4 week Surgery Update

So here we are, 4 weeks from my Microfracture knee surgery.  Things are moving along quite well.   Much better than anyone anticipated.  I was trying to not get my hopes up, but having had 3 knee surgeries prior, I knew my body would heel faster than most.  This will take longer than usual but I think I'll beat expectations.  When I had my ACL done in 2005, I shocked my PT at how fast the swelling was gone and how strong my leg was the first week after surgery.  I can remember people walking in to PT after me that had surgery 6-8 weeks prior for the same thing and still could barely walk and their knee was swelled up like a balloon.  I follow a pretty rigorous protocol even though you may not expect that. I've learned a lot about how to reduce swelling and get my ROM back.  After the MFX I started scouring the internet for as much information as I could.  I already had a great doctor and knew who I was hiring to be my PT.  The big bonus with my PT, was that he had just gone through the same surgery 2 years ago and came back to run the Olympic Marathon trials in Houston.  I also talked with other athletes, like Marc Rubin and discussed the recovery process.  Anytime I am about to attempt something knew, I scour for information and try to assemble the best team of support I can find.  This is no different.


At this point I am finally off crutches!  On Friday my PT said just use them through the weekend.  I seem to be walking just fine and my knee is always feeling better.  If you follow me on Twitter or we're friends on Facebook then you probably saw this video.  That's me RUNNING on an Alter-G treadmill.  This was the first time I actually ran.  It felt amazing.  Friday I ran again.  This time at 6mph and 55% of my body weight.  Just need to lose that other 45% and I can run now!  I am very pleased with my progress and so is my OS and PT.  My PT gave me a very doom and gloom speech at our first visit.  He says now he is slowly retracting that statement and that I am making a great recovery.  The doc on the other hand felt more confident and told me I'd be running by June. That's looking pretty possible at this point. My focus is still endurance mountain biking this summer.  I need a break from Triathlon and Ironman especially.  The long boring training hours were really starting to get to me and for a while I was sort of seeing this an out.  But honestly, at this point, I do miss it.  I've been watching people gear up for their IM's this year and I am really wishing I could do one.  I still don't like the training, especially the long slow runs, but there is nothing like racing an Ironman.  I don't think I'll make the starting line for Louisville but who knows, I am also signed up for Rev3 Cedar Point because I transferred it from last year (are you listening Ironman?) due to my knee bothering me.  That probably won't happen either but things have been going well so who knows.  If I do get to do triathlons this year, I am looking at the Xterra race series.  There's an Xterra in Indian that I put on my schedule for July 21st.  That is looking very possible and I am pretty much planning on that one.  That will get me qualified to race in Ogden, UT which would be great.