- coast2coast has completed the grueling 26.2 ATR miles to full recovery!
Goal: 365 days from the surgery date.
Click here for the Group Marathon Tracker
- coast2coast has completed the grueling 26.2 ATR miles to full recovery!
Oct
7
11 Months Post-Op: Cruising along!
October 7, 2014 | |
Hi AchillesBlog Community,
Here’s my 11-month update:
POSITIVES
Strength, endurance, and muscle tone are all back to almost-normal. I have a ways to go with certain lifts like squats and legpress because I held off for so long. Biking is as good as ever, maybe better since I do it so much now. I played some softball this summer and I’m back to playing flag football — somewhat gingerly, I admit, but it’s great to be back on the field. I’m definitely slower, but part of that might be psychological; i.e., not wanting to push myself too hard, and part might be for lack of training for speed, and of course, part might be that my repaired leg just isn’t as fast as it used to be.
I’m also getting into distance running (’cause if I can’t run fast, at least I can run far), and ran my first 10k training run since surgery on Sunday. It actually felt surprisingly good, after a pretty slow start, finished at an average 10:12 pace. I’m running a real 10k in a month (to mark my one year anniversary), and looking to be around 56:00, or a 9-minute mile.
CHALLENGES
Still some stiffness in the morning, which is helped by pre- and post-sleep stretching and foot pumps. I get some heel pain in both feet, especially in the morning, which is kinda weird, but helped by stretching, rolling, and massaging, so I’m thinking it’s a little plantar fascia inflammation, fatigue, or tendinitis. The calf is still about an inch smaller in circumference than the healthy one. I have some scar tissue at the top of the tendon that just won’t go away, but it doesn’t really get in the way either. The scar gets rubbed raw pretty easy, which is helped by coverage, keeping moist, etc.
I also find that I get out of shape way faster than pre-ATR, and it’s way tougher to get back into shape, too. More reason to set goals and keep working at achieving them. Push off / explosiveness is still not there; I’m at maybe 75%. Still working on that.
One thing I would recommend to everyone: COMPRESSION SOCKS. They’ve made a night-and-day difference when I travel, when I run, and when I play sports, both in terms of in-game performance and recovery. I use both 2XU and CEP brand socks. I find the former slightly better in terms of performance and the latter better for comfort and longer uses, like coast to coast flights.
Another piece of advice: keep up the PT. I still stretch, do heel raises, etc. because when I don’t for a few days, I can really feel the weakness and lack of motion. Biking is probably my favorite recovery exercise because it’s low-impact, great for cardio, helps flex the tendon and build the calf at the same time.
Closing Thoughts
As I look at the NYC marathon graphic on the right side of my blog, I can’t help but remember sitting on my couch last November, looking at that graphic, thinking I’d never get out of Brooklyn, much less all the way to Central Park. But, here we are, one month away!
So, I wanted to share some big news: I signed up for my first-ever *actual* marathon this coming spring. It’ll be back home in So Cal. I’m pretty nervous, having never run anything close to that distance, and a little worried about whether my mid-30s body can adjust to the new sport. But, I have an amazing training partner, some bright, shiny new gear, and a plan and a goal, and it’s having goals that’s really helped me get this far, so here we go!
All the best to each of you and your recoveries!
Cheers,
Coast2Coast
=\\=
Comments
3 Comments so far
Congrats on your progress! You are giving me hope to return to running. I used to run regularly but not too far - often in the 5-6 mile range. I completed one marathon (last year) and did it to check it off my bucket list but now I want to do one more just to see if I can after injuring myself. Good luck with your running and please be sure to keep us posted on how that works out for you!
Congratulations on all the great progress. Like you, I am approaching the one year mark - later this month, for me. And, like you, this point in time seemed a long way off last Fall! Here you are back to playing flag football, signing up for a Spring marathon, and biking more than ever before! Wonderful!
@atr2014 — thanks!! You can do it!! I’ll keep you posted; starting marathon training with my gf next weekend.
@kimc — thanks, and good luck on getting to your one-year! What are your goals for the big milestone?