Monday, August 29, 2011

A Fresh Beginning: Running Again

Boy does it feel good to run outside again! Last week I added "jogging' on the indoor track to my recovery from surgery. I added 1 mile at the end of three different indoor bike/elliptical machine workouts. The first day I did it I ran the mile in 10 minutes flat. The next time, knowing I that survived the first run, I did it in 8:30. The third day, I completed one mile in 7:30. I am happy to run, even if it is slowly.

Today, I had to try running outdoors. It was such a lovely day and tomorrow I go back to teaching, so I needed a nice summer run in the woods. I went out to Mine Falls and did the trail series 5K loop. My goal was to run the whole way unless I felt pain and to complete the loop in under 30 minutes. I ran it in 27:51 which I will take, even though last August my fastest 5k was 19:11 with a bad hip. I have a long way to go, but at least I am a jogger now! Actually the legs felt good, it was just the breathing that was labored-I guess that is what one year of inactivity and 40 extra pounds can do. It is great to be able to progress so far just 5 weeks post surgery and I am exceeding expectations of what recovery is like post hip surgery.

Star American sprinter Tyson Gay had the same labral tear surgery as me and his surgery was a couple weeks earlier than mine. In an article last week, Tyson said his surgery was successful..But his recovery is much slower than mine:


Gay is one of the fastest men on the planet, but his rehab has been tediously slow from hip surgery last month. His right hamstring is weak and he still walks with a slight limp.

These days, Gay trumpets his biggest accomplishment as being able to walk backward in a swimming pool.


Of course, I am sure an injured Tyson Gay could hop a 100 meters on one leg faster than I could run it with two healthy legs!

2 comments:

Michael said...

Great to see you at it again last night! Good luck with your comeback!

Frank Lilley said...

Congratulations! It has to be great to be running again!