November 17, 2025 • 36 mins
This week isn’t a pity party—it’s a playbook. Kyle shares a candid knee update and then flips the script: how to stay a runner when you can’t log miles. We lay out a bench-time training plan (knee-friendly strength, core, and cardio), the recovery foundations that actually accelerate healing, and simple PT markers to track progress without obsessing over pace. You’ll get a quick checklist of smart questions to ask your surgeon or PT, plus practical ways to stay plugged into the running community even while sidelined. We wrap with a micro-goal scorecard to keep your head right and your comeback intentional. If you’re benched, burned out, or just between seasons—this episode hands you the roadmap.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hello, everyone, greetings and salutations. Welcome back to another episode
at the Back of the Back podcast. I'm your host,
Kyle Walker. Thank you so much for tuning in. First
things first, last week's episode all about the Good Life Havesie.
Have you ever gone back and looked at something you've done,
like maybe a run or a workout or something, and
you think I just was not on my game for
that particular occasion or event. It's kind of how I
(00:36):
feel about last week's episode about the Good Life Havesie.
I'm not saying it was bad. I just say and
I don't think I hit a home run on that one.
That was not my favorite episode. So apologies. If that
was the first episode you ever listened to, you're probably
not back for another one. And then also apologies to
the Good Life have Sie. You guys, as a race
and organization, an event deserved a better recap than what
(00:58):
I gave last week. Apparently not on my game after
that very odd, strange weekend, I should say up in Lincoln, Nebraska,
you know, with the whole fence hopping, which apparently people
love that part of it. I'm so glad that you
relish in my misery. Good grief. That's like what I've
heard about the most. And yeah, I know it's ridiculous,
(01:19):
but that's okay. But yeah, between fence hopping horrible weather,
I didn't even mention that there were actually some snowflakes
on the course last weekend. There are definitely few, like,
you know, nothing big or scary or anything like. It
was very few and far between, like I saw flake
every couple minutes, but there was definitely some snowflakes out there.
Didn't even address that, really didn't talk much about the
(01:41):
actual course. Felt like I spent more time on the
expo than anything else. But anyway, great event, Love the event.
Sorry if the episode felt a little lacking, We're just
we're gonna go with that. So anyway, this past weekend
there was no race for the podcast. We were supposed
to be at Yettie Duran's weekend for the and half marathon.
(02:01):
That didn't happen. More on that in a minute. But
for everyone who went out to I think it was
Arizona for the all women's marathon. I hope you guys
had a great time. I'm seeing a lot of Findisher
pictures and metal pictures rolling in on Metal Monday it
looks like everyone had a great time. That is a
really cool event, and so I'm glad everyone got to
(02:21):
go and experience that. Someone who was there was our
friend Lisa from the Behind the Bib podcast. While she
was there her episode that came out Friday. If you
go listen to it, you might hear a familiar voice,
you might have a little guest host action. And so
I would definitely recommend you go out and check out
Behind the Bib and see if maybe, excuse me, someone
(02:44):
took over that episode that you might want to listen to.
I don't know, just the thought, just the thought, and
then of course I always go and give them a
follow on social media and listen to the episodes. Lisa's
crushing it down there, and if you are a big
fan of the whole Tiki TALKI world and reels and
all that good stuff, then she is one of the
creators that you want to follow. So go check out
Lisa and Behind the Bib, especially on TikTok and reels
(03:07):
on Instagram and stuff like that, because she's crushing it.
I know our friend running up that Hillary out there
as well. Yeah, I feel like Hillary's gotten so big
now in the running world like she we're just one
of those little people she stepped on on the way
up the ladder. But a good job to Hillary. I
had to give her a hard time. I don't even
know if she still listens to this podcast. Again, she's
(03:27):
big stuff out there taking selfies with Des Linden and
having all these people like treating her like a celebrity
out there. See. I told you guys years ago, like
at least a year ago, two years ago, that she
was a celebrity and no micro influencer whatever, get out
of here. So she's doing great. But she was out
there as well, and then several people from around the
area were out there doing that race as well. I
hope everyone had a great time. It looked like a
(03:50):
lot of fun here in town. We had yetdie Endurance weekend.
I've seen a lot of pictures rolling in from that,
and of course I was not able to attend. So
why here's what we're going to talk about today. And
this is not a pity party, So please don't think
it's that. We've actually got some points. We're gonna make
positive things coming up, positive things happening. It's gonna sound bad,
(04:11):
and I'm not gonna be whiny face about it, but
we're just we're gonna we're gonna tell it like it is.
So as we know, I've had nothing but knee problems.
This here, right knee, no good. Went back in September
to the orthopedist, saw the guy, got the MRI, got
the X ray. Doctors examined, No cartilage left behind the patella,
(04:32):
which is your kneecap in my right knee, it is gone.
The meniscus is fine, which is great, but the cartilage
is gone. And as they phrased it, and as they
told me, you cannot put tread back on a tire.
So like there's no way. We're just gonna put more
cartilage back in my knee and everything's gonna be fine.
So I got a steroid shop back in September, and
(04:53):
I've been running on it and doing okay. I wouldn't
say doing well because my times would reflect I'm not
doing well and running right now, but I was doing okay.
We go to a Tuesday night where I'm playing my
men's indoor soccer, and this was two weeks ago. Again,
I don't want to stop playing soccer. I don't want
to stop running we're runners. We just you know, pretend
like injuries don't exist, right, That's just what we do.
(05:14):
So that's what I was doing, pretending my injuries didn't exist,
and I'm playing soccer. We actually had a double header
that night. And to the people at all American indoor sports,
when you put the over thirty guys in double headers,
what in the actual hell are you doing. We don't
want to be playing two hours of indoor soccer. I
can barely make it through one. I had guys on
(05:37):
the team. Halfway through the second game, they're putting their
streets shoes back on there like I just can't. Indoor
soccer is constant. When you're on that field, you're moving.
There's no standing there in right field hoping no one
hits you the ball. You got to participate in indoor soccer.
We had subs, but we're shifting in and out. We're
moving quick. But two games really did my knee. In
(05:59):
the next day, my knee was swollen as could be.
I think that Baker's cyst on the back of the kneecap,
on the back side of where there's no more cartilage.
I've got a Baker's sist back there. There's bone spurs
in it. They said, sounds lovely, right it was. I
mean it was as aggravated as it had ever been.
After playing those two games of indoor soccer. The thinging,
oh boy, walking was difficult, stairs almost impossible. And that
(06:22):
weekend coming up, I had the good life havesie, Oh
boy that way, and that is standing all day on
Saturday at the expo and then running a half marathon
after the two games of indoor soccer, which really did
my knee and it wasn't good. Then we get to
good life havesie after standing all day. Now I'm hopping
eight foot fences and again, as ungraceful as it was,
the landing after the second fence I had to hop.
