5K Turkey Trot- The Worst but the Best

[kodi]

Today I?m six week and two days post surgery and have achieved, actually exceeded my first major goal. The goal was to be able to participate in our local 5K Turkey Trot. In all the years this has been run I?ve done most of them so it was kind of important to me and my cardio said I should be able to get back into my normal routines at about six weeks.
The course is difficult. It?s an out and back course. Actually, I should say down and up course. It starts at an elevation of 1009 feet and drops 350 feet to the turnaround and climbs right back up. The downhill is a little nasty in two places so the uphill is really nasty in those same to places.
I started a few easy jogs into my walks this week and decided I would walk five minutes and run (jog) five minutes and do my best to keep my heart rate reasonable. I was able to do that on the downhill, except my HR spiked a couple of times. Coming back up the hill I took advantage of a couple of little downhills that I should have been walking knowing I?d be walking a couple of times that weren?t scheduled. The good thing, coming up the hill I was able to keep the HR at a fairly constant pace.
I ended up with a time of 38:41. It was a without a doubt my slowest 5K ever, but it was also the most rewarding race I have ever participated in. I now have one more thing to be thankful for.

 

[SumoRunner]

That's pretty quick to get back in the groove. My first road race back was a 3 miler more than 5 months after the surgery in 91. I did 12 more races that year, 15Km the max. My 5k the year before the OHS was around 22 mins, the year after it was 25. I never went back to hard intervals or I suspect I might have gotten all the way back had I tried.

But I'd bet it'll go even better for you. I had no rehab program. I could find no one else in a similar situation. I was completely on my own guessing what I could and couldn't do, taking chances really. No world wide web existed at that time either, so it was not possible to troll for forums such as this.

 

[Philip]

Racing at six weeks!! Good stuff! Keep us posted on your continued improvement and future races.
Philip

 

[StretchL]

Way To Go!

Way To Go!

Hi, Kodi! Congratulations! On your run! And at only 6 weeks! You're an inspiration for me!

 

[msiwik]

Bravo!

Bravo!

Today I?m six week and two days post surgery and have achieved, actually exceeded my first major goal. The goal was to be able to participate in our local 5K Turkey Trot. In all the years this has been run I?ve done most of them so it was kind of important to me and my cardio said I should be able to get back into my normal routines at about six weeks.
The course is difficult. It?s an out and back course. Actually, I should say down and up course. It starts at an elevation of 1009 feet and drops 350 feet to the turnaround and climbs right back up. The downhill is a little nasty in two places so the uphill is really nasty in those same to places.
I started a few easy jogs into my walks this week and decided I would walk five minutes and run (jog) five minutes and do my best to keep my heart rate reasonable. I was able to do that on the downhill, except my HR spiked a couple of times. Coming back up the hill I took advantage of a couple of little downhills that I should have been walking knowing I?d be walking a couple of times that weren?t scheduled. The good thing, coming up the hill I was able to keep the HR at a fairly constant pace.
I ended up with a time of 38:41. It was a without a doubt my slowest 5K ever, but it was also the most rewarding race I have ever participated in. I now have one more thing to be thankful for.

I think you did tremendous; especially considering that you are six weeks. I was just starting to run 12 minute miles at that point. Mark

 

[SumoRunner]

Anybody else do a Turkey Trot today? I just ran the Cohoes, NY 3.5 mile TT. Felt pretty good too. Last week I did a 15K race that I really didn't feel up to, so I kept an intentionally slow pace of 13:25/mi and finished last. But today I was feeling much more up for the TT which I did in 11:22/mi and thanks to several walkers was nowhere near last.

 

[SumoRunner]

I can give you a clue. Here's the reverse effect. Back when I was 40ish I dropped a lot of weight one year and here's what happened to my race times as I went down.

Date Dist. Pace Wt.
12/18 5 km 8:27 205
1/1 3 mi 8:17 201
1/14 5 km 7:56 198
1/29 5 km 7:35 189
2/11 4 mi 7:45 187
3/19 6 mi 7:28 185
4/23 5 mi 7:11 180
6/17 5 km 7:08 175