Bouncing Back

Surgery was a success and even my surgeon says I'm the fastest healing person she's treated yet.  Awesome!

She said to the nurse as I was leaving "two weeks after surgery and she's comfortable walking around in stilettos. Do you believe that?" (I do, mostly because it was the first time I could wear my leopard print heels and I was stoked.)

She gave me clearance to begin walking/running as I was comfortable.  Before that, I'd been carefully walking and biking, but damn if it didn't tired me out.  As I tried to add running, I was SO tired.  You could have knocked me over with one finger.

The hardest part of surgery (aside from the very unpleasant side effects of vicodin) is the mental switch.  I ran a marathon less than a month before my surgery and suddenly, I was exhausted after walking for 20 minutes.  But, not much else I could do aside from keep on keeping on.

This weekend, I felt sluggish and unhappy, so I decided with Ragnar Keys rapidly approach (less than a month!) I needed to go and at least try to run.  I got up this morning at 6, and walked outside:

SNOW!

Winter-happy, I got to the gym and warmed up on the bike for 30 minutes, then hopped over to the treadmill.  I put on my power music (Pretty Lights: "More Important Than Michael Jordan") and started at my warm up pace of 6.5 mph.

Miraculous. I felt great.  I felt like I could breath for the first time in months.

Knocked it up to 7mph.  Even better.  I am getting such a high that I'm getting wave upon wave of chills.  I brought it up to 7.5 which I held for about 15 minutes before my allotted treadmill time was up.  I'm not even kidding, the world looked totally different.  I felt like I was on f*cking fire.  I was the phoenix.  I wanted to talk to every single person around me about how awesome today is and isn't it great that we can all work out!?  Talk about a serious runner's high.  I was giddy.

Wanna know how I got back to race pace?

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/fit-for-life

The general theory is that it's muscle memory.  Once I healed up enough, my muscles jumped back into action.  Probably looking at a 5k distance tomorrow morning.

I also lifted today for the first time in a long long time--I can only do arm weights below my shoulders for now to reduce stress on my abdominals, but that should change late this week since I'll be able to add leg work in late this week.

I also made a ton of veggie soup last night.   You need:
1-2 zucchini squash (green or yellow)
1 onion
1 c. carrots
1 c. celery
1 can diced tomatoes
1 c. peas
some mushrooms
6 c. vegetable broth
Olive Oil

In big pot, heat oil, add onion and celery, cook til onions are clear.  Add squash and carrots and stir.  A few minutes later, add the tomatoes and broth and bring to boil.  Reduce heat and add peas and mushrooms.  Simmer for a bit (15 minutes? sure).  Add salt and pepper if you want.  Makes about 8 servings of hearty soup. About 80 calories per serving.  Add hot sauce to eat it my way.

Getting back in shape post surgery begins today, especially before the holidays arrive...yikes.