(06:45):
There was no grace, there was no athleticism, there was
no balance. It was just me going splat like out
of a cartoon. Looting Tunes would have been proud of
me going over the fence, and I made it to
the top pretty well. On that second one, I'm like,
okay in this back yeah, well, coming down the backside,
just flop done. But I land, of course awkwardly on
(07:07):
my knee because I'm trying to get my feet down
underneath me, But your knees don't really like that when
you do that, and they're injured already. So then I
am gimping around the corner to get to the start
line to start that race. And then I do a
half marathon, and then, like I talked about last week,
that cyst burst behind my patilla in the back of
my knee at mile seven, filling my calves and my
(07:27):
ankles and my feet with you making things very difficult,
very painful, And I thought, Okay, maybe this is a
good thing, you know, now that that Baker syst has ruptured.
You know, I've read about it. It says the body
will just kind of reabsorb all that stuff after about
three or four days, and then maybe I'll kind of
get back to where I was where, Yeah, things were
maybe a little uncomfortable. There was a little discomfort, but
(07:50):
not like full out pain. Maybe my knee will respond
well and things will be great. Okay, that hasn't happened,
and it doesn't look like it's going to. So what
I'm dealing with now, I'm pretty sure that Baker's sisters
filled back up, Like I don't think it's actually gone anywhere,
And now everything in my knee is swollen. My right
knee is two times bigger than my left knee, and
(08:11):
nothing is changing that. Now. I am now eight days
no running, no soccer. I'm not even taking the dogs
on a walk. I'm doing nothing. I am trying to rest,
I'm trying to ice, I'm trying to elevate. It's not
doing anything. So the knee is still bad. I can't
run race as well. I probably shouldn't run them at all.
But you know, there's part of me that are like,
(08:32):
I wonder if I could go out and sneak in
the stint k because again, we're runners and we're stupid
and that's what we do. And I am a stupid runner.
You idiot with the microphone is I've called myself dumb,
dumb runner anyway, So I have called the doctor. I
have said, hey, the steroids shot is long gone. We've
got to check this out. There's things to do, like,
you know, can we get in there? So I have
(08:52):
an appointment on December first, where the most likely outcome
of this appointment is going to figure out when we're
having surgeryknee surgery on the horizon. This has now canceled
my trip to Mississippi. There is no redemption at the
Mississippi Gulf Coast Marathon for last year's DNF. That's gonna
have to wait a little bit. Anything past the canceled
(09:14):
trip to Mississippi, and again, this is the same thing
that cost me Marine Corps Marathon back in October. Anything
past that, no decisions made. Because I know if you
follow this podcast at all or US online, you're saying, well, shoot, dude,
what about Tokyo. Well, nothing is decided at this point.
Nothing will be decided until after the next appointment with
(09:35):
the orthopedic surgeon. But it would behoove me to maybe
look up the Tokyo Marathon deferment policy just the thought. Now,
Sydney at the end of August, even with knee surgery,
Sydney I think is doable. So I'm not even touching
Sydney at the moment. Tokyo We're gonna have to see,
(09:56):
and I'm gonna have to try and make the right
decision for me. Well really, just for me. I was
gonna say for me in the podcast, but no, this
has to be me. I'm the guy who still when
this podcast someday ends, I'm the guy who stills to
be able to be mobile, still has to get around
stills to be able to function in life. So as
much as I was about to throw the podcast in there, no,
it's really about me and I have ignored this issue
(10:19):
for long enough, and it's time. Unfortunately, because my body's
telling me to then I have to do something about it.
But we all have this. We all have injuries. Some
we choose to accept, some we don't. Some flat take
us out of the game. And that's what's happened here.
I can act like it's not there, but it's there.
(10:40):
I could go out and try and run a race.
What if I can't finish? What if I blow this
thing out completely? Then what could be just a clean
it out, fix it up surgery becomes a complete replacement
or restructuring surgery that puts me out, you know, instead
of maybe six weeks to six months. You know, there
is a difference in severity here, but it's really how
(11:01):
can you stay a runner with injury when you can't run?
Because so many times we put this and this is
me personally, especially after this weekend two races I was
signed up for two races I had to sit out for.
We call ourselves runners. We identify as runners. We are runners.
Are you still a runner when you can't run? And
(11:22):
the answer, of course, the short answer, you can turn
the podcast off after this, thanks everyone. No, the short answer,
of course is yest yes it is. Now. This is
not going to be a pity party. This is going
to be a game plan for me personally and for
anyone else who is sidelined by injury. So the first
thing we have to take out of this so take
(11:42):
the word runner, quote unquote runner. A runner is not
equal to or less than my lig Just because you
get miles in doesn't make you a runner. What are
some other things that can make you a runner? Well,
it can be community, the running community. So just this
past Thursday, all right, at the Chasing Rabbits run Club,
(12:03):
which sidebar. I am having so much fun with the
Chasing Rabbits run Club. Everyone keeps coming back on average,
on average, if you take all of our meetings together,
we are averaging I would say, at twenty people every
other week. For this. I see run clubs out there
in no shade. Trust me. I understand people got lives,
(12:25):
things are difficult. Whatever I'm seeing, you know, run clubs
Posting four five six people. We average twenty. I love it.
If you have been out to the Chasing Rabbits Run Club,
I cannot thank you enough for supporting this little venture.
If you haven't come out, you are missing a good time.
We have hit the Jackpod. We're in mid November. We've
(12:48):
had nothing but great, great weather. We only had one
day that was even hot. We haven't had any nights
that I would consider cold. We have had beautiful weather
since this started in August. So from August, September, October
now in November, we are having the best time. We
are bringing out a lot of people. I think a
lot of people are really kind of in with what
we're doing. So that's awesome. All right. Back to the
(13:10):
point in hand, community, I've got the run club and
even though Thursday night, yeah, people ask are like, dude,
are you holding a walking stick in that picture? Yes?
I was. I had a walking stick because I still
want to be the sweeper out there. I walked every
step of it with my walking stick and got around
the three mile course. Still got it in less than
an hour, so you know, hey, go team. I was
(13:30):
hoping there. Yeah, my knee was smart and a little
bit not gonna lie about that, but I don't want
to miss this for the sake of the community. I
didn't run, but I'm still in the running community. Okay.
Another thing. It's not my ounch, but it can be consistency,
you know, consistency in your diet, consistency and exercise you
can do that maybe is not running, that still can
(13:50):
keep you within the running world. You can still consider
yourself a runner. And again this is just I'm afraid.
I'm a fearful for what some of you. I think
in your own head if you suffer injury and I
this is not me, all right. I Am never gonna
sit here and say, oh no, I'm not a runner
anymore just because I can't get the miles right now. No,
there's so many other things to it that can still
(14:12):
keep you in the running world, keep you in the
running community, and keep you as a runner even if
you're not getting the miles that you want to get.
And then, of course the last one is care. Runners
have to care about certain things. Just said. You have
to care about your diet, you have to care about
your exercise, you have to care about the running community
and the running world, which of course I do because
even though my knee doesn't work right now, I'm still
(14:32):
recording a podcast. Hooray, there is still all this care
and so what you have to do is now we
have to kind of switch around the goals, all right.
So goals used to be mind age in races and metals.
