Back With a Capital Vengence!

Since I am slowly weaning off the crutches I am forced to reflect on all the fun I have had these last 6 week. Having spent 3 of the last 15 months on crutches, there is a lot I am going to miss when I am healthy... some only slightly sarcastic.

1. My armpits smelling like rubber.
2. My crazy strong new triceps.
3. People asking me why I don’t use one of those knee scooter things. Those are for ankles dumb @ss!
4. My temporary disabled parking permit at the U.
5. Eating standing up in the kitchen.
6. Repeatedly falling up stairs.
7. Having strangers at the gym tell me how bad @ss I am while working out on crutches.
8. Feeling absolutely no guilt watching 10 Parks and Rec episodes in a row and re-reading all the Harry Potters.
   
9. When I tell people I had hip surgery and they ask, “a hip replacement?” and then feeling awful about myself because I must look like I am 55.
10. All the money I save at work by not frequenting the Starbucks because I can’t carry my own d@mn coffee.
    

AM: 15 minutes bike and morning hip drill

PM: 20 minutes bike and evening hip drill

Making some progress with the walking! Seriously, walking is a highly underrated, underappreciated sport. 

AM: 15 minutes bike and morning hip drill plus arms. Want to keep the killer triceps now that they are not propelling me around.

PM: Evening hip drill.

AM: 15 minutes bike and evening hip drill in the morning because I am going to be too busy hobble dancing to bluegrass tonight. Attempting a brunch outing sans crutches. Wish me luck :) 

PM: 20 minutes bike and morning hip drill plus anti-PF drill. Multiple crutch-less outings successful today! 

AM: 10 minutes bike and morning hip drill. Totally overdid it with the hobble dancing last night and seriously angered the hip gods :(

PM: 10 minutes bike followed by a royal beating at PT.

Tossed my crutches in the dumpster this morning! Never going to need those babies again...

AM: 10 minutes bike and morning hip drill.

PM: 30 minutes bike and evening hip drill. Went to the grocery store after work with 2 arms, first time in 7 weeks - awesome! Hip is pretty painful by the end of the day, but I am too distracted by my ability to do complex 2-armed tasks to care. 

AM: 10 minutes on the bike at PT and hip drill. I am almost walking like a normal person now.

PM: 30 minutes on bike and hip drill.

AM: 10 minutes bike and morning hip drill. This nice weather is making me agitated. I want to go run up mountains. So I kind of thought that all the rest time on crutches would fix my left knee and plantar fascia issues, but I think it has made it worse not to mention the worsening of my right SI joint. Here is how I would rate my pain from highest to lowest: right SI joint, left plantar fascia, left knee, left (op) hip. I guess this means my hip is doing well seeing as the other issues are becoming more apparent.    

PM: 35 minutes bike (10 minutes on Level 3!). Seeing as 2 weeks ago I couldn't pedal hard enough to turn the darned thing on, I will take that as serious progress. 

PM2: Evening hip which now includes 4-way hip, splits, circles, scissors, and frog legs with the spider band, bridges, butt burners, clam shells, and a bunch of stretchy things.  

AM: 15 minutes bike and morning hip drill. Hip's feeling alright. I am getting a bit more extension with walking, so that is exciting! SI joint still feels like poo. I am seriously considering a trip to New Zealand or the Dolomites late summer, anyone want in?

PM: Evening hip drill. Of course as soon as I say the hip is feeling alright it totally freaks out. Was on my feet a little too much today and it got super painful so I left work early and went home and crawled into bed with my ice packs. I've only been off crutches for four days so this is to be expected and I shouldn't let these flare ups get me too down. 

AM: 2 hours of restorative yoga class. Couldn't do a whole lot but lay on the floor, breathe, and grumble. But it is a start and I've got a looooong way to go! Then 30 minutes on the spin bike and the morning hip drill. 

PM: Skipped evening hip exercises because I was having too much fun. First time I've slacked in 4 weeks so I think I am going to be okay.  

AM: Walked about a mile to retrieve my car after last night's fun. Morning hip drill.

AM2: Outside BIKING!!! Rode for 40 minutes on the JRP. A little wobbly at first, but all good by the end. Can't say enough about how good it felt since it has been almost 2 months since I have been able to do any sort of outdoor recreation. Funny to think last weekend I was still on crutches and now I am out on my bike - yay!

PM: Most amazing massage ever and evening hip drill. Got my abs massaged, that was a first.

AM: Morning hip drill.

PM: Royal SI and piriformis beating at PT plus some new supine and regular plank action and swan standing thing.

PM2: 35 minutes bike at the gym.

PM3: Evening hip drill.

My hip rehab is taking over my entire being!!!

AM: Morning hip.

PM: 60 minutes on the bike and evening hip drill which now consists of bridges, straight, abductor and adductor leg raises, splits, scissors, circles, and frog legs with the spider band, swan standing things, side, regular, and supine planks, butt burners, clam shells, and some gentle rolling and stretching. Sheesh! 

AM: Morning hip drill. Stop comparing!

PM: 30 minutes bike level 2 with five minutes on level 3 followed by evening hip. Need to celebrate the bitty accomplishments when I get them! 

AM: Stepping it up at PT. Now that I am 8 weeks out from surgery I am allowed to do a little more. My PT is making me be super cautious well... because look what happened last time. Instructions for this weekend are to do 50% less than what I want/plan to do. Doesn't he understand that I will just up the plan?

