5 months

It has been 5 months since the surgery and it has almost come full circle. For the last month and a half I have been doing all team workouts with the team. We have been doing a long distance run about 4.2 miles and 400 meter sprints and shorter distance sprints around the soccer field. During the last two weeks I have been joining the team in soccer training sessions. I haven't been cleared to play full contact so when I'm about to go into a tackle I try to pass the ball away to steer away from any major contact. I feel like I can go into a tackle but there is no point risking it during the spring season which has no meaning or importance. I still have a little soarness at night or during the day after a long hard training session. I don't have any pain while I play and I can do everything normal except go into a collision. I have no problem cutting or changing directions and pace. I do have pain if I try to put my heel to my butt when I sit down, I hope that pain goes away. Our trainer is trying to get the surgeon to clear me to play mid April so I can play in our game on April 18th. I'm not sure if the surgeon will go through with it because he is very conservative but I will let you know in 3 weeks. It is such an adrenaline rush to finally be able to play something you love and have done since you were four and weren't physically able to for the past 7 months. Not much else to report except that I can do almost everything normal again, run full speed, kick full power (almost), cut and change directions, etc. I'm still fat because as soon as I was losing weight and getting back into shape, seven friends and I decided to go to Cancun for spring break and our resort had all you can eat and drink 24 hours a day and we were there for 7 days. That was fun and I'm glad I'm still alive. I will keep you updated when I see the surgeon next.

Day 95

It's been a couple days over 3 months post op and coming up on Day 100. I have been running for a couple weeks but today was the first day I returned to running with the team during spring season workouts. I did physical therapy at 7 am and the team warmed up at 9 am and we ran 4.3 mile run on a trail and our university cross country course. I wasn't planning on running the whole way because the furthest I have fun in last 4 and a half months is 1.5 miles. But once I got going it felt so good to workout i just kept going. With temps below freezing I didn't even care. The great part is I didn't even finish last on the team, I came in third to last place. But everyone has been training 5 days a week for over a month. I finished the course at 35:40 and was dog tired at the end. Last week I started to run 5 days a week and this week I will continue that, but will work out with the team. Most likely at a slower pace, 400 meter sprints isn't going to happen just yet but I will do my best. I received one of those nike+ things for xmas and used it today which is really cool, I can track how far and fast I run every single time. I'm excited to start my senior year of college, classes are starting to get hard, I'm taking Intermediate Financial Accounting, Investments: Debt, equity, and derivative; Corporate Finance, International Financial Management, Real Estate Finance, and a food science elective. I'm really looking forward to start getting back onto the pitch so the team can start preparing for next season. Because I can't do much lifting with the team, I'm starting to train with the soccer ball outside with the coaches doing passing and dribbling and some agility work with a ladder and jumping and also a lot of ab workouts. A little bad news to report, I'm now the fattest I have ever been in my life. Our nutritionist makes us sit in this bod pod machine that calculates your body fat, lean muscle, etc. A little bit over a month ago i was 158 pounds with 4 percent body fat and 7 pounds of fat. Now Im 165 and doubled my fat to 8 percent and 14 pounds, but I know I will soon get back into shape.

Day 81

For some reason my last blog update showed up in crazy symbols for a lot of viewers so I will update you with what has been going on in the last month. For starters, I'm having wrist surgery tomorrow morning at 6am so thats a bit of a buzz kill. However since I found out I had to have the surgery in 2008 I'm counting it as part of 2008 and looking forward to a great and healthy year in 2009. But for my knee, everything has been going great. It has almost been 12 weeks and I didn't think I would be this far when I was in week one. I walk perfectly fine and don't have any pain doing really any exercise. I have full motion, my heel can go to my butt, but now I'm trying to get it where I feel no discomfort when I bend it that far back and I become comfortable. Last week Monday they were able to bend it to my butt while laying on my back and before that my last measurement was 142, only a couple degrees off of my right leg. The scars are starting to look better as well. I'm also proud to announce that today I ran for the first time. I biked for 1.6 miles or 5 minutes and then I did 130 pound leg press with just my left leg 3 sets of 15 and did some jumping excercise with my left leg on the total gym. I then did some balance activities on a machine they have at physical therapy and proceeded to some agility. I jumped over hurdles with one leg facing forward and then did some jumping lateral both ways. I then used a latter on the ground and did jumps in different directions in that and then did agility where I try to go as quick as I can in different motions throughout the latter and I'm pretty positive I'm almost as quick as I was prior to the injury but I'm definitely much less conditioned. I'm sweating and heart pumping after only a minute of intense workout. I then did some lunges with resisting weight going lateral and backwards. And I saved the best for last, I was able to run on the treadmill today. I ran for 5 minutes initially at 6.5-7mph and it was .56 of a mile and then after the agility I hopped back on for 10 minutes at 7.0 mph and ran 1.15 miles. It was really cool to start running again and I had no pain in doing any of my exercises today except towards the end of my 10 minute run I could feel a little shin splint coming on and my knee was a little loose/popping a bit. I think it may just be some rust but I'm looking forward to start conditioning again and getting into form. I now feel a little bit of tightness in my knee but today was the hardest workout I've had in months so I kind of expect it. This break has been great, I was able to see friends I haven't seen in over a year and I celebrated Christmas and Christmas Eve with family as well as celebrate the new year and my 21st birthday. The hokies also finally won a BCS bowl game which was fun to watch. I hope everyone has a great 2009!