Das Foot Update, 2014 Retrospective

Well, it's almost 2015 and I figured I would update anyone still bothering to read about my foot and future plans. In early December I was finally able to see a orthopedic specialist (the third doctor I had visited) and get a more thorough diagnosis. The last two doctors had been able to rule out a full fracture and other than that just referred me onwards. This foot specialist diagnosed my issue as tendonitis of the peroneus brevis tendon which goes from a muscle on the in the outside of the lower leg through a notch in the ankle and inserts at the base of the fifth metatarsal. The good news is I don't need to be on crutches or in a walking boot for months. The bad news is that anytime this tendon gets irritated it pinches itself as it swells and irritates itself further in a vicious feedback cycle. I have been ice massaging it vigorously for the last four weeks to try and keep the inflammation down and although it is still there I have been able to do some physical activity without anywhere near the discomfort I was experiencing (cycling, swimming and some pretty boring walking. I have also  just started to add in more stretching and some specific strengthening exercises. I am hoping that my foot will be healed enough to allow a return to cragging by February and some alpine by March. I am excited to say that my pullup and finger strength are both at an all-time, although I have gained over five pounds in upper body muscle which may or may not be beneficial in the long-run.

Despite my injury from the last four plus months of 2014, it was a pretty good year for me. I went from having done only one real technical alpine route (ice and mixed) to soloing two of them in January; Devil's Kitchen Headwall and Jeff Park Glacier. I then got a hold of of Steve House and Scott Johnston's new training book and put together four plus months of solid training in preparation for my June trip. During this training period I managed to get out to climb the North Face Right Gully on Hood and North Sister in a storm, both with Travis Holman. In June I went down to the High Sierra by myself, to rock climb there for the first time. Over six days I soloed the West Ridge on Conness, the Tenaya-Matthes-Cathedral linkup, and the Swiss Arete on Mt. Sill in the Palisades. I then started graduate school and focused on my bouldering for the summer, before climbing the Backbone Ridge on Dragontail Peak in the Stuart Range. Considering that I have been climbing technical (typically roped and above 3rd class) routes for less than three years I think this is a pretty good year. I would have preferred to spend more time climbing, and being able to be more active in general would have been a huge stress relief for me this fall, but I was very busy with graduate school and in some sense it was a blessing to have something I'm so obsessed with cut away. That said, this break from climbing has confirmed for me how much I value climbing, especially alpine climbing and just being out in the mountains in general. I can't wait to be back out there.

P.S. Happy New Year!!

Injuries, Cycles and Productivity

My intention was to focus on rock climbing this fall. However, the week after climbing Dragontail I randomly threw in a hard 13 mile run. I had only been bouldering and running a little bit all summer and, especially after a long day the week before, this was probably too much. That night Caitlin and I went to a concert and I noticed my foot was swollen and hurting. The next day I tried to climb at Smith despite my throbbing foot. I ended up limping to the base of a wall and climbing a few pitches before hobbling back to the car.

I monitored the injury the next week and realized that it was probably a stress fracture in my fifth metatarsal. I tried to baby it in supportive footwear and limited my exercise to biking and steep climbing. It seemed to be doing okay for a couple of weeks but then I jammed it in a hand crack and, no surprise here, it swelled up and hurt. So I put it in a walking boot and tried to figure out what to do with myself. Luckily I had a few projects.

My car has good clearance and four-wheel drive so I checked out some cliffs that I had not been to before but could drive to. One day I managed to knock my water bottle off a 200 footer into a tangle of bushes. I rapped down the cliff to look for it, which took a while and kind of also felt like climbing while simultaneously making me wish I could actually climb all of the awesome cracks two inches from my face. I never did find that bottle either.

I also installed a hangboard at my house (about time) and began to do some stuff on that. It was hard to find motivation at first but after a while of hobbling around and sitting on my butt all day it started looking pretty appealing. I definitely gained some finger strength and increased my pullup volume. Today I cranked out 102 pullups in between doing homework and eating snacks.

Finally, I created an extensive spreadsheet of climbing areas and ranked them by drive time from Bend. I created a separate page on this site to house it called... climbing areas by drive time page so check it out!

I think my foot is finally ready to start use again after 6+ weeks in a walking boot. Hopefully I will be able to get out and start doing fun stuff soon!