Hey folks, it’s been another few weeks without a post here. I really am sorry, and no, I haven’t fallen off the face of the Earth. I post a lot of stuff here, and here. I never intended for those two things to take the place of this site, but they have, at least lately. I’ll try to do better—I promise!
Onto more interesting things…running things…swimming things… Yes, I said “swimming things.”
As I mentioned back on June 23rd, I’ve been back running consistently since March. Recovery from knee surgery has gone pretty well, but at the time of that post, I was starting to experience swelling in the knee that wasn’t subsiding, at least not in time for my next run. It got to the point where I was experiencing pain in the knee for the first .5 mile – 1.5 miles. It typically went away after that, but still, it wasn’t good. So after wrapping up June with 117 miles, I backed way off during July.
For the month of July, I typically ran only every other day, 3-6 miles—no long runs. The first week of July I ran a whopping total of 8 miles! As the month wore on, I gradually increased the miles, and occasionally ran a couple of days in a row, letting my knee guide me. By August 2nd, I did my first “long run” since June 21st—10 miles, and topped 25 miles for the week. At the end of July, I’d tallied a total of 80 miles.
Whatever you runners out there might think, this cutback in running wasn’t a bad thing. I really did need to give my knee more time to recover, and I also needed to focus on strengthening the knee and the supporting muscles (which I’ve done, and continue to do). I’ve also taken up swimming as a means of cross-training.
At first, it was just a way of getting in some exercise while we were in Houston visiting family. Once I realized that I could swim for a decent length of time, without totally wiping myself out, I began swimming regularly—like every other day, 1250-1600 meters. In fact, I swam 13 times in July. I’m not fast, I’m not efficient, my form isn’t very pretty, but I’m sticking with it, and working at getting better. Best of all, I’m getting a great workout, and allowing my knee extra recovery! Of course with all of this swimming, talk has now turned to the possibility of giving triathlon a try. We’ll see…