PM: 50 minutes outside BIKING on the JRP. What a lovely evening! Much better ride than the first attempt. Hoping for exponential progress from here on out.

PM2: Evening hip routine. Plank drill is not getting any easier!

AM: Morning hip exercises. Flip-flops are on and the car is packed and I am off to Moab as soon as I can sneak out of work. I only feel slightly guilty parking in a disabled spot at the U with a bike in my car :)

PM: 11 bike miles on the Potash Road in shorts and a tank. Hot! Cooling off with a Mojito at Eddie McStiffs - refershing wow! I really needed to get out of town :)

The Canyonlands Half is not spectator friendly! Rode in circles trying to see the runners and just kept getting yelled at by cops and volunteers. I don't know what was worse, getting 3 flats during the St. George marathon or getting yelled at in Moab :( I think it is time to start running instead of all this spectating crap.

 My circles:

AM: Morning hip drill in a tent.  Then 15 miles of outside BIKING on the Potash Road with crazy wind and a baby hill. Almost a real ride :)

PM: Evening hip and stick roller beating. Biked outside for the last 4 days and feeling actual muscle soreness rather than pain - yay! 

AM: Biking and 10 minutes of supervised walking at PT. Adding step up/downs, hip hikes, baby squats, and tall knees to the hip routine.

PM: 60 minutes on the bike. A whole half hour on Level 3 - yippy! 

AM: Met Fritz for SPIN very, very early this morning. No way I could motivate to get up that early on a workday myself! Hip held up well and I have to say this was my first real workout in 2013. Progress - yay!

PM: Lovely walk around the neighborhood (about 8 blocks :) followed by the neverending hip drill.

As for a Frank update, which is way more fun than a hip update! Frank is in fact a GIRL. She recovered so nicely from her illness the other week that she went into crazy nesting mode and laid her second egg last night after her first over the weekend. Just in time for Easter. I just wish they would actually turn into little birdies so I could give them all to the Murphy's :)

AM: 10 minutes bike at PT. I no longer walk like I just got off a horse. 

PM: 30 easy minutes on bike. Skipped my evening hip exercises because my hip hurt too darned much and I am sick of doing them!

Sweet article about Kilian Jornet in the NYTimes - Creating the All-Terrain Human.

AM: Morning hip. The lovely snow makes up for the super bad hip day. I don't know if it is the delayed effect of the Spin class on Tuesday, all the squats in PT yesterday, or the weather, but I kind of want to rip my leg off. Achy throbbing pain in the glutes and groin plus super tight hamstring and quad equals grrrrrrr.

AM2: 15 easy minutes on the bike to try and get the funk out. Kinda worked maybe.

PM: 30 easy minutes bike and evening PT.

AM: 20 minutes easy bike and morning hip. Scheduled an appointment with an acupuncturist today because I have always been curious and I have noticed that sitting on a sharp object in the middle of my hamstring makes my hip feel better so needles must feel good!

PM: 70 minutes bike for an even 1.5 hours today.

Congrats all you crazy Buffalo Runners! And to think I was registered for the 50-miler, ha ha ha! I will be out there next year for sure :)

AM: Morning hip.

PM: 45 minutes decent effort on the Spin bike plus the evening hip.

AM: Morning hip and 30 minute walk around the Ave's.

AM2: 10 mile bike ride on the JRP. Cold!

PM: Evening hip and 30 minute walk through Memory Grove with my trekking poles. I wonder where I got that idea from :)

This week's focus... walking!

AM: 15 minute walk and morning hip.

PM: 15 minute walk and 60 minutes bike. 

Walking is awesome!

AM: Early SPIN class and evening hip drill. My hip flexor is so tight up into my abdomen that it feels like my insides are being yanked when I walk. I am still not allowed to stretch my hip flexor for fear that my iliofemoral ligament is not totally healed yet :(

PM: Morning hip drill. Backwards day.

PM2: 90 minute massage. I have the best massage therapist ever!!!

My new goal each week is to bike at least as many miles as Jake runs :) Gotta get a move on! I am already down by 8.5.

AM: Bike at PT. Feeling so good after massage last night and all the manual therapy at PT today. Was allowed to do a little hip flexor stretching, feels soooooo good!

PM: 50 minutes on the spin bike followed by 30 minutes of wandering around the outside of Sugar Daddy Park with Andrea.

PM2: Clam shells, butt busters, and all sorts of planks. 

10 weeks post-surgery today! Since I haven't been whining a ton lately, I must be doing okay. Last surgery I got to start running at 10 weeks and well look what happened so this time we are being way more cautious. I am going to give it a full four more weeks before I even try to take those first running steps, but I am happy to say that thoughts of running have started creeping in :)

AM: 70 minutes at SPIN class followed by 5 minutes on the ELLIPTICAL (it is a start!) and hip drill. I have been on the bike once and sometimes twice a day for the last 8 weeks so it feels GREAT to be officially permitted to do something else.

PM: 30 minute walk and evening hip. 

The New York Times loves ultrarunning lately. Super cool article, complete with gross feet pictures, on the Barkley Marathon.

AM: Bike and easy day at PT. I bribed my PT with cinnamon rolls to give me an easy workout so I can feel good for birthday bike ride tomorrow :) 

AM2: So lovely out I had to go for a bike ride. Up Memory Grove, a bitty ways up City Creek, and down Virginia. Progress! 

Birthday Ride on the Burr Trail Road! 

Tooled around Torrey, Utah on my bike. 37 degrees plus icy wind makes for a very short ride.