My first half marathon in 2014 and post surgery - Rain Run

To celebrate my 6-month surgery milestone, I raced in my first half marathon.  I couldn't be happier with the result!

Time:  2:04:41.1

Pace: 9:31 / mi

48/139 in my age group

219th overall / 540

The track workouts, the taking it slow on the Long Slow Distance runs on Saturdays, the cross training, and the patience all paid off.  It felt great to check off the first milestone of the year!

My legs felt great and felt strong.  It gave me hope that I'll be able to PR in Lake Sammamish Half in March and gave me confidence that I'll be able to continue strong with my training for all the marathons and triathlons I have planned.  

Thank you for all the support I've gotten along the way!

New Year, New Updates

The beginning of 2014 marks the start of my full dive into training for marathons, triathlons, Seattle to Portland one-day ride and Ragnar. I'll be taking outdoor sport to the next level and plan on doing it all with a level of restraint, ease and consistency; and all while having loads of fun!!!

My ACL surgery is not completely behind me as I'm now in week 20 post surgery. This is where I'm ok to begin returning to different sports. I'm not out of the danger zone yet as that's at the 24-week (6 month) mark. I am feeling pretty good though. There are days where I don't feel my knee at all and there are still days when there's a little soreness to give me a reminder. I have worked my way to 40-mile bike rides with some hills, 10-mile run/walk, 5k non-stop runs at 9min/mi, and back to some level of weight cardio classes with Body Bump sessions.

So my plan for 2014 is to stay consistent with a level of training and variety that I will hopefully not get bored with. For the next few months, this is the workout schedule I'll be focusing on.  If my body needs an extra day of rest, I will give it; otherwise, this is it.

• Monday - Track 
• Tuesday - Weights + Bike/Swim 
• Wednesday - Body Pump + Bike/Swim 
• Thursday - Interval Bike + Tempo Run 
• Friday - Rest day 
• Saturday - LSD Run 
• Sunday - Long Bike (increasing to 100+ mi) 2014 

Tentative Race Schedule through August. Events with (*) are confirmed:

1. * Rain Run ½ marathon 1/25 
2. * West Seattle half ass 25k 2/2 
3. Chilly Hilly 33mi Bike 2/23 
4. * Lake Sammamish ½ marathon 3/8 
5. * Whidbey Island Full Marathon 4/13 
6. Hero’s Half in Everett 4/27 
7. * Tacoma Full Marathon 5/4 
8. Portland RnR Half 5/18 
9. Flying Wheels 100mi bike 5/31 
10. North Olympick Discovery Half Marathon 6/1 
11. Issaquah Tri or Green River Marathon/Marathon relay 6/7 
12. * Seattle Rock and Roll Full Marathon 6/21 
13. Lake Padden Olympic Tri 6/28 
14. Seattle to Portland 200mi Bike 7/12 
15. Ragnar NWP Relay 7/18-19 
16. Eugene or SF Full Marathon 7/27 
17. * Ironman Lake Stevens 70.3 8/17 
18. Lake Sammamish Triathlon 8/23

I look forward to exploring all the different places in the Pacific Northwest that these races end up taking me.  Wish me luck!

ACL Surgery Week 12: Quick update

Week 12 update: 
Went to see the doc today and everything looks good. I've been okay'ed to start running. Needless to say, run/walk routines to start, then spiral exercises, sprints and finally some zigzag cutting exercises. My PT estimates that I should be able to run at more full speed in about 2-3 weeks!

ACL Surgery Week 8: Continuing PT and Starting food plan

My physical therapy sessions have been going well.  Nothing much to report other than here are a few highlights:

• Been going to the gym for a month now and have become quite a gym mouse.  Bike, elliptical, swimming, pilate class, yoga class, and now this body pump weight class (been twice).  Keeping classes to low impact ones and things seem to be going well for my leg.
• Bike workouts up to 45 minutes in length
• Elliptical workouts up to 25 minutes in length
• Continuing to increase weights on my leg press, leg extension, inner and outer thigh workouts.  Added glute extensions in the past 2 weeks.
• 10/13 - Biked outdoors on my road bike.  Even though it was only for 6.5 miles as part of leading the Biggest Loser 5k run.
• On the downside, I pulled my hamstring again.  It just seems really fragile.  

I'm now ONLY 4 weeks away from officially being able to start running again so that gets me quite excited :)

I've been moderating what I eat so that I don't gain a crazy amount of weight during these past 8 weeks where I haven't been able to work out as much as usual.  This past Monday, October 16th, Ben and I decided to start on a prepped food plan called Personal Trainer food.  The thought was to see what types of food and portion control this plan offered versus what we were already doing on our own.  Right off the bat, the portions are very small :)

Here's a look at the past 3 days which were all entirely randomly selected off of the bags in the freezer.

