Post the Achilles tendon repair surgery on 27th June and the required immobilisation and rehab period , I started walking from 15th of August. Got the ok to commence running in the last formal review with the surgeon Dr. HK on 24th Sept. Ran for the first time on 6th Ooctber - 5m after the injury sustained on 5th May in California. Had built the walking distance and pace from 2Lm in 31min on 16th August to 8.3Km in 80 mins on 2nd Oct. In the first run on 6th Oct I walked 850-900 m and ran 100-150m completing 9Km in 84min. With mostly 2 walk/run sessions per week supplemented by 3-4 sessions of stationary cycling/rowing the weekend walk/run was scaled as per the following progression : 10.55(17th Oct), 12.53, 14.1,17.56, 21.2KM(24th Nov). The walk to run ratio being at most 65/35. Pretty happy to have done 21.2Km under 3 hrs - giving me confidence that at TMM 2025 I could aim for 2:45. The discomfort around the ankle and heel area during and for a period after the run will hopefully reduce over time. So will the limping which is quite apparent when walking briskly.
The last date for changing the category from HM to FM for TMM 2025 is 29th November. Though I feel terrible that my streak of FMs at Mumbai will end it does not make sense to take a chance with just 6 weeks to the race day including the 12 days trip to Delhi and HP which period there will be minimal running.