Now there has to be kind of a new scoreboard,
new tellyships check off. What's one thing? Sleep rest is
so important for us runners, and I do not get
(14:53):
enough of it. I will be the first to tell
you I do not get enough hours of sleep per night,
or a ring will tell me that, my Garmin launch
will tell me that, and my own body mind and
physically will tell me I don't get enough sleep every night.
So things have to change. I no longer have to
be up at the crack of dawn to make a
race on the weekend. Why don't I try and stay
(15:15):
in bed a little longer. Why don't you try and
go back to sleep. Make sure you don't accidentally set
that alarm. Sleep rest, rest best recovery for the body,
even when you're suffering injury. Another thing that's about to
be on on my scoreboard again, where it's not a
Saturday morning five k for me, it can be pain
free range of motion. Okay, physical therapy is going to
(15:37):
be a thing that happens. So if I have to
go through with a surgery, which I imagine I will,
then physical therapy is going to be a thing. I
have to do the physical therapy. I have to do
it correctly. I have to do it when they say
to do it. I have to do it how they
say to do it. And that's gonna help get the
range of motion back into the knee. So again, that's
gonna be another project that's like like training for a race.
(16:00):
I will be training to get the use of my
knee back. It's all still training. Next is gonna be
consistency with physical therapy, because I've known people who have
had knee issues, and I've seen both success and failure
from it. Some people rehab like champs, do exactly what
the physical therapist tells them to do, how to do it,
when to do it, how often to do it, and
(16:22):
they make it back. They make it all the way back.
Some are even better than before. I can only imagine
what it would feel like to run a raise with
no pain in my knee. Sounds lovely. I've seen the
flip side as well. The people who have the knee issue,
they have the knee surgery, then they completely shirk their
responsibilities of physical therapy. Well, it never actually gets better,
(16:42):
all right. It is not just you're gonna somehow heal
and improve and live pain free by osmosis just because
that's what you have in your head and that sounds
like a lovely thing to happen. It's not the case
if you don't do the work, do the physical therapy
how they say it, when the help, and then the
next thing in one and maybe this might be the
(17:04):
most important your mood. Your mood, that is absolutely a
big thing. I could sit here and be completely cranky
that I can't run, and let me be one hundred
percent honest with you, my friends. That's what I was
this past weekend. I was angry. I was unhappy. I
did not like that I could not be at Yetti
(17:24):
and Durance weekend. First, I paid all the money to
do it. I paid for the five K, I paid
for the half marathon. I paid for the challenge. There
was supposed to be a nice pair of YETI Challenge
sweatpants waiting for me with my name on it, and
I couldn't be there. I couldn't get the medal, I
couldn't participate in Metal Monday. I couldn't run the race.
I couldn't see my running people. I could have, but
(17:45):
not as a runner, you get what I'm saying. And
I walked away with nothing. So I didn't want to
go out there. I didn't want to make the over
thirty minute drive to where the race was. I didn't
want to do it show up and not be able
to run. Now I'm gonna have to flip that that
is going to have to change, because again, if I
want to stay in the running world, I have to
be where the runners are, even if I can't run
(18:06):
more in that a minute. But your mood is absolutely
a thing. So while I took the weekend to be
pissy and to be upset with myself and to be
upset with my situation, here I sit now on this
Monday that this episode is airing, and I'm saying, you
know what, We're gonna make a positive out of this.
We absolutely are. There's there's no point in sitting around
feeling sorry for ourselves just because we can't do the
(18:28):
thing we want to do when there's still plenty of
other things to do, all right, So next some of
the things you can do. So we're gonna do some training,
all right. This is I almost see this as a positive.
I have run for so long, right, fifteen years, fifteen
years I have run. I will be the first to
tell you that for fifteen years, I have neglected almost
(18:50):
every other aspect of physical fitness. All right, all I've
done is run. I am a naturally bigger guy, big
boned as they might say. All right, and so it's
not like I am rail thin, because I'm not. I
definitely have, you know, some of that kind of you know,
farm booy country strength going on. But I don't do
(19:11):
anything upper body. I don't lift, I don't do anything
to help with arms, chest, back, you know, even down
into like the quads from doing squads, which with no need,
that's not gonna work out right now. But there's so
many things I don't do that I need to start doing.
So I need to work on my upper body strength,
all right, you know, push things, pull things, press on things.
(19:34):
Core core is so critical for runners, and I do
this much with it. And if you're not watching the video,
it's like last week and he's much you a diny bit.
Every once in a while, I'll do a plank. I
have this app on my phone that you're supposed to
do a plank every day, and it builds up over
time and you get to like this goal of I
don't even remember how many minutes, where you do one
(19:55):
plank for X amount of minutes, and every night at
nine o'clock it goes off, the alert hits my phone,
it's time to do your plank challenge. I couldn't even
tell you the last time I did one, and I
only did it for maybe forty five seconds and then
that was it. Haven't gone back to it since. No
consistency in doing that. But arms, chest, core, all things
(20:17):
that I can work on, and then there's single leg
things you can do, but it's more about balance. So
there's tons of balancing things I need to do. I
can do old man yoga, of which there is. I
could do pilates, which there are people who rave about it.
My one experience was not great, but I could give
(20:37):
that a try. There's things to do even when I
can't run, And again going with mood and going to
kind of flipping the script and you know, new scorecard
that you need to kind of work on I need
to do these things since I can't do the other things.
It keeps you active and keeps you engaged and ultimately
will benefit the comeback once we get to that, and
(20:58):
we will get to that at some point. For cardio,
and again this is if it's okay with your injury
and you okay with your doctor. But for cardio things,
I could try and bike. You know, I've got a bike.
I did that sprint triathlon back in twenty twenty three.
I got the bike, I got the helmet. It's no
impact on the knee, so I think I could probably
do it. It's cardio, so I can keep up the cardio
(21:21):
with either biking. There's also hand cycles. If you've seen
him in the gym, it's like a bike, but it's
with your arms, just kind of rounding around and around
you go. That's a cardio thing. It's not a strength
training thing, although I think it helps with both. But again,
another option of things I can do to keep the
heart going, to keep the cardio up while I can't
be moving. Another one is a rower. People love the rowers.
(21:44):
Shout out to my boy Joe. I don't even think
listens to this podcast. He's a big cross spinner. He's
a CrossFit guy, but he has set records for his
age in the rowing world. But he does the CrossFit
and those people are crazy more than triathletes or ironmn
I think crossfitters or nuts. But whatever, you know, do
each oor own? Do anythink some more things you can do.
(22:05):
You can walk in a pool again eliminates a lot
of the impact on the knee. And then you can
do what they call deep water jogging. That's where you
can jog. You can run, but I think the water
is like almost up to your neck, so again it's
very low impact. Definitely good cardio, good workout, no question there,
but nothing really on the knee. So these are all
(22:25):
things that you can do just as kind of substitutes.
But when you can't run, find the thing you can
do to keep up your fitness. We all know that
fitness improves mood. When you work out, it releases the
endorphins that just make you a happier, more pleasant person.
That's why the people who don't work out are usually
miserable assholes. I'm sorry I had to throw that out there.
