eastcoastrunner’s AchillesBlog

I’m at 19+ weeks post Debridement and Repair Surgery (not ATR, but the recovery is close to the same).  I have started to ease back into running and jump back into biking this week.

I’ll start with the Run. I suppose it’s hard for me to call it a true run. It sure wasn’t like “going for a run”.  I’m used to running distance.  My running of choice is trail Ultras. This, uh, wasn’t that!  My Training Partner (who, BTW, is a true saint for not ditching me during this l-o-n-g recovery!!) and I met at the Common yesterday to begin this back-to-running process. I don’t know if other parts of the country or other countries have Commons. In New England Commons are flat open grassy areas that were used during the Colonial times through Revolutionary War and beyond to hold Military Musters and Trainings as well as a place for the cattle to have a common grazing area. Now it’s used as recreation area and an open space  to hold large gatherings. Our Common is 1/2 mile around and has a finely crushed cinder gravel walking path around it. We walked one lap around to warm up. Then we ran 1/8 lap, walked 1/8 lap a full time aound, then we added more running and less walking each time we completed a loop around. The whole walk/run ended up  about 3.5 miles and included not quite 2 miles of non-continuous running. It felt good! The only pain I noted during the run was to my Pride!  This was slow and hard and my strides were short. That 2 miles of run felt like 10. But my Training Partner said that I looked pretty smooth and wasn’t limping or lurching. I understand it will be a gradual process and I keep telling myself I am getting stronger with each new step– and I can get back to running trail ultras next year. I have the opportunity to start all over again and build a strong base then add speed when I’m strong enough and I’ll be a better runner in 2013 and beyond.

The Bike Ride was today. I had planned to start biking last week, and EVERY time we planned to go out, it began to thunderstorm. Today was beautiful and a perfect day to ride. I met a friend at the Y. My Husband liked that I was going with this friend as he is someone that we both used to ride with and he is a good, safe cyclist (who happened to rupture his AT 20 years ago and knows what it’s like!) We agreed on a route that wasn’t too hilly and that we estimated to be about 15-18 miles long. We decided that he would go ahead of me to watch out for hazzards (crazy drivers, etc) and to keep the pace consistant. The ride was WONDERFUL! It felt easy! I haven’t been on my road bike in over a year, but it was very natural again. I’ve been teaching Spinning classes for 12 years, and Spinning has been a huge part of my recovery, once my Ortho gave me the OK–around the 3 month mark I was allowed to use both feet on the pedals and no standing climbs. We did encounter 2 hills on the ride that felt like hills…but I stayed in the saddle and even though they winded me, I got up them pain free. We underestimated our route, the ride ended up being just over 21 miles (oops!) We averaged 14 mph (slow, but “just right” for starting back) I’m looking forward to going out again next week!

Yes, this afternoon I needed to ice my foot. I think that we went a bit too far, but I’m not regretting it.