Stepping Up My Game

I had another great week!  I hope you guys don't start to get bored with my updates.  I hope they inspire you so that you keep pushing and moving forward.  I started this blog with the intention of turning it into a positive recovery story, so that anyone suffering a Lisfranc injury has hope, and a light at the end of the tunnel that it will eventually be over, and eventually be just a memory.  My injury ended up being on the severe side of things, so yes, there are things that I will never be able to do again (at least, they aren't recommended if I don't want another surgery in 2 years, so yep, taking the doctor's advice), but there are plenty of things that you still CAN do.

I was hoping that this feeling of encouragement and happiness about recovery would have come maybe a few months ago and I really didn't expect the injury to take this long to heal.  Patience is the key and you just have to have it.

So what did I do this week that has me so excited?  Another hike!  I increased my distance and elevation gain with this one, last week's was more of just a baseline on where I was.  Last week's hike was about 2 miles round trip, 0.75 each way and then some tooling around the reservoir, with overall about 450 ft. of elevation gain.  On Friday, I had the day off work and we celebrated my hubby's birthday by going on a hike that was a little more challenging than last week's.

This hike was located in Millcreek Canyon,  on a trail called Rattlesnake Gulch (I'm in Utah, not Colorado) and led to a beautiful overlook of the Salt Lake Valley.  It almost double the distance of last week's adventure, 3.4 miles roundtrip with about 750 ft of elevation gain.  My foot held up so great.  I actually didn't have much pain at all during the entire hike, and it started to get kind of sore about a third of the way back down the trail.  I did have to kind of think about my foot in general though, since the trail was super rocky.  I was conscious of every step, where I was putting my feet, and my weight on each foot.  I was trying not to put too much weight on the right foot, especially on the steep parts.  I tried to lead with my right foot as much as possible so that I wasn't pushing off too much on it.  I let my left foot be the back foot to push myself up the hills.

The rocks really tested my balance and I was grateful for my trekking poles.  There was one section that was almost all rocks, and I tweaked my ankle just a bit.  My foot is seriously not used to this type of activity and this is helping to work on stability.  As anxious as I might be for pushing the foot, I am seeing huge leaps of progress the more active I am.  

I also found out that my cardio totally sucks.  Definitely need to work on that aspect!  During the steepest part of the hike my heart rate got up to 203, according to my Polar Heart Rate Monitor.  I didn't die though.  Overall, it took me about 1hr 50 min to do the hike, exactly on point with the average hiker pace for the Wasatch Mountain Club.  (Slow clap?)  I honestly don't care about pace or speed.   Maybe next year that can be a goal.  Right now it is just about completing the hikes!  I burned about 1300 calories on the hike which had me feeling awesome afterwards.  And yes, we treated ourselves to a birthday dinner at Ruth's Chris later in the evening.

Pics!

Going up the trail (this was the non-rocky part :) )

At the top - if you zoom in you can see the Salt Lake downtown skyline!

Looking west to the other side of the valley; Oquirrh Mountains in the distance

Looking down at Salt Lake Valley.  The abandoned pipeline is in view, which Google tells me used to power parts of the valley years ago!

The next day, my legs were for sure sore, especially my calves and quads.  Most importantly, my foot was only mildly sore.  Compared to last week's 2 mile hike, and this week's 3.4, it definitely felt more sore this week than last week.  But not really enough to bother me much.  I some gardening that Saturday and we hung another bird feeder, ran errands, and did some shopping, so I still was able to be on my feet and fairly active throughout the day!  There was one point where we had gone to pick up some flowers for the garden at our favorite nursery, and the hubby told me that I was WALKING TOO FAST for him.  What!  (In his defense, I had a pair of tennis shoes on, and he had flip flops, but still)

As I think about it, maybe a year ago if I had gone on this hike pre-injury, I might have noticed the pain or the differences in my two feet.  Maybe it would have bothered me.  Other than getting used to how to hike all over again, I am so pleased with how my foot held up.  I wasn't bothered.  A little sore, but not bothered.  Considering all the time, surgeries and trauma my foot has been through, this was exciting.  This is my new normal now.

And I'm fine with that!

Another First - Hiking!

I had an absolutely fabulous day today!

The weather was finally nice & warm, so Nate and I hit the trails this morning.

I was pretty nervous.  This was my first real attempt at hiking since my injury.  During the spring and summer months, hiking was the way I loved spending my weekends and my favorite way to exercise. I didn't really get to do any hiking at all last year, and the last real hike I did was King's Peak in the summer of 2014.  Then I broke my foot and everything changed.

The hike I chose was a fairly easy one.  It's a hike I've done about a dozen times and one that can be done earlier in the season with little snow, and it's one of my favorites.  There are technically 5 points you can hike to on this 9 mile hike, but I chose to hit only the first one that is about a 2 mile round trip.  It isn't that steep, but still a really good workout!  The goal wasn't to hit any PR's, or do it as fast as I could, or anything like that.  I simply wanted to prove to myself that I could do a hike.