(22:48):
That's not a shot at anyone in particular, although I
could think of a few. So anyway, next again, for recovery,
you know, you've got to recover from your injury. You've
got to recover from switching up the things that you're doing. Again.
If I go out there and I start lifting weights
and I start doing half hour planks, y are right,
my body is going to be sore because these are
not muscles I'm used to using. So you do need
(23:10):
to work on your recovery. Recovery is important. So what
do you need to do? First off? Hit your sleep
target if you're I found that my garment tells me
every night how much I'm supposed to sleep, and it changes.
It changes on my activity of the day and how
much sleep I got the night before. So sometimes I'll
be like, oh, you just need seven hours and fifty minutes.
Sometimes you need eight hours and thirty minutes. It's kind
of interesting. I thought that was interesting. So if you've
(23:31):
got a garment, look your sleep target and that's what
your sleep target needs to be hit it. I am
going to venture guests and Garment can contact me and
tell me I'm wrong, and then they can tell me
all the ways they want to sponsor this podcast and
give me oodles of money. But if if you got
the sleep score thing in the jigger and you're lying
in bed and you're supposed to be there eight and
(23:53):
a half hours, but you're laying there at eight hours
wide awake. I think if you just maybe lay in
bed and just kind of keep that rest going even
if you're not sleeping, it's like it's gonna be the
same thing, right when you think. I think so, Just
trust me, I'm never in my life gonna sleep another
eight and a half hours. My body will not allow
that to happen. I wake up early every day. My
body is very well trained. I don't even need alarm
(24:13):
clocks because yeah I'm up and uh yeah, so eight
and a half hours as a sweet deer, sweet dream.
Another recovery foundation. All right here your sleep target. Protein
with every meal. Protein is huge, y'all you were runners.
We know that. We all think it is about carbs. Okay,
carbs maybe the night before race, when you are not
pre race. You know, within a few hours, then protein
(24:37):
is where it's at. Protein restores the muscles, builds the muscles,
helps the muscles. Uh, It's it's critically important to runners.
Protein protein, protein with every meal so you have your salad. Sure,
I'm gonna have a salad for lunch today, I guarantee,
because it's already up there waiting for me. And what
else is waiting for me? The the boneless, skinless chicken breast.
Then I'm gonna grill up, chop up and put on
(24:58):
my salad so that I've got some protein on it.
And of course I'm a meditarian, so it helps a lot.
Makes everything better. The protein with every meal, sleep target
protein with every meal. Hydration, ding ding ding, the ding
ding ding. Hydration. We all suck at it, most of us. Anyway.
Drink more water. Water helps everything. If you got a
bad knee, if the joints are bad, get more fluid
(25:20):
on them. That's water. So yeah, waters where it's at. Duh.
Next up, anti inflammatory plate. Okay, it's not the medicine.
See anti inflammatory plate. And what does that? What that is?
Colorful veggies? Okay, so not just the lettuce on a salad,
Not just a carrot, although carrots are very good. Get
(25:41):
the colorful veggies out there. The more colorful the vegetable,
the more it's gonna do for you. Vegetables and blueberries
are natural anti inflammatories. And you don't want inflammation in anybody.
You can also throw in an Omega three pill and
there's some ways you can get it within the food
fish of course, but I just use pill form because
I'm not a big fish eater. But Omega's Amega three
(26:03):
fatty acids also very good at reducing inflammation. What they say, naturally,
it's not like popping or n abvill it's not taken
in a leave an over the counter drugged anti inflammatory.
These are more natural approaches to it. And then you
just kind of got to figure out your your pain
scale as it relates to this new level of exercise
(26:25):
in how it's affecting your body and how you feel,
and really like I'm trying to think if I okay,
I'm gonna date myself a long time ago in a
galaxy far far away. If you remember this, you're gonna laugh.
And you're old enough to remember it. I bought the
ab slide. Do you remember the ab slide? The blue
plastic bubble with the handlebars on the side, and you
(26:48):
roll out on your abs and you come back and
skt a little spring loaded action in it to help
get kil fat self back, you know, to the end position,
at least for me. Anyway, I still have my amslide.
To be on your to do your app slide, you
have to be on your knees. So I'm going out
to say, can I use that even though I'm putting
weight on this bad knee? And if I can't, then
(27:10):
I have to adjust. And you just you gotta be
aware if the pain gets above a certain point, I
either have to modify what I'm doing or I have
to stop. And that goes for everyone, whatever your injury is.
If you're continuing to train, if you're continuing to work out,
if you're continuing to do your thing, if the pain
becomes X, you have to modify or stop. And again
(27:31):
only you can determine what X is. I cannot. I cannot.
All right, So next up we got pt in prehab.
All right, prehab, so two things that we're gonna chase,
all right, full extension that's gonna be a rehab thing.
And calm the swelling. That can be a prehab thing.
I can try and get the swelling down before I
(27:52):
even get to the surgery and can get to the rehab.
It's gonna take a lot of ice, lot of elevation,
it's not doing it now, at least not quickly, but
with a continued approach and continuing to stay off of it,
I imagine that would go down. And then afterwards you
can kind of track simple markers morning stiffness, rank it
on one or a zero to ten. I know that
(28:12):
when I first get out of bed, this knee is unhappy.
And then next the ease on stairs. Nope, I have
no ease on stairs. I can actually go upstairs with
less pain than coming down them. Coming downstairs, I am
constantly afraid I'm going to fall. At this point, I
am just afraid this knee is gonna give out and
it's gonna crumble. So a lot of times I'm just
(28:34):
one leg in at at a time, step step step
step step step, like going down sideways down the staircase,
just because I have no faith in this right knee
as it pertains to going down a staircase right now. None,
all right? And then mental fitness. So what they recommend
here five to ten minutes of breath work or body scan,
(28:54):
I'd call that meditation. If you need to take five
minutes sick, quietly, think, just think, meditate, just let the
thoughts either fill your head or the thoughts leave your head.
But mental fitness is also going to be one of
the really really big things that's important when you're down physically,
which I am down physically, and again I took my
(29:16):
weekend to be upset about it. Now we're on the
comeback trail of good mental health, but I was unhappy.
I was not a happy camper this past weekend. And
I know there were people who wanted me to come out.
You know, you can still come out, you can still
hang out, you can still say hi to everyone. No,
I didn't want to because if I got there, I
was gonna grab my bib and I was going to
go for a run, and it probably wouldn't have been good.
(29:37):
But that was where I was at. I was still
processing everything. I'm still angry about the situation, so I
couldn't be there. Another one. We talked about this before
journal prompts what can I improve because I'm benched. I
think I went over that I can improve upper body, chest, abs, core, arms, shoulders, back.
(29:58):
I can do all these things that I haven't touched
in fifteen years because I can't run. It would be good.
It ultimately helps strength training. Hello Karen Wherever you are.
Strength training makes us better runners. And anytime you've seen
Karen come on the show, she will beat that into
your brain so that you do not forget it. And
then you can ask yourself the question what would healthy
(30:20):
come back look like? So after the surgery, what would
a healthy comeback look like? For me? Maybe a little
more definition in the arms, maybe a little an inch
or two off of the chest, off the circumference of it.
