Getting back at it

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Just over two weeks post op now and I'm able to start doing some intervals, introduce easy running and get back in the water. As noted before, the air bubble is completely gone - although I have left my stylish medical alert bracelet on. I am also not seeing my heart beat as much in my eye - just after workouts. The "hole" in my vision that started this whole ordeal is also gone. Good news - that means that the surgery was successful and I didn't permanently loose any vision between when the tear developed and when I had the surgery to fix it.

Swim - I've gotten up to 2x10 minutes on the vasa trainer at CTS. It's quite the workout - almost a really swim simulation, but not. Harder to get the body rotation and there is no kicking on the vasa. But it's better then doing nothing and not getting any swimming in at all. I will be back in the water on Wednesday, taking it easy and just paddling around. The bad part is I had just gotten my feel for the water back after the trip to Tucson - and that was only two weeks out of the water! This will be three weeks...

Bike - I was able to start riding inside at one week post op, but had to work really hard to keep it easy for the first few rides. If I got my heart rate up too high, there was a lot of fuzziness afterwards and I could really see my heart beat in my eye. It's the weirdest sensation! But that has really gone away and I have been able to gradually up the intensity of the rides. Today I actually did a little interval workout - felt great and had no issues at all. I was hoping to get outside and ride some of the really easy trails at CMSP today, but woke up to snow. So inside it was, and the mental boost I got from the ride was worth staring at the walls for another two hours. This week, I will start getting back on the mountain bike, starting with non-technical trails.

Run - So this will be the last area I get to re-introduce. Running just has more jarring then any of the other disciplines (except for maybe crashing on the mountain bike) and that's what the doc wants me to avoid for a few more days. I will slowly introduce the running into my walks. Yep, me who hates walking has been channeling my inner race walker and putting out some fast times for my strolls. I actually did 18 miles walking last week! Got on the trails for my long walk yesterday - and I think the trails will be the place to start running. Softer and less pounding on the body (eye)

I've said it before, but Nick has been just awesome for the last two weeks. A bored athlete who can't do much is a hard person to deal with and that's just what I've been. At least I got two rooms of the house painted...

Comments

  1. RonMarch 27, 2011 at 10:20 PM

    Glad the recovery is going well. Have you ever considered the continuing education course Running Medicine at the University of Virginia/SPEED clinic? It is amazing. You recommend any running con ed courses?

    ReplyDelete
  2. TracyMarch 28, 2011 at 3:53 PM

    I read your comments about the running course - it does sound like there was a lot of good information presented. I'm not in the out paitent area, so a lot of the really interesting classes would be more for personal benefit (I do subacute geriatrics) Besides, I seem to spend all my vacation time traveling to races!

    ReplyDelete

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