Monday, 2/20/2012

Bike: 30min

Stationary bike at NHHR. And all the other crap that you do at the gym.

Hike: 58:48min

West Rock with JB. Westville Feeder to Regicides to Green to Red. Nice loop. Mostly runnable.

Tuesday, 2/21/2012
Bike: 18:22min
To East Rock.
Hike: 41:04min
Summit: 20:14 up; 20:49 down. Obviously, didn't feel as strong today. I did just receive a report from Jess, however, that she had a nice pain-free outing. Must have been that massage last night.

Wednesday, 2/22/2012
Bike: 15min
Thought I'd take it easy. Plus gym stuff.

Thursday, 2/23/2012
AM: Bike: 10min
PT. Walked backward on the treadmill for a few minutes.
PM: Bike: 18:03min
To East Rock.
Hike: 40:18min
Summit: 19:21 up; 20:57 down. Felt great! Fastest time yet to the top. In the dark coming down. Still working on my biomechanics. Think I figured it out.

Friday, 2/24/2012
Bike: 15min
Gym.

Saturday, 2/25/2012
Hike: 41:59min
Summit: 20:59 up; 21:00 down. A bit of snow on the ground from a few nights ago made for a slower hike.

Sunday, 2/26/2012

Hike: 55:02min

Same as Monday. Muddy.

Bike: 15min

Gym.

Total Time: 5hr 56min

Monday, 2/13/12
Bike: 22:21min
To East Rock; then to PT. Wind made for a cold ride. Walked backward on the treadmill for 5min.
Hike: 40:49min
Summit: 20:11 up; 20:37 down. Felt quite strong. It's just a matter of time before I'm quicker coming down.

Tuesday, 2/14/12
Bike: 30min
Tight afterward. Stretched out well and did the hamstring exercises.

Wednesday, 2/15/12
Bike: ~21min
To East Rock.
Hike: 40:30min
Summit: 20:04 up; 20: 26 down. Stiff getting started. Likely due to a combination of the more challenging exercises introduced at PT on Monday and overdoing it on the bike and with stretching yesterday. I'm trying not to be too aggressive with the stretching, but I really need to get my right hamstring/hip/side stretched out. There's an enormous difference in flexibility between my right and left sides.

Thursday, 2/16/12
Hike: 41:24min

Summit: 19:43 up; 21:40 down. Felt really good heading up and broke 20min for the first time! Switched on the headlamp on the way down. Rainy. PT earlier in the day. Walked backward on the treadmill for ~8min.

Friday, 2/17/12
AM: Hike: ~42:00min
Summit. Forgot my watch. Didn't have the same pep as yesterday.
PM: Bike: 10min
Core, other exercises, and stretched out. Tried some single-legged squats.

Saturday, 2/18/12
Hike: 2hr 19:03min (~5mi in West Rock; ~1mi in Woodbridge)
Started at the north end of Lake Wintergreen. Red to White to Purple to Regicides--down the west side of the ridge and then back up (Woodbridge trails)--to Orange to White. Hadn't planned this longer outing but took a wrong turn and had to double-back. Most of these trails are not really runnable, so I didn't feel too bad having to hike. Still, these trails do not in any way shape or form compare to the trails that we've hiked/run in Montana. They're full of leaves and broken glass. I'm itching to get back out west and hike some real trails. I felt pretty good. Let's just hope I'm not paying for it the next few days. Making steady progress on training my right leg to work more like my left leg. That is, using and getting more into the glutes/hips, landing directly under my hip and center of gravity, etc. Since the surgery, I've been paying much more attention to the way my legs work, and I've noticed that my right leg does not swing directly from front to back, but internally rotates, at the hip, causing a cross-over gait, over-striding, etc. It was a complete disaster.

Sunday, 2/19/12

Bike: 18:53min

To East Rock. Love riding when there's no one on the road.

Hike: 21:11min

Shake-out. Kept to the flatter sections. Definitely some soreness from yesterday.

Total Time: 7hr 4min

Monday, 2/6/12
Bike: 15min
At PT. Felt quite good. Introduced four hamstring exercises beforehand. Some felt awkward, as I hadn't used those muscles in ~2mos.

