal lift each week. So at 10 weeks post-op I should be out of the walking boot, and walking normally.
Of course I am planning my recovery plan, four weeks at a time. I expect to get most of my cardio done deep water running now for the next 4 to 8 weeks.
It definitely gets better. But if you go through Achilles surgery you will still question if you did the right thing. Not being able to run is about the most depressing thing I've experienced in a long time other than running and always being in pain. But when I attended the Mississippi Track Club Banquet a week ago and saw all my running friends, that did a lot more for the psyche than anything else in a while. I also saw Mary Cathrine at the Y and she asked, "Have you lost weight?" As she asked the question, I knew it was a compliment which made me feel good about working out to keep the weight off. I also went to watch friends finish the Mississippi Blues Marathon. Seeing so many friends and familiar faces made me feel at home. It also reminded me that one day, I hope, I will experience that indescribable feeling of crossing another marathon finish line.