You know, I'd love to go down a brass eyze
or two. It would be fantastic. Or do you go up? No,
I think you go down? Smaller is down right? Not up? Ladies,
(30:42):
You'll have to tell me. I have no idea. Honestly,
I was making the joke and then I made it worse.
So what would a healthy comeback look like? Okay? Well, yeah,
like I said, maybe a little more tone in the arms,
maybe a little loss around the chest, in the mid section,
maybe a little bit stronger in the ams, all these things.
And you know, of course, anything that comes off the
scale is just less. You're putting on a surgically repaired knee. Okay,
(31:05):
so dummy, drop a few prowns is what I should
always do and can't Hey, I am just now noticing
because I looked at the screen where the camera is,
my hat looks transparent. That's pretty cool or weird. Haven't decided, dad, anyway, Sorry,
I just saw that's that's weird. So anyway, Yeah, check
(31:25):
out what your healthy comeback looks like. All right, And
then you can always stay in the sports. We've been
over this community roles. Volunteer at the finish line, you
can cruise somebody who's maybe doing a long race. You
can you can MC at a local five k. I
don't think they need me for that. But you can
also be part of the run club. Credit to Terry.
(31:45):
This past week Thursday, she is battling big time injury
possible surgery on her horizon, she still came out to
the Chasing Rapids run club and she just hung out,
you know, everyone left for their run. She stayed on
the patio, you know, guarded everyone's purses and probably had
a beer or two waiting, and then was there for
all of us after the run to continue to socialize
(32:06):
and still be a part of the running community. So yeah,
volunteer crew and then go to a run club. Yep,
seems seems good to me and So see here I'm
trying to think, yeah, there's you always want to have
a good idea of what you're looking at inter your wise.
So like when I go to the surgeon of the
(32:27):
PT guy, I'm gonna ask him what is the exact
diagnosis in the grade? All right? Is this going to
be an operation or is it going to be not?
What's the timelinth timeline look like? Can I bike now?
Can I swim now? Can I walk? Now? What can
I do while I can't do this? And then you
know everything post op pain and swelling, you know, give
(32:49):
me an idea about that, and then what does success
look like for my surgery in particular at least what
I expect to have. Again, they can't put tread back
on the tire, they can't put car you back of
my knees, So what can they do. They're gonna go in.
They're gonna remove the baker syst, They're gonna remove the
bones burst. They're going to, I guess, trim down some
areas that are causing some of the inflammation. There's some grinding,
(33:12):
there's some rubbing, there's some stuff going on. They're gonna
try and clean it up. So really, this is not
gonna be a replacement, at least I don't think. So,
this is going to be a repair job. Okay, So
what is it gonna look like on the other side
of that repair job? Well, what am I going to
be looking at for a recovery time? When can I
start doing things again? You just you want to have
(33:32):
a good idea from your surgeon repete what you're looking like.
And then after the surgery, imagine there's gonna be some
physical therapy and so I'm gonna have to be ready
for it. And then now make yourself some micro goals
and put those on the scorecard too. So weekly, see
what your movement is, if you see if you're on
the men, see if you're healing, especially from a surgery.
You know, are you actually healing? And then your mind?
(33:55):
Is your mind still good? Check in with yourself, probably
several times a week to make sure even after surgery,
even when you're on those crutches and you got that
big thing on your leg and you can't hardly do
a staircase and getting up from the toilet causes huge pain,
continue to look at your mind, make sure that you
keep track of it so you don't go spiraling and
(34:16):
do something stupid or get kind of out of control. Okay,
so if you have ever been benched, shall we say
by any of this nonsense, let me know what worked
for you? You know, please respond, you know, send a
message to me or put it in the comments. You
can comment on almost any platform. Now, what worked for
you when you were down for a period with injury.
I'd love to know, and you can. You could help me,
You could help someone else who's also in the same boat.
(34:38):
And then yeah, that's that's it. You know. This weekend
coming up, I'm supposed to do the Turkey Trails ten
k by Bodies Race Company. That's probably not gonna happen, thankfully.
I did not sign up for Goble Grind, but that's
on Sunday. That is not gonna happen either. And then
we're dead heading into Thanksgiving. I've already given away my
Thanksgiving Day ten k. They credit to the race company
(35:00):
for the word Parkway Thanksgiving Day ten k. I emailed them,
I said, Hey, I can't run, I'm injured. Can I
transfer to this person from run Club who wants to
do it? They said, sure, what's their email? Here it is,
It's done. She's got my registration. So no Thanksgiving Day
ten K for me, No Thanksgiving Day annual football game
for me. I will go, but I'm gonna be watching
from the sideline. I'm gonna be sitting in my chair,
(35:21):
probably drinking a Mamosha and watching all the all the
friends and family and kids play the football game and
all that's kind of be there. So it sucks, and
this is definitely not what I wanted, especially with all
the things on the horizon for twenty twenty six. But
this is where we're at, and so even when we're injured,
we just were go and work on getting through it
(35:41):
and coming back even stronger from it. I have no
doubt I will be back as a better runner after
this is all concluded. But it's gonna be a process.
And so if you ever feel like my mind isn't right,
if you ever think a episode was a little too dark,
or a little too snarky, or a little too he
doesn't seem right, then you speak right up. You let
me know, because keeping track of it all in your
(36:02):
head and keeping yourself mentally strong while working on the
other physical aspects of your body are all hugely important
when you are down from injury. Okay, that's gonna do it.
For this week's episode of the Back of Back podcast,
I'm your host, Kyle Walker, my pleasure as always, everyone,
have a safe week of training and have a great
run this weekend wherever you might be at, and we
(36:23):
will see you well Friday for another episode of Second Wind,
and another note, we'll see you next week.
Hello, everyone, greetings and salutations. Welcome back to another episode
at the Back of the Back podcast. I'm your host,
Kyle Walker. Thank you so much for tuning in. First
things first, last week's episode all about the Good Life Havesie.
Have you ever gone back and looked at something you've done,
like maybe a run or a workout or something, and
you think I just was not on my game for
that particular occasion or event. It's kind of how I
(00:36):
feel about last week's episode about the Good Life Havesie.
I'm not saying it was bad. I just say and
I don't think I hit a home run on that one.
That was not my favorite episode. So apologies. If that
was the first episode you ever listened to, you're probably
not back for another one. And then also apologies to
the Good Life have Sie. You guys, as a race
and organization, an event deserved a better recap than what
(00:58):
I gave last week. Apparently not on my game after
that very odd, strange weekend, I should say up in Lincoln, Nebraska,
you know, with the whole fence hopping, which apparently people
love that part of it. I'm so glad that you
relish in my misery. Good grief. That's like what I've
heard about the most. And yeah, I know it's ridiculous,
(01:19):
but that's okay. But yeah, between fence hopping horrible weather,
I didn't even mention that there were actually some snowflakes
on the course last weekend. There are definitely few, like,
you know, nothing big or scary or anything like. It
was very few and far between, like I saw flake
every couple minutes, but there was definitely some snowflakes out there.
