Woe to M55 hurdlers at Lahti: Beware the blogmaster!
It’s been 53 days since ACL surgery on my lead (left) knee — a prime time to update y’all on my recovery. Last week, I was given the green light to shed my bulky, itchy leg brace and begin ramping up my rehab. Under the six-weeks-after-surgery protocol, I’m allowed to walk on the treadmill (maximum 3 mph) and use a stationary bike (maximum 60 rpm). I’m also doing daily strengthening exercises (but not with extra weights). Big Al, my physical therapist at Kaiser-Permanente in El Cajon, says I’m doing great. How great? He felt compelled to sit down and give me “The Talk.” He said: “You’ll want to push it, overdo it. But don’t.” Apparently, my new ACL (a 37-year-old’s patellar tendon) takes six months to revascularize, which means grow all the blood vessels and other needed cells.
The major danger in ACL rehab is stretching the “new” anterior cruciate ligament. For it to work well, it must stay “tight.” A loose ACL — injured hurdling and high jumping — is what led to the instability (buckling) that forced me to decide on surgery in the first place.
So I promise to be a good boy.
At my six-week checkup last week, I was given the same quadriceps test I had pre-surgery. I was strapped into a chair in which my legs dangled beneath me. My lower legs were kept from coming up, and a device measured the pounds of force I could exert. In other words, I pushed (one leg at a time) against the strap as if I were doing a leg extension — but no extension was allowed.
When I first took the test, the machine said I exerted 145 pounds with both legs. In my six-week test, I did 144 pounds with my right leg and 106 with my left.
Having the surgically repaired leg at 70 percent strength of the “good” leg seemed disappointing at first. But I soon learned that I was “way above the curve” for this measure. Later, I was told that some folks at the ACL gym were still at 30 percent after three months. I really am doing great.
I asked another therapist why my exercises felt so easy. Why didn’t they hurt? I was having no sense of the expected Pain and Torture that PT promises. The therapist said, “You’re just lucky.” I’ll take it.
My next milestone is Week 12, when I get permission to start jogging.
After six months, if all goes well, I’ll be cut loose, ready for hard training and sprinting.
That would be May 6. Plenty of time to get in shape for Spokane.
Although I’d love to resume my stellar, fabled hurdling career, I’ll probably hold off for another year and focus on speed endurance and strength work. That way, I’ll be better prepared for my M55 debut in June 2009 and my kick-ass return to worlds later that summer in Finland.
My goal remains: Hurdle at Lahti.
My fantasy remains: Beat someone at Lahti.
Thanks for all your private email notes, checking up on me. I won’t let you down.
8 Responses
What you need at Lahti is a ringer, not to win the race, but to lose it to you. 🙂 Has that ever been done? A ringer used to lose?
Keep it going Ken. When you’re ready, we’ll race hurdles at 80m.
Al, aka my little bro, I can always count on the locals to provide an anti-ringer.
Liz, aka national champ, you wouldn’t be the first lady to beat me in hurdles. (Phil held me off in the 300s at a Long Beach meet 10 years ago.)
But thanks for the kind wishes!
Blogmaster Ken,
Keep going! You can do it! We all know: “In the end it is always mind over matter anyway.”
And, yes, Lathi is a must. The Finns loves sports and athletics. I raced the World Masters XC-ski Championships in Rovianiemi 2007..a wintersport town very similar to Lathi. All I can say..great organization, very good hotels and excellent food. The Finns know how to do it. Lathi will be a meet to look forward to.
I have it on good authority that your graft donor was a mutant sprinter from the planet Krypton. There is a good chance the WMA will not let you compete because of your new super-human sprinting abilities.
alrighty then…since you heve a 37 year old’s tendon ,then i’m going to petition the usatf to make you compete”down” in the submasters 35-39 division…us old guys are at a disadvantage, why my tendons will be 54 on st patricks day…i’ve a feeling that you figured out how to revamp your whole body little by little , by claiming “injury” and getting around the rules. i call for a congressional hearing…do i have any seconds?
All you need are a few intervals with the group at Patrick Henry
Keep going, Ken!
I am ready to be beaten in Lahti
Pino Pilotto (SUI) M55-?¢‚Ǩ?ìhurdler?¢‚Ǩ¬ù
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