Week 14 - Picking up the slack

Monday: 4.3 miles easy with the HSers at running club. Nice day out. A touch humid but I'd rather ease into the summer weather rather than have it hit all at once. Oh, it's supposed to be 90 on Wednesday? ...Nevermind.

Tuesday: 4 total / 2 miles easy to NAMS to coach a workout in 16 minutes. After coaching I jogged back down the hill in 15 minutes or a hair under. Last mile 7:03 - fastest one yet! Feeling more and more comfortable running quicker. Iced after. I need to be better about continuing my PT. Hitting the bike tomorrow given the heat.

Wednesday: 50 minutes on the bike. Felt good!

Thursday: Off - Job interview consumed all free time. It went well!

Friday: Off - Ran up to the superintendent's office. It went well!

Saturday: Off - Lazy! Drove to Burlington. It was hot. Hung at the beach. Camped at North Beach. Shared a fire with some people from VA. Very fun times.

Sunday: Off - ish. Ran around a bit early on at the marathon but nothing noteworthy. Headed home before the storm hit. Oppressively hot day for a long race!!

Overview: Well, the week started off well and ended pretty pathetically from a training perspective. This has been a bit of a pattern. I have insanity week at school with finals, multiple graduations, a ceremony or two and then prepping for the DC trip I'm leading. Next week I'll be touring DC Monday-Thursday and then our final in-service day on Friday before summer vacation begins. So... t-minus 2 weeks until summer and "real" training can begin in earnest!

Week 13 - Working out the kinks

Monday - jogged for 10 minutes and did my PT from the dg course at Devens. Eventually played a solid 18 holes. The Devens course is built on an old military training course which is has technical footing and is pretty hilly. Hiking around seems to be generally good for the body right now.

Tuesday - 5 miles moderate from the train station at Ballardvale. Took me 44 minutes. Single-track has always slowed me down by about 40 seconds/mi but given that I'm running extra carefully I think it's slowing me by a solid minute. Have to remind myself that the body doesn't care about distance traveled so much as it does time spent running. This is the longest run I've done by 8 or 10 minutes. The aerobic side of things is definitely coming along. Meanwhile the R hamstring has some strengthening to do. No PT today.

Wednesday - drove to Cherry Hill, NJ after work. Got there around 1am. Stiff from the ride.

Thursday - Brother-in-law graduated from Rutger's Law so the day was consumed by family stuff. Saw this coming.

Friday - 3 mile jog before travel to the Jersey shore.

Saturday - 4 mile jog with Greg on the shore. Nice and flat area. Good tailwind... on the way out, at least. Felt good.

Sunday - Return from the shore. 8 hours in the car and prepped for a big week at school. No run >.<

Overall: Not a great week from just about any perspective. 3 runs and feeling good on those, however. Gotta pick it back up for next week, despite the hectic nature of end of year activities.

Week 12 - Recovery Conclusion

I'm entering the final week of the standard healing time forecast for the operation I had done. By no means does that imply I am positioned to return to full activity, but it's encouraging to have gone through the recovery process and seen steady improvement from week-to-week thus far. I have a long way to go before I return to racing, but I'm positioned to run more regularly while I continue my exercises for strengthening the VMO.

Monday: 2.8 miles easy with a few high schoolers at running club. Felt good to jog after a couple days off.

Tuesday: 4 miles moderate solo following "Dan's loop". Getting the HR down to near normal levels while running (171 avg) which is a good sign. The first few runs were reading very high despite the efforts feeling easy to moderate.

Wednesday: Taking the day off. Hitting up the Sox game with Lauren and our friends Brad and Cass. The forecast couldn't be better, and Porcello is pitching!

Thursday: 4.3 miles on the trails and a few roads around Ballardvale. The cooler temps definitely made running more comfortable.

Friday: 60 minutes on the spin bike at the YMCA. HR avg 150. Felt good! Fatigued the last 10 minutes or so. Felt like real aerobic work without aggravating the knee at all. Progress!

Saturday: Walked around Amesbury with dad shooting some disc golf. Played my best game of the season (69) for the Pines. Lauren and my dad tied (lauren got an 18 pt handicap since she can't drive as far)

Sunday: Off. Worked a table at the Alex Fresce meet at NAHS. Gave away 300 flyers for the running camp Amanda and I put together. Evening bash with the Italian in-laws in southern MA.

