9 months post surgery

Pietro

9 months after left THJR and 13 months after right THJR. First parkrun since lockdown today, 24:06. I cheekily left a lot in the tank to keep some motivation for next week, coasting the last km, and still got my fastest run since surgery by a stretch.

Only now I am starting to run comfortably. I am doing a regular 15 km run at weekends and starting to get that high feeling at times. During the week I do a couple of short runs/intervals. Once a week I go to the gym, slowly piling up weight on the squatting rack. Last week I was smiling as for the first time I could do slow, controlled lounges putting my back knee on the floor. My orthopod did say 18 months before one can feel as good as it can, and I am finding out how true that is.

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    • July 3, 2020 at 5:54 pm #18753
      Pietro
      Participant

      9 months after left THJR and 13 months after right THJR. First parkrun since lockdown today, 24:06. I cheekily left a lot in the tank to keep some mot
      [See the full post at: 9 months post surgery]

    • July 3, 2020 at 11:41 pm #18754
      Petemeads
      Participant

      Great news Pietro! parkrun is a long way from restarting in the UK, you are so fortunate to be in NZ. We have (not)parkrun to do at the moment – report any 5k run time in the week and it gets credited to your home parkrun as a (not)parkrun to compare with your old running buddies/arch enemies performances. We are just about to set off to do one, using the Victoria parkrun course so I can also claim a freedom run. Not fast at the moment – I hurt myself trying to do Chris Kelsall’s Global Hour challenge and have been limping for a month – but I jog around in about 27 minutes and do enough warmup/down to make it a 10k morning.
      I have realised that I really enjoy running slowly – I hope it is helping with my aerobic base! Keep up the good work.

    • July 5, 2020 at 9:12 am #18761
      Hip Brother Tom
      Keymaster

      Haven’t heard from you in a while Pietro! Glad things are going well! 👍

    • July 27, 2020 at 12:52 am #18795
      Pietro
      Participant

      Thanks Pete and Tom
      Well, in the last 2 Parkruns I finished in 23:42 and 23:43. A sea away from my PB of 20:50 but still improving! Distance becoming comfortable too. We are lucky here as there are no recorded covid19 cases in NZ except for quarantined people flying in from overseas. So all running events are on. I am running comfortably 16km in my weekend run, and I have entered my first post-op half Marathon, Rotorua in 2 months from now. If it goes well I will be back to the full marathon in May 2021.

    • October 20, 2020 at 1:20 am #18960
      Pietro
      Participant

      hi everyone, good update. I kept the running going, at least 3 times/week. Just 2 weeks ago I finished my first post-surgery half marathon, exactly one year after my most recent surgery. The hips were stiff during the race, but not a big issue. I think it is more about rebuilding fitness and regaining muscles than any hardware problems.
      I had trained just to finish a comfortable sub-2hours half marathon (in fact from my training time I was expecting a 1:55). Little I knew that after 3 km the road ended and the rest of the race was an off-road steep and treacherous adventure race, without a single level section. I put a wrong foot a couple of times, and had to worry more about getting home without breaking my new hips than getting a decent time. Jogged very slow the last 3 km to a grumpy 2:11 finish, but hey. I have recovered and I am running nicely now, not really training hard (no races anytime soon). Ticking along 23:40 at parkrun, without killing myself. I find that going to the gym once or twice doing lunges, stretching, foam rollers and putting weights on the squatting rack helps quite a bit.
      I will jog a leisurely half marathon alongside the missus next month, and from January I will get the miles up – a full marathon in May 2021 is the target.

    • July 31, 2021 at 9:57 pm #19722
      Pietro
      Participant

      hi everyone

      haven’t posted in a while but here’s an update. I managed to train well, and ran the Rotorua Marathon in May 2021 just under 4:20. That’s 30-35 minutes slower than the last 2 pre-surgery marathons, but a finish is what I had prepared for, and got it comfortably. I am still training (run 2 times/week, gym once a week focussing on squats/lunges/deadlifts), and my times are improving. My parkrun time yesterday was 22:12 and I still felt a bit in the tank. That’s a 68.09% age grade, another 2% and I will be matching my pre-surgery PB. The hips are fine when I run, and it is now 2 years since surgery. Recent x-ray shows a very good state of implants. I get a groin spasm on the right when flexing the hip/doing abdo crunches, but not when I run, and it’s been pretty much like that all the time so I am not worried about it.

      Will post update every now and then!

    • August 1, 2021 at 9:47 am #19725
      Petemeads
      Participant

      Hi Pietro – great to hear from you. Some excellent times and percentages!
      We have just restarted parkrun in the UK, my first 2 runs have been 32 mins and 28:33 – because on the 1st of June I found I could not get out of bed without violent sciatic pains/shocks down my right leg. It seems I have spinal stenosis and the nerve is being pinched somewhere in my lower back. Internet has helped, as has my chiropractor, and I can at last stand up straight/lie down flat, which was impossible for most of June. Bit of a bugger really because I had a really good spell of running in the new year as a fresh 70 year old, making County Gold standard times for all distances from 1 mile to 30 km, including a 16.45 mile race (won age group, but was the only one..) and a 1:55 half-marathon. Best percentage came from a 23:27 5k at 75.1%, a figure I doubt I have ever achieved before. Getting old does have some consolations.
      I think the running got better because the weather was unfit for biking and the gyms/climbing walls were shut – I just got used to running frequently, both slowly and quickly, and it ironic that I broke after reducing the running to spend more time on the other activities and on doing long walks in preparation for the mountain challenges I have set myself. Anyway, there is a light at the end of the tunnel – next week I shall beat my wife (at parkrun!) with any luck, and biking has been good even with sciatica as I can bend forward without pain.
      Keep up the good work!

      Pete

    • August 9, 2021 at 12:59 am #19742
      Pietro
      Participant

      Hi Pete
      Wow, to get a 75% age grade I would probably need to get an under 20 min Parkrun. Who knows, I am still improving.
      Sciatica can be a bummer, but luckily some cases can improve without surgery. Good to know Parkrun. Is back in Old Blighty!

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