Oct 14 lunch		Italian Style Meatballs and Green Beans
Oct 14 dinner		Garlic Herb Chicken Breast and Cauliflower
Oct 15 lunch		Smoked Brisket and Broccoli florets
Oct 15 dinner		Mozzarella Roasted Garlic Chicken Sausage and Scandinavian Blend Veggies
Oct 16 lunch		Grilled Tender Chicken Breast and Green Zucchinis
Oct 16 dinner		Meatballs and Brussels Sprouts.  My "everything is round" meal.

The first day was rough since we weren't totally prepared.  We didn't have enough snacks handy to fill in the gaps.  On the second day, I had a headache and felt tired and weak all day.  Part of that was probably due to the sugar crash/leveling and we had come off of a weekend away and eating (aka gorging) out.  We also picked up some cheeses, deli meats and got a better idea on how many nuts we were able to eat to complement our 2 meals a day of prepped food.  Now on day 4, things are going better and I don't feel like I'm hungry all the time.

In terms of the food, some of them are not bad.  Some, I've definitely made them better.  The meats have all been pretty good.  The vegetables are all very fresh and taste very yummy on their own.  I haven't had to put much of their garlic sauce on them.  My least favorite so far are the brussels sprouts which I normally love.  I think they're just a bit too soggy for my taste.

Overall, trying to keep active and eat relatively healthy so I don't go soft during this recovery period :)

ACL Surgery: 6 Week Mark!

I had my 6-week check up with Dr. Peterson yesterday, 10/2.  The visit was rather short but filled with good news!

The assistant escorted me to the room and saw that my leg extension and flexion were pretty good.  Then Dr. Peterson showed up, checked up on my knee and checked how loose/tight the new ACL is.  He said it all felt pretty solid and that I'm good to start using the elliptical, bike outside, swim, and any activity that was in a straight line motion [YEAH!!!], except for running [BOO...].  He said it was best to wait till week 12 to start running since some people have experienced knee irritation from starting to run too soon.  Also, the next 6 weeks are really when the graft is the weakest so best not to add any unduly stress on it.  He frowned a little when I told him that I had already been swimming all good.  Upon a little more prying, he said I could start running in 4.5 weeks if things were going well instead of waiting the full 6.  We'll see...  But overall, all great news.

Right after my doctor's appointment, I had my PT appointment so I got to share the good news with Doug who started me on the elliptical the same day!  It felt great to get on there.  I've been given a plan to start with some biking and a little of elliptical (10 min), and slowly work my way to more elliptical and less biking if I want.  I'll switch it up depending on the day :).

ACL Surgery: One month mark!!!

It's been 2.5 weeks since my last update. Things have been improving slowly.  Wound is healing and getting better.  You can barely see the top 2 holes and the other 3 will probably leave a mark forever.

Here's a summary of where I'm at:

• Extension:  Full extension comes pretty easily now.  
• Flexion (how close your heel can come to your butt): This one has its moments.  I went from 140° to 147° to being able to touch my butt after 1-2 of these and my knee has warmed up.  It is still hard, sore and slightly painful to hold for 20 seconds. 
• Pain: There pretty much hasn't been much pain except during full flexion exercises.  I did also manage to overdo it on my hamstring exercise and had to rest it.
• Weight bearing:  All good here. I'm even doing heel touches which are exercises where my right leg is on a 4" step and full weight is on my right leg while trying to lower and touch my left heel to the floor.
• Ability to walk without crutches: I've been crutch- and brace-free for the entire 2.5 weeks now.   Leg still gets tired more easily after workouts and long walks.  I try not to walk too lop-sided when that happens.
• Ability to drive (right leg surgery):  Been driving! All good here!
• Strength: My strength workouts have been on a plateau for the past 2 weeks.  
• Balance: Solid.  
• Ability to walk without a limp up and down stairs: This has been getting easier.  I still feel pulls on my hamstring when I go down the stairs but it's slowly getting smoother.
• Jogging and Biking: Got confirmation that the doctor doesn't prescribe running till the 12 week mark.  I have been walking on the treadmill and working my way to 18mph over 20 minutes right now.  When it comes to biking I'm at 40 min of biking at 80+ RPM with relatively low resistance but varying it.
• Jumping: Too far away to think about right now.
• Cutting:  Too far away to think about right now.
• Unrestricted return to sports: Probably 6-9 months away.

