first... the aftermath...

I've not posted because I've been busy.. well busy relaxing, recovering, getting used to the idea that I've done it and catching up on life a wee bit. I'm still in the process of writing up my BG and collating photos, so they will follow, but in order to keep on top of things, here's life in the aftermath!!

I was really quite stiff the following day and my right knee was very swollen. Bizarely my major leg muscles all felt fine, my hip flexors were hammered though, which made stairs even more amusing as especially my right hip flexor couldn't hold my leg weight to control going down steps. Cue much merriement in the house!! I pottered around the house and garden on the Sunday, feeling much better moving around than sat still. Plenty of ice on the knee but no pills. One thing that was immediately obvious was that the vast gorging on food that I had envisaged would happen didn't as I had little appetite. In fact even two weeks later I'm not eating like I was.

I then did a 5 day week at work which turned out to be harder than I had anticipated, especially by Friday. I was not sleeping 9 hours a night as I can normally easily do, and coupled with the no exercise and less food than normal I felt all out of kilter but also strangely very good too! On Wednesday I had a 25 minute pootle around the woods near me to try and loosen everything up. By this point my knee swelling was going down and I could walk and even trot up and down the stairs, but things still felt not right. Thursday I submitted myself to a sports massage by my Physio which really helped. He identified very tight Achilles tendons and tight IBTs  - worst in my left leg, and no real cause for concern in my right knee. The worst problem seemed to be the lactic acid still lurking in my muscles so 20 minutes that evening on the turbo trainer kick started its disappearance.

On the Saturday on the bank holiday weekend P and I rode up to Wasdale Head to see a friend come throiugh on her anti-clockwise attempt, and we nearly missed her as she was an hour up on schedule!!! She finished in 23:43 on Sunday morning!! Well Done Helen! I felt tired still but strong on the bike, but kept the pace slow and just enjoyed the freedom of being on the bike again, even in the rain. On Sunday after a bit of retail therapy in Keswick I walked down the valley to the Bowderstone to meet P who'd been bouldering there all day with mates. A good 7 plus mile walk, again felt tired but OK. On Monday P and I walked up to the Samson Stones, he bouldering, me relaxing. These three days left me feeling more tired than I would normally be but no real problems!

I rode to work and back for the first time last wednesday and what a day to choose. My normal route follows some of the way Cumbria's now most notorious taxi driver took and riding home was emotionally pretty tough. Needless to say we're all very shaken by events and the community will take time to recover.

On Friday P and I took the day off and were down in the Peak. We headed to Cheedale's Two Tier for some bolt clipping. I now have to address my terrible 'head' for climbing, as physically I'm not far off my best in terms of strength and technique, stamina will come back with some work, but my leading head both trad and sport is nowhere to be seen! The weekend was spent with family, and I managed one 20 minute run on the roads to test the legs. Felt very slow and ponderous but no lasting problems so after two weeks feeling my way back, its time to decide...

Am I running or marshalling at Wasdale on 10th July?