Tuesday, 2/7/12
Bike: ~22min
To East Rock.
Hike: 44:06min
Summit: 21:22 up; 22:43 down. Stiff getting started but loosened up quite quickly. Had some weird pain in my right big toe.

Wednesday, 2/8/12
Bike: 30min
Stretched out and did hamstring exercises afterward.

Thursday, 2/9/12
Bike: 30min
A harder effort. Stretched out and did hamstring exercises afterward. Even tried some squats.

Friday, 2/10/12
Bike: ~23min
To East Rock.
Hike: 41:44min
Summit: 20:20 up; 21:24 down. Felt really good.

Saturday, 2/11/12
Hike: 41:05min
Summit: 20:04 up: 21:01 down. Was trying to break 20min up. Strongest I've felt coming down. Squats afterward. Jess ran for 30+min with no pain!

Sunday, 2/12/12
Bike: 30min
Hard effort. Reintroduced abs.

Total Time: 4hr 36min

8 weeks and a day

So, I finally had the long-awaited follow-up with the doc this morning. He's "optimistic." He said that I can now do unlimited amounts of low impact cardiovascular exercise but to hold off on the running for another 6 weeks. I'm ok with that as I don't think I'm ready to run yet anyway. There are definitely at least a few kinks to work out, namely the discomfort at the arthroscopy incision above my knee with knee flexion and a cramping feeling in the hamstring (also with flexion). Both of these issues limit my ability to strengthen the hamstring and thus safely run.

8 weeks post-surgery

No active hamstring exercises or isometrics for ~7-8wks. said the doc, so 8 in a way is a magic number. Magic in the sense that I can finally use the hamstring muscles again--not that they'll actually work the way they're supposed to, unfortunately. There's no question that I've come a long way from the days that I couldn't bear even an ounce of weight on the leg, but now that I've come this far--sustained, vigorous uphill hiking and biking--I just want to run again. Before I could hike or bike, all I wanted to do was hike or bike, but now that I'm doing these things again, I want to take it that one step further. After all, this is what I'm in it for. I suppose that a bit of patience for another 4-6wks. will treat me well, so I'll just hang in there and hope for the best.

Sunday, 1/29/12
Hike: 50:44min
I was sitting on the couch bored out of my mind, so I decided to test out the leg for the first time since surgery. It worked out to be 45 days of complete rest. I headed over to the East Rock trailhead at Orange and Farnam and worked my way up to the top of East Rock. It took about 24 minutes to get to the top and 26 minutes to get back down to the bottom. Felt fine.

Monday, 1/30/12
AM Hike: 32:49min
Headed over to the same East Rock trailhead, climbed only the steepest parts of the same route (to the third crossing), and then came back down. 15:48 up; 17:01 down. Other than some general soreness, felt fine.
PM Bike: 10min
First time back on the bike since surgery (stationary). Felt fine.

Tuesday, 1/31/12
Bike: 15min
At PT. Felt better than yesterday.

Wednesday, 2/1/12
Bike: ~15min
Felt good.

Thursday, 2/2/12
Hike: 36:14min
To the fourth crossing and back. Felt pretty good on the way up but then was kind of sore on the way down. 17:26 up; 18:48 down.

Friday, 2/3/12
Bike: 20min
Bumped it up to 4 or 5. Felt good.

Saturday, 2/4/12
Bike: ~23min
To East Rock with Jess, Dan, and Caroline.
Hike: 46:37min
Summit. 22:27 up; 24:09 down

Sunday, 2/5/12
Bike: ~22min
To East Rock.
Hike: 31:53min
Legs tired so went to only third crossing. Cold. 15:14 up; 16:39 down

Total Time: 5hr

49 days post-surgery

I had my sixth PT session yesterday, and the PT said that it doesn't even look like I had surgery. Even though my PT prescription says no active hamstring exercises or isometrics until about 7 to 8 weeks, the PT still was not comfortable adding these exercises, so she gave me some other more challenging exercises, in addition to 15 minutes on the stationary bike. The PT said that she will give me the hamstring stuff on Monday, so that I will have something to report to the doctor on Thursday.