One Year Later

A year ago today I was laid up on the couch recovering from knee surgery on both by knees. I was pretty much living on the couch with occasional trips to the bathroom. I would also periodically use my arms to drag myself up the stairs to swap out my ice. I was also not really eating too much. Melissa would leave me with a box of crackers and I would have either a Dr. Pepper or Red Bull now and then. After a few days, I was able to go back to work. Each day after work, I would do some leg raises and then ice for the rest of the night. For those of you who have been with me on this blog from the beginning, you pretty much know the story.

Today I would like to reflect on my year - post knee surgery. After doing physical therapy religiously every day for several months including riding the stationary bike, I felt well enough to try a race. I did the Fredericksburg Offroad Duathlon #1 with some friends and while all my friends beat me, I still did pretty well all things considered. I also completed 3 10Ks, the National Offroad Duathlon Championship, and I made it through 75 miles of the Shenandoah Mountain 100. No doubt, I have recovered well and was able to do more than many people are able to do.

Currently I am doing P90X with my wife. We start our 11th week tomorrow. Doing P90X plus swimming twice a week has left little time for biking and running but Melissa and I both are looking at doing more races next year including more triathlons. In fact we are in the process of shopping for road bikes now. There are so many bikes out there to test ride and then follow up with Internet research. It is truly amazing how many choices there are out there.

Personally I like the idea of working my way up to a full Ironman Distance Triathlon. But first I have to start small with a Sprint Triathlon. The triathlon distances break down something like this:

Sprint: 400 Meter Swim, 12 Mile Bike, 5K Run

Olympic Distance: 1.5 K Swim, 40K Bike Ride, 10K Run

Half-Iron Distance: 1.2 Mile Swim, 56 Mile Bike Ride, 13.1 Mile Run

Full Iron Distance: 2.4 Mile Swim, 112 Mile Bike Ride, 26.2 Mile Run

As you can see, a Full Ironman Distance triathlon is no joke and I see this as more of a dream distance at the moment. After all I am just learning to swim properly and I can do about 100 meters without having to take a little break. I have a LONG way to go. Plus there is another issue-what I consider to be the biggest issue and perhaps the one thing that may keep me from achieving what I believe the rest of my body can handle. My darn knee.

My left knee is still bothering me. Some weeks are better than others but lately it has been a nuisance. It has not kept me from doing all my workouts but the way it feels, I am not sure I can run more than a few miles on it. After I swim, it feels great but then my day of sitting at my desk makes it start to ache a bit. Sitting seems to be my worst enemy. Of course yesterday we swam for an hour, test road bikes for a least an hour including climbing a decent hill about 5 times, and we did Kenpo X. I was able to do all that fine but this morning, the knee feels a little sore in places that it shouldn't. I probably should have iced again last night but I did not.

Two years ago, I liked the idea of running ultra marathons but with my gimpy knee, I know that is not in the cards. So then I starting leaning towards the triathlons. There are some additional workouts I can do to strengthen my knee and get over the knee pain. If I work on it, I may be able to work up to my dream tri distance. I feel motivated to do it.

I used to play soccer. That was my passion and is still my exercise of choice. Unfortunately soccer is too hard on my body. If I am sore today, it is because I pushed myself in a workout. When I was playing soccer, if I was sore, it was because I got kicked, stopped up, run over, flipped, or otherwise bruised by the opposing team or the ground. Unfortunately the toll of soccer still haunts me today. My ankles are stiff and make some wicked cracking noises and of course my knees are not pristine either.

In summary, I still have a lot of work to do in order to reach my athletic goals. Conquer the knee, train like a beast, dial in the nutrition, and have fun doing it. I am lucky to have a very supportive wife and an income that lets me do all these things. For instance, one race I was looking at - a Half Iron Distance tri- costs $150 just to enter. Plus I would have to rent a wet suit. And as far as support goes, Melissa is the best. She continues to push herself and she has really made some significant gains in her fitness over the last year. From my perspective anyway.

Next time I write, I hope to have a new bike and maybe I can post some pictures.

BRING IT!