On January 9th I had my third ACL surgery. Yes, third ACL, fourth knee surgery. I'm 34 years old...that's way too many. But, I'd put off this surgery for 2 years and it was holding me back from doing the things I wanted to do. I finished off 2013, an amazing year training CrossFit, completing a half marathon in March, sprint triathlon in September, and 2 CrossFit competitions in December. I set my sights high, pushed myself beyond what I thought was ever possible. But it wasn't enough. The lack of an ACL was still holding me back and I was hungry for more.
So, I started off 2014 laid up on the couch, sucking down painkillers for a few days, and trying to come to terms with my serious lack of activity. They tell you start moving you knee as soon as you feel you can, doing quad sets, even walking and bearing weight within the first few days. So that's what I did. I was walking in three days, day four without crutches and was hitting the stairs within a week. At 2 weeks I went back to crossfit to do upper body work. I started with some seated presses, pushups (one legged, then one knee) and situps. Within 2-3 weeks, I was working on doing the stairs normally, and doing squats. Then we moved to lunges, more squats, slamballs, more situps, more presses. After 5 weeks I started hitting the pool about 2x a week and crossfit 1-2x per week. I kept it simple and if it hurt, I stopped. My cardio was basically swimming and rowing.
At 10 weeks I started jogging--a few 200s here and there as a warmup at CrossFit. I started using and empty barbell for front rack lunges and added some dynamic push presses with light weight, 55#. At 11 weeks I started my prescribed return to running program, combined with few days of CrossFit.
I will note that my plan was to do as much as possible and do it all pain free and virtuously. These weights were light, but I worked my form, positioning, footwork, squat and lunge positions. I CANNOT believe I did all this 11 weeks out of the OR. Running, jumping rope, weighted squats, and most of all snatch, the one thing I fear the most in the box. The knee held up and felt amazing.
Monday:
5RFT
15DB Thruster (15#)
15 burpees
200m run
Time:18:17
Tuesday:
30 min run walk
4min walk, 2min run
Wednesday:
3 Sets, NFT
5 dips RX
50 single unders
8 T2B
then,
3 Rds
15 Shoulder to Overhead (55#)
10 Front Rack Lunges (35#)
400m Run
12:41
Thursday:
Emom x12
High hang snatch x2 (Worked six sets power snatch-35#, six sets squat snatch 35#)
then
15-12-9
Snatch
9-12-15
CTB
(Power snatch 35#)
12:40
Friday - Rest Day
Saturday:
15 mins
Max thruster
75#--did not squat clean first
then
WOD B.
Mile Loop
-Rest 2mins-
2min AMRAP
Thrusters
Mile=8:57, 25 thrusters @55#
