Yes, it’s been nine whole months (which I can’t believe) since the day of my rupture on May 15th. Surgery was the 21st - I think I’ll celebrate by treating myself to something nice!

So looking back, and for those that are new here, I STRONGLY suggest for you to post regularly. It will slow down once you get more active, but it’s been super helpful for me to go back and see where I was and where I am now, believe it or not, you will begin to forget the little things. I’ll never forget the 15th and 21st - my achilles-aversary, but stuff like exercises, ginormous obstacles that were huge then but not so big now. I thank God every single time I step OVER the side of the tub to get out of the shower and not have to scoot between chairs or butt-swing out of the tub.

My last post was at 6 months and I was doing a Plyometrics program with a trainer. It was an 8 week long program but because my doctors appt was a week after it ended, I scored a full extra week!!!! Yea!!! - Not really….So here’s the 6-9 month review.

Plyo - (each stage 2 weeks) Stage 1 - I started out jumping with both feet, small hops at first then getting bigger/higher. Added some partial rotation in there all on both feet. Was going pretty well and had no problems. This was 3 days a week, mixed in with 2 days of a jogging program/strengthening program.

The second stage was more of the same, just longer times/more reps. Introduced some single leg stuff. Starting jumping from my bad foot and landing on both feet. Started doing side to side hops, from one leg to the other (ice-skaters)

Third Stage- More of the same but mostly single leg stuff now. Single leg hops, single leg jumps over a theraband, side/side and front/back. Added some restart runs also. Would do the ice-skater and on the last one landing on my bad leg, I would single-leg (ATR) crouch with my right leg back, swing it forward and push off with my left - starting to run.

Then I would start on two legs, jump back, land on ATR leg and get into that same position, swing the right leg forward push off with the left and run, about 10 steps.

Fourth Stage - This program was tough to begin with, but these stages were brutal on me. Everything was single leg, except a box jump. The height of the box was about knee high. I’d jump up, lead with the ATR leg going down with a little hop, then bring the right down faster to land on both. After I landed, I’d jump back straight up. My Side jumps went from over a theraband to over a 1/2 round exercise foam thingy. I’d go side/side then front/back, over the foam 1/2 roller. Single leg jumps with 90 degree rotation. “Ice Skaters” with more runs added (started with 1, now doing 8 runs) then the restart runs front/back. I forgot to mention, that the runs are 1 forward and 1 back. So I was also practicing backpedaling also. The second week of all my stages were just added reps/time. This stage really took a toll on my left knee. I had to ice both.

So I finish up 8 weeks of plyo - I’m done!  I’m ready to move on.  I go see my trainer and he asks when my next Dr. Appt is and I tell him in a week and that’s when he gives me another week.  I was able to struggle through the knee pain but had to tone back on some stuff and days.

So I go back in after this is done and he has a strength test for me.  He has me jump with my right leg as far as I can and then with my left.  He measures where I’m at with the two.  Then to the back, to the side, to the other side then a triple, single leg jump.  Some of them I actually scored better with my left than my right.  Overall, I scored a 95% with my left compared to my right.  I graduated!  So plyo was done and now he’s got me working on interval running.

Five minutes at 5.5 mph, then 30 seconds at 6, 30 seconds at 5.5, and rotate like that up to 9 mph.  I did that the first week and then upped it the next week by .2 mph the next week.  So 5.7 then 6.2, 5.7 then 6.7…etc….

I do the interval running 3 times a week and strengthening 2 days a week.

So my next meeting is with him today in about an hour.  I have no idea what he’ll have in store for me this time.

I still ice everyday or almost everyday.  Long socks are my nemesis.  Just that little amount of compression or rubbing against the scar drives me nuts!!!

My knee still hurts a bit but is getting better now that I’m not doing single leg plyo.

Overall, I feel I’m in better shape now than before it happened, just within the last couple of weeks I’ve felt I finally caught up.

Through this whole ordeal, I realized just how important it is to stay active.  So even after my program I plan on continuing jogging and working out.  I was before, but would only do it sporadically.

I hope this post didn’t bore everyone to sleep.  For those just going through this, keep your head up as it does get better!

Hoping everyone is healing well.