I expected to be slow.  I expected my foot to hurt.  None of that really happened.  It was 0.75 miles to the Lower Bells Reservoir (my destination) and I was able to reach it in about 27 minutes!  In peak performance, it typically would take me 15-20 minutes to get that far.  My pace hadn't slowed that much!  I was taking a little bit of extra time navigating the parts of the trail with rocks, just to be careful.  I brought along my trekking poles and they helped with balance.  My foot actually didn't hurt very much at all.  I could feel muscles working that I hadn't used in a very long time, though, especially on the uneven ground.  We got to the Reservoir and I wanted to go a bit further, so we did a lap around.  We followed the trail mostly, but took a wrong turn and ended up in a swampy, muddy mess.  I was really dirty by the end, but it was all so much fun!  The only part I struggled with was getting back onto the actual trail - we ended up having to bushwhack a bit to get back to the top.  I still have been struggling with calf raises and coming up on my toes in general, and found myself having to boulder up and be on my toes.  I can't say that it was "painful" but it was kind of an uncomfortable feeling trying to push off the right foot.  Like a muscle that you are overstretching or trying to lift something that is too heavy.  I think that it was good that I pushed my limit a little bit, hoping to get that part back to normal eventually!

I was most terrified of going downhill, actually.  So, I thought it would be a slow and painful process and that it would take forever.  But, I didn't!  I did slow my pace down some because I felt a little anxious and really wanted to be careful not to slip or slide down the trail, but the foot held up awesomely.  I used my poles a lot to steady myself coming down.  By the time we made it back to the trailhead, my foot was starting to get pretty sore, mainly in my navicular area.  I think it was going all kinds of crazy angles and just working my foot out in a way that hadn't been done in a while!

Bell's Canyon - Lower Reservoir

I switched to my flip flops after the hike, and getting my foot out of my hiking boot was a bit difficult since it had kind of swollen up a bit.  But really, no real pain.  I expected to be sore for the rest of the day, and while I could tell I'd had activity, I was really surprised how not sore I actually was!  This made me very excited!  I am very encouraged, and thinking already about what I want my hike next week to be.

Update:  I woke up the next morning, a bit sore, but nothing terrible, and nothing I couldn't handle.  I didn't even need to take advil or pain meds, or anything to get through the next day.

I am super pumped!

Encouragement

I have been really encouraged with my progress the past few weeks.  I am feeling really positive about recovery for the first time in a long time!

Things aren't perfect but I feel like they've gotten so much better.

I started going for walks on the trails around my neighborhood; they used to be my old running trails.  It's beautiful - there is a lake nestled in with a gorgeous view of the Wasatch and Oquirrh Mountain ranges.  This has been the first time that I've gone for a walk on my own for any extended period of time.  I was a little discouraged the first time I went out.  I walked my 5k loop, and it took me 1 hour & 14 minutes to complete it.  But, since then, I've done that loop a few more times, and I've already gotten my time down to 1 hour & 2 minutes, and I feel each time I go, I am getting faster and better.

I find that going uphill is actually the easiest thing to do.   Followed by flat ground.  Going downhill is the worst though.  It's still slow going, and that is where I get most of my discomfort from walking.

So, after walking 3.2 miles at a respectable pace, my foot is a little sore for the rest of the day (my limp is probably a little more noticeable too), and first thing the next morning.  But, it's not nearly as sore as I expected it to be.  I actually find that it feels better when I go for walks, than when I don't.  So that's really exciting!

I also have been wearing some of my cuter shoes without my Superfeet.  Swelling isn't much of an issue anymore, so I can fit into my old shoes again!  It feels really nice to not be confined to my tennis shoes anymore.  Today, I'm wearing a dress with a pair of cute flats!  My surgery scars are exposed, and I can't help but look down and be proud of them, and what they represent for me.

Also, hiking season will be starting soon!  I'm so very excited for that, because I've been so pleased with how much progress I have made over the last month or so.  I have not felt ready, but I AM READY NOW!  Most of the trails are still snow-covered at this point in the season, but we should start getting some slow melt soon.  Nate has promised me that we are going to do all the hikes this summer.  We are going to have to start really slow and easy, but I'm totally OK with that.  Some snaps of my favorite hiking memories!  I assure you I will be posting updates once I start again - Hiking with a Lisfranc Injury :)

(White Pine Lake - 10,080ft)

(Doing Yoga at Gobbler's Knob - 10,246 ft)

(Mount Raymond wildflowers)

(Lake Blanche - 8,920 ft)

(Reynolds Peak/Dog Lake - 9,422 ft)

(Bells Canyon)

(Waihee Ridge - Maui)

I am finally feeling so great about things!  8 months later :)