So Dr. Guettler told me that I would be running in 6 weeks. The day following surgery the family drove down to Florida for spring break, so I got to begin my recovery hanging out on the beach. Beach sitting isn't my ideal vacation, however it was good for me since I was suppose to simply hang out anyway.
Four days after surgery I started short rides on the stationary bike and worked my way up from there over the next 10 days, keeping my sanity with some core and upper body workouts instead. Two weeks after, I started swimming and continued to bike up to 45 minutes. I also started formal Physical Therepy with Jeff Smith at Northern Michigan Sports Medicine. Jeff was super knowledgeable and helpful in pushing me, but at the same time not pushing me too fast. Which I certainly wanted to do at times, as I hadn't run in over a year.
I hurt my knee on February 26, 2012, and after getting through my "stupid period" of two weeks, before I conceded I was seriously injured, I had ran a total of five miles. What I would qualify as my first post-surgery "run" took place on May 7, 2012. So for someone who has fairly consistently been running since middle school, 14 months was a long time to go not running.
I continued to do PT and build up base cycling, while doing some very short runs a few times a week. I was obviously out of running shape, but it came back relatively fast. It was amazing how my much my calves hurt after runs and how long it seemed to get them back in running shape. It just goes to show the "in shape" aspect with the impact of running vs. non impact of cycling. I was getting some consistent cycling miles in and really excited to be back on the right track. I was starting to feel the competitive itch again. So I decided to sign up for the State Time Trail as a test of where my fitness was compared to last year.
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