Recovery #11 - Things are going well

Monday - 25 minutes on the spin bike at the YMCA followed by PT and some basic core exercises. I did some leg press for only the second time and this attempt went far better than the first which was about 3 weeks ago. For the press I focused on high reps (20) and I didn't go through the full range of motion so as to target the VMO... that dinky little muscle I need to strengthen. Feeling good, Tuesday, as I write this. Planning a jog for Tuesday, probably at a slower pace to see how that feels. Onward!

Tuesday - 2.6 mi trail run in the Vale reservation by the old apartment. I planned to hit the track, but every mondo track in NE was occupied by high school teams and after my 3rd attempt I went with the next best thing. The trails were nice and clear and the ground was springy and soft. Felt great! Stopped a few times to take in the scenery.

Wednesday - off. PT and ice.

Thursday - 2.75 mi run with my friend, Troy, from work. Very flat, smooth road. Took it nice and easy... like 10 minute pace. Hit the gym with Alex in the evening for the day 2 lift (back and bicep).

Friday - off. Stayed late to wrap up the week and then straight over to the Spring concert at school. It's good to "rest"!

Saturday - Took a long walk with mom and lifted in the evening. PT after.

Sunday - off. Another good day but no activity to report, unfortunately! Back at it on Monday.

Recovery Week #10

Monday: Very, very tired from the weekend. Napped when I got home. Did my standard PT stuff at night.

Tuesday: .25 mi walking warm-up. 1.5 mile jog at 8:20 pace. .25 mi cool-down. Longest jaunt yet! Then, weights! Tried some new stuff... seated snatch, seated forward press, standing front and back, lateral and forward extensions, shoulder extensions, and some other stuff I don't know the name of. My back muscles are pretty weak at this point so I kept the weight light and just focused on form.

Wednesday: Nada.

Thursday: standard PT. Knee was inexplicably sore. Guessing it was the lack of activity yesterday causing it to stiffen up. Plenty of icing.

Friday: 2 mile jog followed by PT. Ice.

Saturday: devens disc golf and PT. Ice.

Sunday: 3 mile run in 24:00. Felt good! I'll be keeping it there and no farther for the time being. My VMO (medial quad muscle above the knee) is still atrophied and needs to be the focus for now. 3 mile runs every other day or so should be long enough to give me a sense of how I'm progressing but short enough not to cause a set-back.  Day 1 lift (chest and tricep) in the evening with Alex. Ice.

Week-in-review:

Well, I ran a whopping total of 6.5 miles this week. That's a pretty big leap and I need to continue being cautious as I enter week #11. PT continues to cause some soreness and irritation, particularly where the major incision was. I'm told by the surgeon this is normal and if PT wasn't making me sore that I wouldn't be doing it right. I should probably be spending more time on the bike than I have been, particularly before I do my PT. I've been told I'm ready to do some leg press on the sled at the gym as that should help me target the VMO so I'll be starting that up on Monday. In the meantime, I need to get on top of my diet in a real way as I'm at my lifetime heaviest and that can't be good for running. I eat healthy, but I generally eat like I'm running 60 MPW and obviously that hasn't been the case for the past 6 months. I want to be running lean by the summer. Time to buckle down!

Entering Week #9.

Saturday: Put new tires on the road bike and took it outside for the first time this year. Rode 9 miles nice and easy. It was beautiful out!

Sunday: Played a round of disc golf with my dad. We estimated the course at a tad over 2 miles with a lot of vert (for a 2m walk). I used trekking poles for the downhills. Knee feels great.

Monday: Spent the day in Boston working on my sunburn and probably walked about 4 miles. Evening lift with Alex. Hit 175# on the bench but only made 1 rep. Guess I know my max bench now! Did a few sets of 5 at 155# which is where I'll need to stay for a little while. Knee feeling very good.

Tuesday: I ran one whole mile on the track in 8:20 or so. It felt good!

Wednesday: Standard PT exercises but otherwise took the day off.

Thursday: I ran one whole mile on the track in 7:30 or so. It felt good, again. Lifted with Alex in the evening. New stuff... seated cable rows, lat pull downs, straight arm cable pulls, hammer curls, straight bar curls,

Friday: Drove to Acadia. Knee gets stiff sitting in a driving position. Set up camp, did a small hike by the water. Amazing crew up there for the weekend. Very rare to gather ~15 friends from the college days in one place, especially northern Maine!

