It’s been long enough since my injury that I’m not counting weeks or months anymore.
Any advice on start up running again?
I’ve been biking pretty heavily the last few months (from about month 3). One positive part of the recovery has been rediscovering the joy of biking. Because I’ve been biking to get around and get excercise, I’ve been pretty lazy at starting up running. Why slog at a jog when I can fly on a bike?
Well, it’s now well past safe to start running. I suppose I should, obviously, not start with attemping 3 8 minute miles. I have jogged around a block or two every now an then, just to guage where I’m at. That no longer hurts.
Off - topic- Other stats:
Can now walk just about as far as I want. I 2 mile, 1000ft hike at month 6 (carrying a 2 year old) was possible. I was quite slow on the uphill.
Pain? Still have a little bit. It doesn’t get in the way.
PT? Not in a month. Probably should, but my insurance co-pays and cost shares are too high to make it regular.
Playing soccer again? No. I’m looking for a perambulating soccer league, where the whole game must be played walking or race-walking. I’ll probably start subbing in at my teams games soon - after I’ve been running a few weeks.
Off topic - Biking tips:
Do use clipless pedals (cleats) and do pedal really fast (90 beats per minute). Flat pedals and slow pedalling are the most common bicyling mistakes - also made by me. Flat pedals will hurt your calf, and slow pedalling hurts your knees and everything else.
Pedals: After I overcame any fear of falling off and stomping my bad leg (month 5), I replaced my flat pedals with clipless pedals. Keeping your foot on a flat pedal takes a lot of calf work and makes me slow- my right calf was getting quite sore and limitting how much I could ride. It took about a day to learn how to use the new pedals - now I love them. I didn’t go all the way: My pedals have a clipping side and a flat side. I use the flat side for short trips through the city.
Cadence: After a few months of light activity my legs were in poor shape. Biking was tweaking my knees and leaving much more sore than expected. All my bike guru friends were telling me to keep my cadence at 90 - that is each leg should go around 90 times a minute. I gave in and tried it - all knee pain was gone in 2 rides.