I Can and I Will...

Last night I had my first athletic activity since tearing my meniscus in late May, and I was a little nervous in doing so. As I have mentioned, I signed up to play on a rec league basketball team at our church and made it 3 games before hurting my knee (cause I am not 25 any more). I tried to follow the doctors orders and let it rest and heal and all like a good patient. I went for my follow up appointment and the doctor said it was healing nicely, but it looked like I had some arthritis in my knee. I told him I was glad it was better because I still have a plan to do one more Ironman before I call it quits.  The look on his face said a million things. It mainly said "FAT CHANCE"

He told me that running may not be the thing I want to focus on, but I could swim and bike as much as I wanted. Obviously not what I was looking to hear. I was hoping for a "sure, start running again but ease into it and you're good!". So after spending a week in NYC and walking a million steps a day, I figured it was time to try it out with some running.

The game went really well. I did not do a lot of cutting and changing directions, or jumping either, but I did do some light running up and down the court and had no pain while running. I really thought the biggest test would come later that night or the next day, but it feels like it used to, which is cool.

Since this planned season has been nothing like I had thought it would be, it is once again time to re-assess my plan and start again. So Monday, I am starting back on a training plan for a sprint triathlon on August 27 in Sardis, Mississippi. A 1/2 mile swim, an 18 mile bike and a 4 mile run (half road, half trail). My previous PR is 1:58:10 and it was 6 years ago. So I am not naïve enough to think I can PR (although its possible), that is not my goal. My goal is simply to race and make it to the starting line. It has been so frustrating this season starting and stopping over and over again.

I have approximately 9 weeks to prepare for this race, which should be doable, to be a finisher. It will be a tough journey, dealing with the heat and summer activities, but I am an IRONMAN!!!!  And I can get this done. I am excited once again...

Torn Meniscus

So as you know I have been training for a 70.3 in October and also been in a basketball league on Thursday nights. Well, they are both on hold as of now. I did not have a good week 2 of training and let me tell you why:

Monday night I go to hop on Stella for my ride and as soon as I get on, I notice my chain is in the small ring up front, so I hit my lever to adjust the derailleur and pop!  My cable blows out and my lever does absolutely nothing.  I have never seen a cable blow out before, and I did not want to do anything more to my bike, so I called the ride and figured I could just miss the 9 miler. I took Stella to the bike shop and ordered the repairs which will take about a week, so I figure I always need to work on my run, so I can change it up and still not lose to much right?

So come Thursday night, game night! We play ball (and lost) but had a great time, but towards the end of the game, my right knee was hurting. Hurting me enough to pull myself out and sit down, and then have trouble getting to my car. I did not remember hearing or feeling it pop or anything that would alert me to an injury, but it felt off, and was a little swollen that night. Friday morning I got up and went to work and my knee was still feeling tight and sore. So when I got home, I went to put on some shorts and saw my knee and it wasn't good. I snapped a picture for you to see.

 

 

 Look at the size of that right knee!  I know something wasn't right, so I told my wife that I think I needed to go get it checked out. So Saturday morning, we left for our running group that we lead (No, I did not run on that knee) and then we went to Campbell Clinic to figure this out.

After a decent wait, I got to see the doctor and they took x-rays and did his evaluation on my knee and the diagnosis is that I have an old man's knee (his words). basically I have a degenerative tear of the meniscus in my right knee. It is most likely aggravated form the start and stopping of playing basketball. I was given a knee brace, some steroids and direction to stay off of it for about 2 weeks.

 

This really puts me behind on training for a half in October, so I am unsure if this will happen or not. It would mean that my training would be cut down to 10 weeks for a 70.3 and I am not sure how I feel about that, and that is assuming I am cleared and ready to go on my next visit. So I have time to decide and I hope I can get going again in July and see how things progress in July and August.