Saturday: 5 mile hike in Acadia. Used terkking poles which we very helpful for the downhill. Knee felt excellent.

Sunday: Return trip from Acadia had the knee feeling a bit stiff but I wanted to do something so Alex and I played a round of 18 holes at the Pines up in Amesbury.

Jogging in week 8

On Thursday I hit the track for a little test run. I walked half a mile to warm-up and then I alternated walking and slowly jogging every 100m for 1 mile. It was awesome. I was grinning ear-to-ear basically the entire time.

The knee felt very good. The middle quad muscle (rectus femoris) is tight. I think it's due to shortening as I haven't been able to adequately stretch my right quad for 2 months.

Friday will be a day off and back at it on Saturday morning!

Total distance 1.5m / running distance .5m


 

Cleared to jog!!

The doc was very happy after examination of the knee this Wednesday. The swelling has reduced significantly and he felt no grinding as the leg extended or contracted. He said I was "one of the lucky ones".

He cleared me to jog every other day so long as the knee continues to respond well. We're talking about a walk/jog ratio of about 100m on/100m off. He told me a track is the best place to do it because it's a neutral surface with fewer variables and the moment the knee gets sore or stiff I should stop and allow the body to respond.

So, I'll be hitting the track this afternoon. 1 mile of total movement on tap... I'm guessing it should take me about 12 minutes after warming up... maybe more. It's a start!

Week #8-9: Getting back

I didn't blog this past week or even really track my moves so I'll be summarizing week 8 here. I finished a round of ibuprofen after 5 days and noticed modest but steady improvement over the week. Sometime mid-week I hit the gym once and warmed up a little on the bike, and hit a new PR of 155# on the bench. Only managed 4 reps so at this point it's time to buckle down and spend a bit more time in the 130-140 range. I also handled high reps of 80# on the standing shoulder press. It's cool to have progress although I reluctantly admit, I'm not looking or feeling much like a runner at the moment.

By Friday my knee was feeling pretty good. Over the weekend I mostly took it easy except for a long walk through the woods with my cousins at a dog park in southwestern CT. There was some decent swelling after, but 2 1/2 hours of walking around should probably do that. Felt great the following Monday and warmed up on the bike. Afterwards I got on the treadmill and... jogged! 4 MPH for an entire minute. It was euphoria. Pain-free jogging for the first time in about a year. I was tempted to continue for a few minutes but my brain overruled that notion pretty quickly and I did my PT exercises instead.

I re-visit the surgeon on Wednesday. It will be interesting to hear what he has to say about where I'm at in the healing process and what he thinks about the generalized welling I sometimes get.

That's all, folks...

A "Rocky" Week #7 in the rehab process

Monday: 15 minutes on the bike, MYRTL, icing in the evening. Standard PT exercises.

Tuesday: 20 minutes faster on the bike, standard lift at the gym and brought Alex which was fun. PT afterwards and got ultrasound, e-stim and learned a few new exercises. I did far more leg extensions  and quad contractions than ever. Best range of motion yet!

Wednesday: HURTING. pain directly behind the knee-cap. Can't walk down stairs. Keeping a positive attitude about it as you never know where the line is until you cross it, but on the same token it is a bit frustrating as I was trusting the lead of the PT and clearly overdid it. Took the day off from all activity and iced a lot.

Thursday: Feeling better but not 100%. Visited PT and we established that I am having a tendonitis reaction in and above the patella. It was actually relieving to know what I'd done as I feared I had really screwed something up with the incisions or... who knows what else. I also learned a little more about the anatomy of the patella, where the tendon runs from the bottom of the knee all the way into the quadriceps muscle. OK, so maybe I should have known that already, but how I'd imagined it in the past was two separate patellar tendons connecting to either side of the kneecap and not one larger tendon throughout. It makes more sense to me knowing that as I was really concerned that the patella itself felt sore. Didn't do any exercises, allowing the tendon to heal.

Friday: Started a round of ibuprofen. Sore but seeing more improvement. Quick lift after dinner.  Hit 145# on the bench.

Saturday: Completely off. Resting everything. Iced regularly.

Sunday: "