#41 - Some Chile Magic

So I've been doing my thing for the PF I've been suffering and slowly but surely it has been getting better. To the point where, sometimes, I don't remember that I have an issue for while during the day! Believe me, that is an improvement because it is something you think about all the time every day. The first thing you fell when you wake up and the last thing you think about at night because you have to put on the night splint.

Anyway, I'm up to almost 50k/week, running more and more on trails over the weekend and feeling a bit stronger as I go. The good news is that as recent as a 10 days a go I went out on a run and I totally forgot I had PF. I did not feel a thing on that run, it took me a while to figure it out but after some time I believe a lot of it is mental as well. So now I've been somewhat pain free for a week! There are times in the day that I feel a twitch or something but I'm getting better and that is all I want.

In the middle of this 10 day high, I had to take work trip to Peru & Chile, and I ran basically everyday around my hotel without any pain and I also planned to take a day (this past Saturday) to hike on the Andes. I studied what was near Santiago and I found out that Cerro Provincia was about 10k from my hotel and it gave me ~5500ft of gain in ~8km so roughly a 20% average incline topping out at over 9000ft. It was unbelievably hard because of the harsh terrain on the Andes (rocks, no tree coverage, heat b/c its summer over there, and incline) and my endurance is not too strong. In any case I had a blast and it was a beautiful outing, in which I even saw wild horses at the top of the mountain. My foot held up very well, tired but no pain and the only thing that hurts today are my muscles which is a great feeling. It took me 3:05 going up and 1:50 to get down with a 30min rest at the top.

The Start

Somewhere mid-way, you can see the top in the distance

The call this the false summit

 

Looking down to a shelter from the "real summit"