Paddington intimidates me

[RunSkippyRun]

So the surgeon is at the end of my bed and I'm giving my best sad-eyed look and asking "so, can I go running again soon?".

"Running!" he snorts, "running? no my friend", with a swept back mane of hair, a slavic accent and a full-on Paddington (as in the bear stare) he does quite a good line in intimidation, "you're not go to run for a while. At least three weeks,. Six is better! And no peleton bikes either!"

Everything he says is seeming punctuated with exclamation marks instead of full stops. He's really quite impressive.

I consider murmuring "I don't even have a peleton bike", after all, ours is a hands-on relationship: his hands; my oopsy-la-las. But I'm stilly woozy from anaesthetic and by nature easily cowed.

"Oh, alright then" I reply instead and maybe I looked a bit upset because he does give a nice smile,

"Hey, it went well, you're going to be OK, it will hurt like hell but it'll get better".

Well, that was a few days ago and it has hurt but really I'm in quite a lucky place. Time will help heal things and then I'm back to running at some point in the new year. Given how things feel at the moment six weeks sounds about right. Apart from missing the running and the races and the company it's also a concern about how to start running again given a lack of exercise ("you must rest! understand?!") and the temptations of Christmas too. But I'm going to do a bit of calorie control and aim to be sensible about re-starting exercise. There's also volunteering at Parkrun for a bit of vicarious pleasure too.

So to all you lovely runners out there: have you had an enforced absence? How did you cope? What worked / didn't work for you when resuming?

Happy running everyone and season's greeting too

[roseabi Ultramarathon]

I love this title!! 😂

Sorry to see that you've been in the wars, and I wish you an easy and speedy recovery. I would think that walking will be your friend over the next few months - build it up gradually and enjoy!

xxx

[RunSkippyRun Half Marathon in reply to roseabi]

Thanks Roseabi - yes, I'll enjoy every minute I think

[SueAppleRun 10 Miles]

oh heal well and you will soon be back, after 5 weeks with very sore psoriasis feet I just went out and ran very gently for a while 1.6 k at pace of over 12 minutes per k but it was my starting point and from there i increased a little at a time until i was running good distances again

[RunSkippyRun Half Marathon in reply to SueAppleRun]

thanks WillowandSola, coming back from the psoriasis feet sounds difficult - that you managed it is most encouraging

[SueAppleRun 10 Miles in reply to RunSkippyRun]

It was very painful and blister plasters were my favourite things but over time it’s manageable so i’m sure you will come back strong after your enforced rest

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon]

Oh dear - poor you, that's so frustrating. I had to take five months off. I survived - just! I switched to whatever exercise I could do. I volunteered at races and parkrun and I kept reading and posting here. Looking back it doesn't seem such a long time after all. I was lucky in that I could ride so that's what I did. I did workouts that didn't use my foot. Once I could, I walked a lot too. Then I restarted Couch to 5k once I could run - although a slightly accelerated version of it, and I built back and ran my quickest HM about 6 months after restarting. There is definitely hope and when people say you will come back stronger - believe them.

[RunSkippyRun Half Marathon in reply to linda9389]

thanks Linda, I had picked up about your injury but I didn't know (until now) how you came back. C25K is definitely on my radar also (as it volunteering at many parkruns ). And v impressive about your performance 👏👏👏

[linda9389 Administrator Marathon in reply to RunSkippyRun]

I went through the program, weeks 1 to 9, but I didn't always do three runs for each week; I very much played it by ear and once I was into the continuous runs I went to a more 'long run; short run; medium run' approach - largely determined by the date of the prebooked HM 🤣. 6 weeks, even two months is a lot less time to be off so, depending on what you are recovering from, hopefully you will soon be back to full fitness and loving every minute of it with a whole new level of appreciation 😊

[Mormor1 Half Marathon]

Full of sympathy but loved your 📯

[RunSkippyRun Half Marathon in reply to Mormor1]

Thanks Mormor1 - I did enjoy writing it also People like "my" surgeon do make life more interesting

[Coddfish 10 Miles]

I am still coming out of an enforced absence. I had osteoarthritis in my right hip which caused a gradual deterioration in my running until it got so bad I couldn’t run. From having a bit of difficulty completing the Great South Run in 2019, I got to the point where I could barely run 1K in May21. I gave in, got a total hip replacement, and am 3 months out the other side, just making tentative steps towards running again. It always helped to keep doing those things I could do - in my case that was swimming, Aqua classes, and weights work that didn’t move the hip. After surgery, those were also the first things that came back. Things like volunteering at parkrun when it came back also helped, and it’s been great to progress to walking it as my fitness has come back.

Best wishes for your recovery. Try not to worry about what you can’t yet do - that time will come.