100 miler: The aftermath

Today, a full 30 days after the Housman Hundred, I took my first running steps.  After a slow, thoughtful, grumpy, steady recovery, I am finally able to run pain free and ready to get back in the groove of training.  My next race is the Open Adventure 24 hour Adventure Race.  While that still seems like a long race for most people, the bonus of having multiple disciplines means a lot less repetetive stress on my poor muscles.  We may be kayaking, running, biking, walking, climbing, swimming, or anything else the race director can come up with! Plus there is always a bit of down time while we switch disciplines, read maps, etc.   In other words, I hope it won't be nearly as hard as the 100.  The Open 24 will be my longest AR so far, and will hopefully be a good lead up to the Coast to Coast race at the end of August. 

 But in regards to my recovery from the Housman, I spent the first week barely able to hobble around, with a sprained ligament in my right knee making a limp quite obvious.  Virtually no suprise was that I spent most of that time as horizontal as possible, icing my legs and eating the house bare a lot.  After 35 hours non-stop on my feet I didn't feel guilty in the slightest.

The second week, if I stayed on my feet more than a few minutes, my feet and legs would quickly start to ache mightily, and I would have to sit down for a while.  I wondered how long this would last, but I was seeing steady improvements in my knee joint and my limp was getting less.  I may have attempted to lift weights that week, but I sure didn't do any cardio.  In fact, I felt so lazy at that point I didn't even want to exercise, and wondered if my motivation would come back again.

By the third week, I was relieved to feel a lot better, the limp was gone, the aches were gone, but still couldn't run more than a few steps without feeling tension still behind my knee.   Luckily the steady progress gave me hope, and I started biking, kayaking, walking, climbing, and lifting weights again, with no issues. 

Now I am ready to go running again, finally, it's amazing to feel healthy and I thank God my injury was minor.  Motivation has returned as well, and the other day on an absurdly warm day in England, I went out for a 66 mile bike ride and then a 3 hour paddle on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal in my new (used) kayak.  It's been a long time since I've been able to disappear out onto the fells, so I am looking forward to enjoying the warm summer weather and getting back into some long runs!