15 Miles

Looking all official as an AUDL official. photo credit: Brian Osborne, The Professional Photography Group

This past Saturday was a day I was both excited and nervous about. It was the day of our Summer League tournament, which means lots of running. And then I found out two weeks ago that I would be referee for an AUDL playoff game that evening. Which means more running.

I was looking forward to playing ultimate, and I enjoy the challenge of reffing. What I was nervous about was how my left knee would handle it all. I’ve been dealing with the meniscus damage for over a year and made a decision to take the late summer and fall off from running in order to really have a chance to rehab it. Other than our weekly Summer League game I wasn’t running at all.

To get cardio I’ve been cycling a bit. For resistance I’m doing a ton of yoga, and for the knee I have a program of exercises I do several times a week to strengthen the leg muscles. The plan is to increase the cycling and up the intensity of the leg exercises now that I’m not stressing the knee with ultimate for a while.

So, how did the weekend go? The tournament was quite fun. My team won our first two games and that put us in the championship. We did not play very well in that game but were happy we got that far. I played a huge percentage of our points and ended up running nearly 9 miles.

Got home, showered, ate and then tried to nap for a bit before I had to drive to Durham. Did some fluid replenishing and got a lot of calories into myself and then headed out.

I was nervous about running. I had no idea how I’d feel after the morning or how my knee would even function. So I went out to do a little warmup and was absolutely shocked to feel no pain and have no issues at all to speak of with the knee. 

(When I say “no pain”  and  “no issues” that means beyond what I’ve been used to the past several months. It is always a little stiff and a little sore.) Seems like the yoga and knee exercises are starting to pay off. 

I had no problem during the game, and ran another 6 miles. This is mostly jogging, with an occasional sprint to keep up with the play. 

I was not in any undue pain on Sunday, either. Just stiff and very tired. Compared to the recovery from the last tournament I played back in May, and I will take it. Definite improvement.

Now to really focus on getting the left leg back to full strength so I can come back next year and play at full speed for the first time in three years.