Going Slowly

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 Being released from the couch was the best feeling ever. Finally! I was able to get up and move and start doing things again. With the instructions to ease back into normal activity - emphasis on the ease in part! I was allowed to actually get up and go for a decent length walk. I could start riding the trainer again. I could even start cooking! I still had the small gas bubble in my eye, but that was fading rapidly. That was the biggest issue with starting to run - that little gas bubble dancing around. And after a week on the couch, the last thing I wanted to do was plunge right back into some high intensity and duration running. A great way to get injured for sure. 

The first week after getting off the couch was just some longer walks and easy runs. Short runs, with permission to stop and walk when things felt tired. I was honestly pretty frustrated with how tired my legs were for having that week of nothing but "recovery." I was stiff, tired and my knees were still aching. The movement helped for sure, but every time I stopped moving I got stiff. Short rides inside, super easy. I was already noticing that when I tried to focus up, there was a little double vision. Huh. Something to keep an eye on. I did throw in a few harder efforts on the bike without any issues. 

It was two weeks after the surgery that I tried my first real trail run. When I hit the trails, I felt really good. I decided to go a little harder and a little longer then planed. Instead of 7 easy miles, I headed further into the park for 10 miles and one hard climb. The climb felt great. I was able to run hard and there were no issues with my eye. Once I hit the top of the climb, I did have to chill out a bit. I could feel the effort and the lack of running for sure! But it was a nice blast of confidence for sure. The bigger question was what would happen with a day of work and then trying to do something. I decided to make my first day back to work a non-running day. Just a ride, nothing fancy. Then Striders for my run after my second day of work. That run I opted to make a little harder again - at least on the climb. I could tell that the double vision/wonky focusing was still an issue with running downhill. With that in mind, I took all the easy trails back to the parking lot! And that means the mountain biking will have to wait a little longer since that's where I'm noticing the vision issues the most. At least outside of work...

So far so good. Time to gradually start building up the miles and getting back out on the trails! I'm still bummed about missing the Crested Butte 105k, but if I hadn't pulled out when I did, I might have been tempted to not and then go out and race. While I would have survived the race for sure, it wouldn't have been the smartest long term choice. 

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