For those interested, here is the list of exercises that I've been doing for the past month.  These have been focused on getting me back to full extension and flexion and building up my quads, calf muscles and slowly my hamstrings.  I was told many times that the hamstring recovery was going to be the longest and only living through it now is it sinking in.  My left hamstrings are a LOT weaker now and I pulled it at week 3 so I have pulled back on weight exercises on it for now.  Hopefully, I'll be able to slowly build them up once they are fully healed.

Week 1 Workouts

1. Heel slides - using bands to get as much extension.
2. Quad Sets - Rolled towel under the knee and lift and hold for 10 secs
3. Quad Sets Plus Pillow Squeeze - Lift both heels and then Squeeze and hold for 10 secs
4. Quad Sets Plus Straight Leg Raise - "Lock, Lift, Lower, Release".  Slowly start adding rep and weight
5. "Outside" Leg Raise
6. "Inside" Leg Raise
7. Repeat Heal Slide
8. ICE

Week 2 Workouts (added)

1. Move Knee Cap
2. Heel Raises - started at 50/50 weight 
3. Standing mini squats with not resistance
4. Stationary Bike for "Range of Motion" 6-8 min

Week 3-5 Workouts (added)

1. Heel Raises - adjusted to 100% weight on my right leg
2. Prone Leg curl to 90 degrees
3. Standing mini squats with Blue Band
4. Steps - Front steps.  Started at 4" steps then moved to 6" steps.
5. Steps - Side way steps.  Started at 4" steps then moved to 6" steps.
6. Prone Heel to Butt stretch w/ strap to get more flexion.
7. Biking or Swimming - for cardio with increased length.  Biking still at low resistance

ACL Surgery: Checking in end of Week 2

I got great news from Doug, my physical therapist, today.  I'm doing great!  My quad and other muscle strength are at where most people are at the 1-month mark.  I've been okayed to walk around without the brace, my flexibility continues to improve and I had a lot more workouts added to my daily routine.

So here is my summary of where I'm at:

• Extension:  Got full extension!  Knee still gets stiff way too easily when it's in the same position for too long.
• Flexion (how close your heel can come to your butt): I've gotten up to 140° today when I'm sited.   I'm now working on my flexion when I'm lying on my stomach.  Best today was at 124° and this is the one I really need to work on this week.  
• Pain: This hasn't changed too much.  I'm down to taking a Tylenol in the morning and Ibuprofen in the afternoon.
• Weight bearing:  Full weight on it and started trying to walk on my right with equal weight so I'm no lop-sided.
• Ability to walk without crutches: I started week 2 being told to only walk when the braces were locked.  I actually wasn't very good about keeping to this.  I started walking with the brace in full range and then the last 2 days I've been walking around the house without it.  Good thing that Doug has officially okay'ed me walking around without the brace anywhere I go now.  With the exception of when I'm in very crowded places like going to a football game.
• Ability to drive (right leg surgery):  I'm okay to start driving.  I haven't tried it yet but will need some practice first with the pedals while the car is off.
• Strength: My right thigh definitely shrunk in the 1-week my leg has been in the brace.  Luckily, my PT workouts are paying off and it's getting its strength back every day.
• Balance: Solid.  Can stand on my right leg.  Can quite squat or bend with weight on it yet.
• Ability to walk without a limp up and down stairs: From what I've read, this will be 3-4 weeks out but I'm working on it this week.  Walking down the stairs is incredibly hard!  I'm starting with 4" steps.
• Jogging: I wish.  From what I've read, I might be able to start running in 2-3 months.
• Jumping: Too far away to think about right now.
• Cutting:  Too far away to think about right now.
• Unrestricted return to sports: Probably 6-9 months away.

Here are some pictures of my leg and where it's been the last week :)  There aren't too many pictures between day 2 and today.  Even though things continued to improve, I certainly had my down days.  Saturday and Sunday were rough and my leg were bruised and in pain and my ankle were the most swollen I had seen them.  But things got better.

8/29 Day7 - Getting on my own bike.
I've now worked my way to 10 minutes

8/29 Day7 - back of leg bruising

8/29 Day7 - font view

8/30 Day 8 - Back of leg... looked worse

8/30 Day 8 - Front of leg... standing. 
My leg and ankle swelled up more this day.

8/30 Day 8 - at the theatre

9/4 Day 13 -Swelling on the knee looks mostly subsided.
But I can't see my knee bone yet.  

9/4 Day 13 - Standing front leg view

9/4 Day 13 - Back of leg - Bruising looks to be 
much improved! 

9/4 Day 13 - Bruising has unfortunately also 
moved down to my feet.