Didn't even address that, really didn't talk much about the
(01:41):
actual course. Felt like I spent more time on the
expo than anything else. But anyway, great event, Love the event.
Sorry if the episode felt a little lacking, We're just
we're gonna go with that. So anyway, this past weekend
there was no race for the podcast. We were supposed
to be at Yettie Duran's weekend for the and half marathon.
(02:01):
That didn't happen. More on that in a minute. But
for everyone who went out to I think it was
Arizona for the all women's marathon. I hope you guys
had a great time. I'm seeing a lot of Findisher
pictures and metal pictures rolling in on Metal Monday it
looks like everyone had a great time. That is a
really cool event, and so I'm glad everyone got to
(02:21):
go and experience that. Someone who was there was our
friend Lisa from the Behind the Bib podcast. While she
was there her episode that came out Friday. If you
go listen to it, you might hear a familiar voice,
you might have a little guest host action. And so
I would definitely recommend you go out and check out
Behind the Bib and see if maybe, excuse me, someone
(02:44):
took over that episode that you might want to listen to.
I don't know, just the thought, just the thought, and
then of course I always go and give them a
follow on social media and listen to the episodes. Lisa's
crushing it down there, and if you are a big
fan of the whole Tiki TALKI world and reels and
all that good stuff, then she is one of the
creators that you want to follow. So go check out
Lisa and Behind the Bib, especially on TikTok and reels
(03:07):
on Instagram and stuff like that, because she's crushing it.
I know our friend running up that Hillary out there
as well. Yeah, I feel like Hillary's gotten so big
now in the running world like she we're just one
of those little people she stepped on on the way
up the ladder. But a good job to Hillary. I
had to give her a hard time. I don't even
know if she still listens to this podcast. Again, she's
(03:27):
big stuff out there taking selfies with Des Linden and
having all these people like treating her like a celebrity
out there. See. I told you guys years ago, like
at least a year ago, two years ago, that she
was a celebrity and no micro influencer whatever, get out
of here. So she's doing great. But she was out
there as well, and then several people from around the
area were out there doing that race as well. I
hope everyone had a great time. It looked like a
(03:50):
lot of fun here in town. We had yetdie Endurance weekend.
I've seen a lot of pictures rolling in from that,
and of course I was not able to attend. So
why here's what we're going to talk about today. And
this is not a pity party, So please don't think
it's that. We've actually got some points. We're gonna make
positive things coming up, positive things happening. It's gonna sound bad,
(04:11):
and I'm not gonna be whiny face about it, but
we're just we're gonna we're gonna tell it like it is.
So as we know, I've had nothing but knee problems.
This here, right knee, no good. Went back in September
to the orthopedist, saw the guy, got the MRI, got
the X ray. Doctors examined, No cartilage left behind the patella,
(04:32):
which is your kneecap in my right knee, it is gone.
The meniscus is fine, which is great, but the cartilage
is gone. And as they phrased it, and as they
told me, you cannot put tread back on a tire.
So like there's no way. We're just gonna put more
cartilage back in my knee and everything's gonna be fine.
So I got a steroid shop back in September, and
(04:53):
I've been running on it and doing okay. I wouldn't
say doing well because my times would reflect I'm not
doing well and running right now, but I was doing okay.
We go to a Tuesday night where I'm playing my
men's indoor soccer, and this was two weeks ago. Again,
I don't want to stop playing soccer. I don't want
to stop running we're runners. We just you know, pretend
like injuries don't exist, right, That's just what we do.
(05:14):
So that's what I was doing, pretending my injuries didn't exist,
and I'm playing soccer. We actually had a double header
that night. And to the people at all American indoor sports,
when you put the over thirty guys in double headers,
what in the actual hell are you doing. We don't
want to be playing two hours of indoor soccer. I
can barely make it through one. I had guys on
(05:37):
the team. Halfway through the second game, they're putting their
streets shoes back on there like I just can't. Indoor
soccer is constant. When you're on that field, you're moving.
There's no standing there in right field hoping no one
hits you the ball. You got to participate in indoor soccer.
We had subs, but we're shifting in and out. We're
moving quick. But two games really did my knee. In
(05:59):
the next day, my knee was swollen as could be.
I think that Baker's cyst on the back of the kneecap,
on the back side of where there's no more cartilage.
I've got a Baker's sist back there. There's bone spurs
in it. They said, sounds lovely, right it was. I
mean it was as aggravated as it had ever been.
After playing those two games of indoor soccer. The thinging,
oh boy, walking was difficult, stairs almost impossible. And that
(06:22):
weekend coming up, I had the good life havesie, Oh
boy that way, and that is standing all day on
Saturday at the expo and then running a half marathon
after the two games of indoor soccer, which really did
my knee and it wasn't good. Then we get to
good life havesie after standing all day. Now I'm hopping
eight foot fences and again, as ungraceful as it was,
the landing after the second fence I had to hop.
(06:45):
There was no grace, there was no athleticism, there was
no balance. It was just me going splat like out
of a cartoon. Looting Tunes would have been proud of
me going over the fence, and I made it to
the top pretty well. On that second one, I'm like,
okay in this back yeah, well, coming down the backside,
just flop done. But I land, of course awkwardly on
(07:07):
my knee because I'm trying to get my feet down
underneath me, But your knees don't really like that when
you do that, and they're injured already. So then I
am gimping around the corner to get to the start
line to start that race. And then I do a
half marathon, and then, like I talked about last week,
that cyst burst behind my patilla in the back of
my knee at mile seven, filling my calves and my
(07:27):
ankles and my feet with you making things very difficult,
very painful, And I thought, Okay, maybe this is a
good thing, you know, now that that Baker syst has ruptured.
You know, I've read about it. It says the body
will just kind of reabsorb all that stuff after about
three or four days, and then maybe I'll kind of
get back to where I was where, Yeah, things were
maybe a little uncomfortable. There was a little discomfort, but
(07:50):
not like full out pain. Maybe my knee will respond
well and things will be great. Okay, that hasn't happened,
and it doesn't look like it's going to. So what
I'm dealing with now, I'm pretty sure that Baker's sisters
filled back up, Like I don't think it's actually gone anywhere,
And now everything in my knee is swollen. My right
knee is two times bigger than my left knee, and
(08:11):
nothing is changing that. Now. I am now eight days
no running, no soccer. I'm not even taking the dogs
on a walk. I'm doing nothing. I am trying to rest,
I'm trying to ice, I'm trying to elevate. It's not
doing anything. So the knee is still bad. I can't
run race as well. I probably shouldn't run them at all.
But you know, there's part of me that are like,
(08:32):
I wonder if I could go out and sneak in
the stint k because again, we're runners and we're stupid
and that's what we do. And I am a stupid runner.
