Jersey

I'm in New Jersey for Christmas. Actually, Christmas was a few slow, uneventful days ago. I'm fairly bored. Not much to do aside from eat like crap.... There are these red candy things I've been inhaling-- we've got pounds of them...wish someone would take them away. My mother-in-law has an exercise bike and I've been using it. Did 45 minutes last night, a post-surgery PR. I really feel it at the back of my thighs near my buttucks-- hamstrings? I feel like I've plateaued a bit. Hip is getting better I think, but the improvement is slowing down. My hip pops every now and then when I bring my leg up. It sorta hurts. The rehab calendar says I can run in about 5 weeks. Wow, that sorta sneaked up on me. Will I be ready? Hmm....

Gazelle workout

Did my first workout with my training group in a long long while-- the workout entailed being on my feet for 3 hours at the xmas party. It was a fun party, and I even contemplated dancing, but thought better of it. Afterwards I headed home for some much needed sleep crosstraining. All in all, it was a great workout. I woke up the next morning with soreness on my right shin, not unlike shin-splints. But the hip felt fine. I'm thinking the shin-splint soreness is probably the same referred pain that has been hanging around my right knee. The knee pain has been getting better recently, although the pain is apparently moving down my leg.....

I saw my PT today, and he had me go through the same exercises that I've been doing for several weeks, clams, bridges, rollbacks, etc, but nothing else worth noting.

Last week I tried to do 3 elliptical workouts but only did 2. I was busy Friday and I felt some accumulated soreness from the week, so it's probably good I skipped it. I find it difficult not to hammer on the elliptical. I feel strong on it, which is a good feeling. My turnover is good, probably faster than before surgery, but the power isn't there yet. I'm guessing that some of my deeper frustrations are being exorcised on that machine. I've been doing around 25 minutes for each workout. I'd like to keep it around there but increase the intensity, push my cardio, maybe get it close to where it was pre-surgery. It's good to have goals...

I'm going to try for 3x elliptical again this week and do 2x long walks. I started walking last week, went for a 15 minute walk around the block with Lucy our dog. I'm not sure, but I blame the walk for my soreness late in the week. Went for another walk today, just shy of 20 minutes, but about 10 minutes into the walk, I could feel my hip getting stiff. But I focused on engaging my glutes...that helped. I figure that I'm not even going to attempt to run until I can comfortably walk for 2 hours without issues. I'll work on my walking progression on Saturday mornings.

Having said that, I did some running over the weekend. Christina dropped me and Banjo off at the starting line of the Jingle Bell 5k on Sunday morning so we could watch, but I was a little late and had to run over the 1st Street bridge so I could emerge on the other side and yell at the lead pack. I probably ran only 150 yards...and I was going pretty slow, putting lots of weight on Banjo's stroller, but still.... It's worth noting that I didn't have much pain, if any, but it didn't feel very good either. It served as a reminder that I'm far from being able to run any satisfying distance or pace...... but once I get there, I can look back and be happy that I've come a long way. Anyway, the race was fun to watch, and I recognized several runners. Patrick has been running well lately after recovering from a nasty ankle injury-- he ran well, but pulled his calf in the last 800 meters. That sucked, and I felt bad for him. He should heal in a couple weeks, but we're all hoping he gets professional help (for his calf.) Banjo was quiet the whole time. I think he tolerates these things for Daddy's sake.

I met Dick Beardsley, which was incredible. He was there promoting the Dick Beardsley Foundation. There should have been a mob around the guy, but I just walked right up to him and introduced myself. He asked if I ran the race and I explained that I was injured. He was genuinely interested so I told him about my hip, blah, blah, and told me a story about a friend of his that had total hip replacement and can still pound out 70 second laps. Dick still runs 3 or 4 marathons a year, which is amazing considering what he's been through. Really nice guy. I left the race feeling inspired. I also scored some really good cookies.

Update: the day after my 20 minute walk I was sore-- sore enough for me to consider skipping my elliptical workout, so in the interest of being "good" I went ahead and skipped it. That was yesterday. Today I did a 16 minute walk and feel a little sore. Granted, being able to walk for that long is an accomplishment, but it's also depressing that my hip complains 24 hours after such a "workout".....

Return of the sweaty dude

He's back, the Sweaty Dude. He enjoys pretty much any machine at the gym, as long as it makes him sweat, but he's particularly fond of the elliptical trainer. He gets on that thing and sweats up a storm, apparently trying to prove something to himself or reach some kind of elliptical high score. He clearly has some kind of exercise disorder.

I just got back from the gym. I did 20 minutes on the elliptical, and I sweated quite a bit, by far the best cardio workout I've had in months. It told me that my fitness isn't too bad.....much better than I thought it was, so I'm thrilled. I drove to Houston today for my 4 week post-op with my doc. He was very pleased with my progress, so I felt motivated to pay the gym a visit at 9:00 on a Friday night, and sweat a lot. The grande starbucks I consumed on the drive home didn't hurt either....

Update: as is my tendency, I overdid it. I'm sore today--- not too bad, but definitely sore. I told myself I would put the elliptical off for awhile to avoid this kind of thing, but I felt like I got a better workout compared to the bike, and the weight bearing is probably better for my hip rehab at this point. My plan is to hit the elliptical 3x/wk, but back off the intensity.

More like a normal person

Being able to walk again is good-- I feel like I've turned a corner. Some other things I can do recently, more like a normal person:

Go up and down stairs -- until recently I'd use the baby-step method.
Touch the bottom of my right foot-- I needed to do this to wash my foot, instead of moving it back and forth on the soap while in the shower.
Put on a sock -- still difficult, but getting easier. It's challenging to put on a sock or shoe without bending your hip past 90 degrees, which the doc doesn't want me to do.
Put on pants -- a normal person stands on one leg at a time while putting on pants. I used to sit down or do a weird inching up my leg thing.
Get into a car -- A normal person puts his/her right leg in first when getting into the driver's side. I would put my butt in first then rotate my legs in.

Saw my PT today and he gave me new exercises and gave me a green light for elliptical, etc, but I think I'm going to stick to the bike and try to comfortably hit my 30 minute goal. He said my walking gait looks great. He keeps saying my hip problem originated from "femoral anterior glide syndrome", caused by a muscle strength imbalance, weak glutes....this is my reminder to read more about it. I tell him that my doc thinks it is femoroacetabular impingement that caused the labral tear. It's always good to have a fancy term for what ails you--- now I have two.

On the downside, I've been having a strange pain in my right knee when I engage my hamstring. My PT thinks it has to do with my return to walking, but I don't see how my wimpy steps can cause this amount of pain. I've read that knee pain can happen after hip surgery because of nerve issues. I'm driving to Houston Friday for my 1-month follow up. I'll ask my doc about it. I've also been sick lately, so I haven't been to the gym since Friday. Gonna go tomorrow though.

Update: 22 minutes on the bike and 3:30 on the elliptical, guess I couldn't resist....