One year ago, as I headed into surgery, I wondered if I would ever be able to run again. This week, I ran over five miles every day with today as an off day on the bike.
Last week I was at home for the first time in awhile and while I was out running, I saw a guy who I always used to see in the early summer mornings before I headed to work. He asked where I had been and I told him what had happened. I said I was lucky just to be out there.
I don’t feel like I used to. Five miles is hard and it beats me up good. The loop I’ve been doing at home is probably more like 5.5 since I used the GPS once and I used to be able to do it in 31 – 32 minutes with little problem. Now I struggle to keep it under 40 minutes. While many others have returned to where they were following similar procedures, I’m guessing I won’t get back to high mileage weeks and workouts and long runs. The risk of undoing everything is too great and I’ve heard of people who pushed a few track intervals too hard and were in pain again the next day. For now, I plan on supplementing the running with biking when I get too beat up. I’ll probably gradually increase the amount of running I’m doing until it feels more comfortable.
Maybe in ten years some of those experimental stem cell injections will be common practice and I could get something like that if what’s left of my cartilage wears away.
Yesterday, in the middle of my run I tripped on a branch that came down with all the rain and storms. I twisted my left ankle so bad it hurt the rest of the day and irritated the plantar fascia. It was the same twisting that I think contributed to the whole knee mess in the first place, so that little move has me worried. After a day on the bike, I’ll see how it goes. I don’t know if I’ll ever run on any trails again after all of this just to keep myself from tripping or twisting my left ankle. But, even in the street I still manage to hit something.
Everything has improved significantly in the past year and hopefully it will hold up into the future.
#1 by Lindsay on December 1, 2009 - 6:26 pm
Hey Matt, how is your knee doing now? I’m also trying to make a return to running after microfracture, and it’s great to hear about your progress.
#2 by Matt on December 12, 2009 - 11:13 am
I’ve been pretty busy as of late so I haven’t had much time to write. My knee is as good as new. However, I’ve had some gait issues with running and I seem to be compensating slightly on my non-surgery leg, which is causing some muscle strains.
#3 by Lindsay on December 14, 2009 - 2:39 pm
That’s great to hear…gives me hope!