Whens a good time to start running again?

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C

Chrish

Afternoon all,

I was looking back through the threads trying to get a sense of when the runners in here started running after surgery. For context, I'm three weeks post op, today if fact, and I am very anxious to lace up and get started. I met with my surgeon two weeks post op and was told everything looked great. No fluid on the lungs and the breast bone was healing very well. I've got my first echo on Friday and an appointment with the Cardio. My cardio tends to be very conservative so I'm really unsure how she is going to approach this topic. I've been doing my walks and did three miles yesterday. It felt great with no pain and I could easily see my self picking up the pace and start to jog. I didn't of course but the desire was still there.

So, any recounts of your back to running regiment would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Chris


AVR 12/27/06/Inova Fairfax Hospital
Falls Church, VA
Dr. Alan Spiers
Medtronic 29mm Freestyle
 
Chris:

Be careful. Aside from the cardiac issues, you have to allow your sternum to heal properly.

I'm doing cardiac rehab here in Richmond and they told me just Monday that while I may be allowed to drive 6 weeks post, the sternum's not considered to be completely healed until 12 weeks.

Because of the bouncing action of running, as opposed to walking, they recommend that I only walk until at least a few more weeks for me.

I've been talking with them about the possibility of me walking or running a 10k on April 1, which will be 12 weeks post for me. They've agreed that I should be able to walk it with no problem, and *possibly* jog/walk it, but three out of the three therapists in there have said that running it is nearly out of the question. (Just to be clear, that's not because of the sternum, but just because of the overall conditioning needed to do a race of that length.)
 
My surgeon and card both said I could get back to my normal training regimens around 6 weeks. By 5 weeks I was walking 6 miles and two days shy of 6 weeks started putting some short jogs into my walks. Believe me, it was harder than I thought it would ever be. Just so you know my background I'll be 69 next month and have run 50 marathons. My last marathon was 1 year before surgery and since I wasn't supposed to run it, I ran 5 miles and walked 5 minutes and ended up with a time of 4:20. I say this because prior to surgery I was in really good shape (for an old man). This past Saturday I ran a 5K without walking in 34:01 which was a goal of mine. Today I did my longest run/walk. I went 7.4 miles and ran 6.8 of it with 2 one minute walks. After the 6.8 miles I walked the rest.
I'd be really cautious about trying too soon mostly because of what Stretch mentioned in his post.
Good luck and keep up the good work.
 
Chris, I started running at 7 weeks and was water skiing at 8 weeks. Like Kodi I found the return to running to be more challenging than than anticipated and am still struggling with regaining my aerobic capacity.
Philip
 
I'll echo everyone else in that getting back to running was MUCH harder than I thought. I started somewhere around 8-10 weeks, and was very surprised to find that I could only run 6-8 blocks before I was on the verge of collopse. At that point, I already felt like I could walk forever without any problems, and didn't think that running would pose much of an issue. Similar to kodi, I ran a full marathon one year and four days prior to my surgery (I had not been diagnosed at that point and obviously had no symptoms) in 3:36, so I figured I should be in pretty good shape as well.

I'm not sure if it's dangerous to run so early after your surgery (your Cardio will be able to tell you that), but your body will certainly let you know when to put the breaks on. It's not subtle.

On the other hand, it's great to hear that you feel so good that you want to try running at the point that you're at. I think I was still happy to be able to walk a half-mile at three weeks! Best wishes going forward.
 
I was walking everyday when I got out of the hospital, and started back to the gym after about three months. I did some light circuit training, but most of the time at the gym was spent on a stationary bike paying close attention to my heart rate monitor.
It was close to a year post-op before I first ventured out to try running again (I ran sporadically prior to my AVR, mostly to take an occasional break from my weightlifting). As I recall, it took me about four months before I could do two miles without stopping or walking.
Mark
 
Thanks for all the responses gang. Prior to surgery I was running about 15-20 miles a week - typically around three to five miles a run at about a 7:30 to 8 minute pace. At 36, I certainly was not breaking any land speed records and, while I've got a few marathons under my belt, I'm no where near the caliber of athlete kodi is. I'd like to do a few more marathons in the future and perhaps try a mini triatholon or two but I have no illusions about doing anything more than doing them for the sake of it.

That said, I guess the best course here is "reasonable and prudent." As some of you have noted about your own experience with walking, I too feel like I can walk forever but that is a completely different thing from the pounding your body takes when you run. I guess when push comes to shove, I'm just feeling anxious about feeling normal. With the exception of the surgeons visit, I've not gone more than three miles from my home in three weeks and I'm really looking forward to being able to spread my wings again and getting back to "normal."

Patience is not one of my strong points.

Thanks again,

Chris

PS, kodi you're my here!!!! Keep on truckin!
 
Unfortunately, exercise tolerance continued to be an issue for me many months after surgery, and to some extents is still an issue. The first race I ran was a 5k at just about 7 months, and I felt absolutely terrible the entire time. I won't give my time, but I will say that I had to sprint at the end to beat somebody who outweighed me by 50lbs. and was dressed as Wonder Woman. I was used to at least running in the low-20's, so I was discouraged beyond all belief as I thought I should be totally "recovered" at that point. I even began questioning if I would EVER be able to run more than 2-3 miles at a time.

Thinking back earlier to those first few months after surgery, the setbacks were frequent and often severe. Like you, I was eager to test out my "new" valve and get back to the running and exercise that I had been prohibited from for several months before my repair. I thought that (at the very least) my breathlessness should be gone, and it should only take a few weeks to get back into the shape I wanted to be in. I often set goals for myself that were extremely meager (or so I thought), and was extremely discouraged when I almost always fell short. I still had a TON of SOB issues, my legs felt extremely heavy, I got an intense stomach ache every time I ran, and I just plain couldn't run as fast as I used to - even for short differences. I will say that at about nine months, things started getting better quickly. As I posted in another thread, I was able to complete a half-marathon about two weeks ago, which would have been unthinkable for me 5-6 months ago. I was about 20 minutes behind my personal record, but I'm hoping that I will continue to see improvement over the next several months and will eventually get back to where I was time-wise just a couple years ago.

I absolutely do not want to discourage you, I just wanted to relate my story so that if you have issues, you will know that they are completely normal. :)
 
Mike,

Thanks for the practical perspective. I have no doubt this will take much longer than i want it to, I just don't like the prospects of it taking that long. I'm glad to hear you were able to get that half marathon down. my goal is the Army Ten miler in late September. We'll see how it goes.

BTW, kodi.. that was meant to read you are my HERO...not here. Along with not being able to run yet, I obviously can't type or spell.
 
Chris,

I was running ( 11-12 MM) at about 5 weeks on a treadmill and really waited until the 12 week mark to attempt anything outside.

Definitely had my good and bad days, but got through them.

A little over a year from surgery I ran a mini tri and did a 5K this past T-giving. I could not run under 12 minute miles before surgery ( heart would not let me) and gradually worked down in the 7:30 to 8:30 range.

After spending two years getting into pretty good shape, I broke the talus bone in my foot and have not even been able to even walk since December 9th. go figure.

My Drs were in the do what you can do and listen to your body mode.

That seemed to work.


Dan
 
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