Don't Over Do it!!! Do as I say, not as I do!

So even though I'm past 3 months after I had my surgery, it's probably not a great idea to overdo the biking too much... I may have done that this past weekend. The doctors advice was to increase the distance that I do slowly so that I know what my limits are. I guess increasing my 20 miles a ride is too much...

I had done 20 and even 40 miles in a day with no problem. This past weekend I did 2+ hours on the stationary bike on Friday, thin 50 miles on Saturday, and then 70 miles on Sunday. Then I did a blistering fast ride on Monday, very hilly, up Mt. Bonel, and after that my knee was sore afterwards. Always felt fine when I was biking, but felt stiff and sore afterwards.

So now I'm taking it easy this week. No more long distance for me until I get to the Tour de Cure at the end of May.

Running!

So about 1 week ago I was able to start running! I had to pass a gruling test to be able to demonstrate to the doctor and physical therapist that I was ready, but I did! Here's what I had to do:

1. 3 minutes of one legged squats with a bungee cord pulling me down. Up one second, down the next.
2. 3 minutes jog in place with bungee pulling me forwards.
3. 3 minutes jog in place with bungee pulling me backwards.
4. 50 reps of jumping sideways with bungee pulling me to the right.
5. 50 reps of jumping sideways with bungee pulling me to the left.

So I was given the clear to start jogging. I was told that running on the treadmill initially was good to reduce impact on the knee. I then later ran on a trail and that felt good. I was also told to not run too long without taking a break and walking. So when I ran on the trail I made sure and walked down the hills to reduce the hard impact on the knee. Feels great so far. And of course the last bit of advice given to me was to stop running if there was any pain in the knee. So happy to be back and able to run after about 10 months! I'm now looking forward to being able to push myself harder and run further!

At this point biking long distances is not a problem and I have been able to do about 40 miles at a very fast pace without having any issues.