You idiot with the microphone is I've called myself dumb,
dumb runner anyway, So I have called the doctor. I
have said, hey, the steroids shot is long gone. We've
got to check this out. There's things to do, like,
you know, can we get in there? So I have
(08:52):
an appointment on December first, where the most likely outcome
of this appointment is going to figure out when we're
having surgeryknee surgery on the horizon. This has now canceled
my trip to Mississippi. There is no redemption at the
Mississippi Gulf Coast Marathon for last year's DNF. That's gonna
have to wait a little bit. Anything past the canceled
(09:14):
trip to Mississippi, and again, this is the same thing
that cost me Marine Corps Marathon back in October. Anything
past that, no decisions made. Because I know if you
follow this podcast at all or US online, you're saying, well, shoot, dude,
what about Tokyo. Well, nothing is decided at this point.
Nothing will be decided until after the next appointment with
(09:35):
the orthopedic surgeon. But it would behoove me to maybe
look up the Tokyo Marathon deferment policy just the thought. Now,
Sydney at the end of August, even with knee surgery,
Sydney I think is doable. So I'm not even touching
Sydney at the moment. Tokyo We're gonna have to see,
(09:56):
and I'm gonna have to try and make the right
decision for me. Well really, just for me. I was
gonna say for me in the podcast, but no, this
has to be me. I'm the guy who still when
this podcast someday ends, I'm the guy who stills to
be able to be mobile, still has to get around
stills to be able to function in life. So as
much as I was about to throw the podcast in there, no,
it's really about me and I have ignored this issue
(10:19):
for long enough, and it's time. Unfortunately, because my body's
telling me to then I have to do something about it.
But we all have this. We all have injuries. Some
we choose to accept, some we don't. Some flat take
us out of the game. And that's what's happened here.
I can act like it's not there, but it's there.
(10:40):
I could go out and try and run a race.
What if I can't finish? What if I blow this
thing out completely? Then what could be just a clean
it out, fix it up surgery becomes a complete replacement
or restructuring surgery that puts me out, you know, instead
of maybe six weeks to six months. You know, there
is a difference in severity here, but it's really how
(11:01):
can you stay a runner with injury when you can't run?
Because so many times we put this and this is
me personally, especially after this weekend two races I was
signed up for two races I had to sit out for.
We call ourselves runners. We identify as runners. We are runners.
Are you still a runner when you can't run? And
(11:22):
the answer, of course, the short answer, you can turn
the podcast off after this, thanks everyone. No, the short answer,
of course is yest yes it is. Now. This is
not going to be a pity party. This is going
to be a game plan for me personally and for
anyone else who is sidelined by injury. So the first
thing we have to take out of this so take
(11:42):
the word runner, quote unquote runner. A runner is not
equal to or less than my lig Just because you
get miles in doesn't make you a runner. What are
some other things that can make you a runner? Well,
it can be community, the running community. So just this
past Thursday, all right, at the Chasing Rabbits run Club,
(12:03):
which sidebar. I am having so much fun with the
Chasing Rabbits run Club. Everyone keeps coming back on average,
on average, if you take all of our meetings together,
we are averaging I would say, at twenty people every
other week. For this. I see run clubs out there
in no shade. Trust me. I understand people got lives,
(12:25):
things are difficult. Whatever I'm seeing, you know, run clubs
Posting four five six people. We average twenty. I love it.
If you have been out to the Chasing Rabbits Run Club,
I cannot thank you enough for supporting this little venture.
If you haven't come out, you are missing a good time.
We have hit the Jackpod. We're in mid November. We've
(12:48):
had nothing but great, great weather. We only had one
day that was even hot. We haven't had any nights
that I would consider cold. We have had beautiful weather
since this started in August. So from August, September, October
now in November, we are having the best time. We
are bringing out a lot of people. I think a
lot of people are really kind of in with what
we're doing. So that's awesome. All right. Back to the
(13:10):
point in hand, community, I've got the run club and
even though Thursday night, yeah, people ask are like, dude,
are you holding a walking stick in that picture? Yes?
I was. I had a walking stick because I still
want to be the sweeper out there. I walked every
step of it with my walking stick and got around
the three mile course. Still got it in less than
an hour, so you know, hey, go team. I was
(13:30):
hoping there. Yeah, my knee was smart and a little
bit not gonna lie about that, but I don't want
to miss this for the sake of the community. I
didn't run, but I'm still in the running community. Okay.
Another thing. It's not my ounch, but it can be consistency,
you know, consistency in your diet, consistency and exercise you
can do that maybe is not running, that still can
(13:50):
keep you within the running world. You can still consider
yourself a runner. And again this is just I'm afraid.
I'm a fearful for what some of you. I think
in your own head if you suffer injury and I
this is not me, all right. I Am never gonna
sit here and say, oh no, I'm not a runner
anymore just because I can't get the miles right now. No,
there's so many other things to it that can still
(14:12):
keep you in the running world, keep you in the
running community, and keep you as a runner even if
you're not getting the miles that you want to get.
And then, of course the last one is care. Runners
have to care about certain things. Just said. You have
to care about your diet, you have to care about
your exercise, you have to care about the running community
and the running world, which of course I do because
even though my knee doesn't work right now, I'm still
(14:32):
recording a podcast. Hooray, there is still all this care
and so what you have to do is now we
have to kind of switch around the goals, all right.
So goals used to be mind age in races and metals.
Now there has to be kind of a new scoreboard,
new tellyships check off. What's one thing? Sleep rest is
so important for us runners, and I do not get
(14:53):
enough of it. I will be the first to tell
you I do not get enough hours of sleep per night,
or a ring will tell me that, my Garmin launch
will tell me that, and my own body mind and
physically will tell me I don't get enough sleep every night.
So things have to change. I no longer have to
be up at the crack of dawn to make a
race on the weekend. Why don't I try and stay
(15:15):
in bed a little longer. Why don't you try and
go back to sleep. Make sure you don't accidentally set
that alarm. Sleep rest, rest best recovery for the body,
even when you're suffering injury. Another thing that's about to
be on on my scoreboard again, where it's not a
Saturday morning five k for me, it can be pain
free range of motion. Okay, physical therapy is going to
(15:37):
be a thing that happens. So if I have to
go through with a surgery, which I imagine I will,
then physical therapy is going to be a thing. I
have to do the physical therapy. I have to do
it correctly. I have to do it when they say
to do it. I have to do it how they
say to do it. And that's gonna help get the
range of motion back into the knee. So again, that's
gonna be another project that's like like training for a race.
(16:00):
I will be training to get the use of my
knee back. It's all still training. Next is gonna be
consistency with physical therapy, because I've known people who have
had knee issues, and I've seen both success and failure
from it. Some people rehab like champs, do exactly what
the physical therapist tells them to do, how to do it,
when to do it, how often to do it, and
(16:22):
they make it back. They make it all the way back.
