Comeback Trail Part I
At the end of April the knee pain I had been experiencing since mid-February was diagnosed as chondral softening — the cartilage behind my knee caps was wearing down from 20 years of running around, first on soccer fields, then on cross-country courses and tracks, and most recently on the roads in half-marathons, marathons, and triathlons. I had unknowingly increased by training volume over the winter as I rushed to get in shape for the Austin Half Marathon in January while also keeping my yardage up in the pool. Much like Llyod Christmas in Dumb & Dumber getting robbed by the little old lady on a motorized cart, “I didn’t even see it coming.”
Any injury I’ve had before had a clear rehabilitation timeline. Not so with chondral softening. It can take anywhere from 6 months to over a year for the cartilage to form again and get smoothed so it doesn’t feel crunchy. Therefore, I’m on my own to devise a training plan with adequate rest, but also enough activity to provide the buffing-action the cartilage needs.
I’m approaching the end of my 9th week of recovery/rehabilitation and the end of my first week of my second attempt at training. This one seems to be going much better than my first attempt.
I make a lot of promises regarding blog posts that I don’t keep, but I’m going to really try to chronicle my weeks of returning to training after injury. In my experience, this is one of the most difficult situations competitive athletes face, as they are forced to hold back their own reigns. More often than not, we’ll think we’re good to go long before we actually are, and are forced to train at less than optimal intensity and volume for longer than would normally be necessary. Hopefully this series of posts will culminate with a race at the end of August or in October at the latest.
So I suppose I should catch up with a quick summary of the first 8 weeks, and then I’ll write a good update once I make it through Sunday. Fingers crossed!
Week 1: Nothing nothing nothing. When I say nothing, I mean it. No swimming, biking, running, nor lifting. Hardly any unnecessary walking.
Week 2: More nothing.
Week 3: Start back with some easy swimming (1500 SCY - 2000 SCY a couple days). Also some light lifting.
Week 4: Swam 37,400 SCY and some light lifting.
Week 5: Eased back on the swimming, started easy short rides.
Week 6: Light swimming, 1 day of open water in NJ. A couple short (<1 hr) bike rides in CO. Attempted running 5′ on Saturday.
Week 7: Running was a disaster. Trouble walking the next 2 days, and I’m back to nothing.
Week 8: Nothing most days, but on Thursday swam 800 LCM at a beautiful pool in Montreal. Felt terrible. Also rode around 30′ on a Bixi bike Thursday and Friday.
This is a Bixi bike, in case you're wondering.
