Life Post-Surgery

I really need some sort of electro-shock therapy to keep up with this blog. I blog for two or three weeks, ignore it for two or three months, rinse and repeat. Oh well.

Life has sucked the past two months. I had surgery on the 21st, for the injury I mentioned in the last entry. It ended up being a bit more invasive than anticipated, and instead of just reattaching the cartilage in the shoulder, the doc had to drill a hole in my bone to reattach my bicep tendon as well. I was immobilized for two weeks, and in a sling for four. I've been doing physical therapy for three weeks now, and I can finally break the plane that runs parallel to the floor. I'm still not allowed to do anything that uses the bicep muscle though.

HOWEVER!!!!!

Last week I got cleared to run. Well, not run. But move forward at a slightly faster-than-walking pace for brief periods of time. My plan, therefore, is to begin doing the Couch-to-5K training plan.

This is a bit of a hit to the ego. Less than three years ago I ran my first marathon. I ran my most recent half-marathon less than two years ago. I've been running (although not consistently) ever since. Even when I take time off, I can normally go right back to running a 33-minute 5K.

But it's OK, I keep telling myself. I need to let me shoulder heal. I need to start slowly so that I don't kill myself.

And, let's be honest. I've gained a significant amount of weight since the surgery.

So that's why I'm starting the Cto5K. With the jog/walk/job intervals, it will keep me honest about not overtaxing my shoulder. It will allow me to safely get back into running. Since it is a 3x/week program, I can do it on the days I don't have physical therapy.

And because I do have a fairly significant running history, I'm not starting at the beginning of the program. Cto5K is typically an 8-week program, building up to run a (duh) 5K at the end of the 8 weeks. I'm going to start at week 4, day 1. This has me doing 2 miles today, but not running more than .5 miles at a time.

• Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
• Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
• Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
• Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
• Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

I think I can handle that. We shall see.