Some are even better than before. I can only imagine
what it would feel like to run a raise with
no pain in my knee. Sounds lovely. I've seen the
flip side as well. The people who have the knee issue,
they have the knee surgery, then they completely shirk their
responsibilities of physical therapy. Well, it never actually gets better,
(16:42):
all right. It is not just you're gonna somehow heal
and improve and live pain free by osmosis just because
that's what you have in your head and that sounds
like a lovely thing to happen. It's not the case
if you don't do the work, do the physical therapy
how they say it, when the help, and then the
next thing in one and maybe this might be the
(17:04):
most important your mood. Your mood, that is absolutely a
big thing. I could sit here and be completely cranky
that I can't run, and let me be one hundred
percent honest with you, my friends. That's what I was
this past weekend. I was angry. I was unhappy. I
did not like that I could not be at Yetti
(17:24):
and Durance weekend. First, I paid all the money to
do it. I paid for the five K, I paid
for the half marathon. I paid for the challenge. There
was supposed to be a nice pair of YETI Challenge
sweatpants waiting for me with my name on it, and
I couldn't be there. I couldn't get the medal, I
couldn't participate in Metal Monday. I couldn't run the race.
I couldn't see my running people. I could have, but
(17:45):
not as a runner, you get what I'm saying. And
I walked away with nothing. So I didn't want to
go out there. I didn't want to make the over
thirty minute drive to where the race was. I didn't
want to do it show up and not be able
to run. Now I'm gonna have to flip that that
is going to have to change, because again, if I
want to stay in the running world, I have to
be where the runners are, even if I can't run
(18:06):
more in that a minute. But your mood is absolutely
a thing. So while I took the weekend to be
pissy and to be upset with myself and to be
upset with my situation, here I sit now on this
Monday that this episode is airing, and I'm saying, you
know what, We're gonna make a positive out of this.
We absolutely are. There's there's no point in sitting around
feeling sorry for ourselves just because we can't do the
(18:28):
thing we want to do when there's still plenty of
other things to do, all right, So next some of
the things you can do. So we're gonna do some training,
all right. This is I almost see this as a positive.
I have run for so long, right, fifteen years, fifteen
years I have run. I will be the first to
tell you that for fifteen years, I have neglected almost
(18:50):
every other aspect of physical fitness. All right, all I've
done is run. I am a naturally bigger guy, big
boned as they might say. All right, and so it's
not like I am rail thin, because I'm not. I
definitely have, you know, some of that kind of you know,
farm booy country strength going on. But I don't do
(19:11):
anything upper body. I don't lift, I don't do anything
to help with arms, chest, back, you know, even down
into like the quads from doing squads, which with no need,
that's not gonna work out right now. But there's so
many things I don't do that I need to start doing.
So I need to work on my upper body strength,
all right, you know, push things, pull things, press on things.
(19:34):
Core core is so critical for runners, and I do
this much with it. And if you're not watching the video,
it's like last week and he's much you a diny bit.
Every once in a while, I'll do a plank. I
have this app on my phone that you're supposed to
do a plank every day, and it builds up over
time and you get to like this goal of I
don't even remember how many minutes, where you do one
(19:55):
plank for X amount of minutes, and every night at
nine o'clock it goes off, the alert hits my phone,
it's time to do your plank challenge. I couldn't even
tell you the last time I did one, and I
only did it for maybe forty five seconds and then
that was it. Haven't gone back to it since. No
consistency in doing that. But arms, chest, core, all things
(20:17):
that I can work on, and then there's single leg
things you can do, but it's more about balance. So
there's tons of balancing things I need to do. I
can do old man yoga, of which there is. I
could do pilates, which there are people who rave about it.
My one experience was not great, but I could give
(20:37):
that a try. There's things to do even when I
can't run, And again going with mood and going to
kind of flipping the script and you know, new scorecard
that you need to kind of work on I need
to do these things since I can't do the other things.
It keeps you active and keeps you engaged and ultimately
will benefit the comeback once we get to that, and
(20:58):
we will get to that at some point. For cardio,
and again this is if it's okay with your injury
and you okay with your doctor. But for cardio things,
I could try and bike. You know, I've got a bike.
I did that sprint triathlon back in twenty twenty three.
I got the bike, I got the helmet. It's no
impact on the knee, so I think I could probably
do it. It's cardio, so I can keep up the cardio
(21:21):
with either biking. There's also hand cycles. If you've seen
him in the gym, it's like a bike, but it's
with your arms, just kind of rounding around and around
you go. That's a cardio thing. It's not a strength
training thing, although I think it helps with both. But again,
another option of things I can do to keep the
heart going, to keep the cardio up while I can't
be moving. Another one is a rower. People love the rowers.
(21:44):
Shout out to my boy Joe. I don't even think
listens to this podcast. He's a big cross spinner. He's
a CrossFit guy, but he has set records for his
age in the rowing world. But he does the CrossFit
and those people are crazy more than triathletes or ironmn
I think crossfitters or nuts. But whatever, you know, do
each oor own? Do anythink some more things you can do.
(22:05):
You can walk in a pool again eliminates a lot
of the impact on the knee. And then you can
do what they call deep water jogging. That's where you
can jog. You can run, but I think the water
is like almost up to your neck, so again it's
very low impact. Definitely good cardio, good workout, no question there,
but nothing really on the knee. So these are all
(22:25):
things that you can do just as kind of substitutes.
But when you can't run, find the thing you can
do to keep up your fitness. We all know that
fitness improves mood. When you work out, it releases the
endorphins that just make you a happier, more pleasant person.
That's why the people who don't work out are usually
miserable assholes. I'm sorry I had to throw that out there.
(22:48):
That's not a shot at anyone in particular, although I
could think of a few. So anyway, next again, for recovery,
you know, you've got to recover from your injury. You've
got to recover from switching up the things that you're doing. Again.
If I go out there and I start lifting weights
and I start doing half hour planks, y are right,
my body is going to be sore because these are
not muscles I'm used to using. So you do need
(23:10):
to work on your recovery. Recovery is important. So what
do you need to do? First off? Hit your sleep
target if you're I found that my garment tells me
every night how much I'm supposed to sleep, and it changes.
It changes on my activity of the day and how
much sleep I got the night before. So sometimes I'll
be like, oh, you just need seven hours and fifty minutes.
Sometimes you need eight hours and thirty minutes. It's kind
of interesting. I thought that was interesting. So if you've
(23:31):
got a garment, look your sleep target and that's what
your sleep target needs to be hit it. I am
going to venture guests and Garment can contact me and
tell me I'm wrong, and then they can tell me
all the ways they want to sponsor this podcast and
give me oodles of money. But if if you got
the sleep score thing in the jigger and you're lying
in bed and you're supposed to be there eight and
(23:53):
a half hours, but you're laying there at eight hours
wide awake. I think if you just maybe lay in
bed and just kind of keep that rest going even
if you're not sleeping, it's like it's gonna be the
same thing, right when you think. I think so, Just
trust me, I'm never in my life gonna sleep another
eight and a half hours. My body will not allow
that to happen. I wake up early every day. My
body is very well trained. I don't even need alarm
(24:13):
clocks because yeah I'm up and uh yeah, so eight
and a half hours as a sweet deer, sweet dream.
Another recovery foundation. All right here your sleep target. Protein
with every meal. Protein is huge, y'all you were runners.
We know that. We all think it is about carbs. Okay,
carbs maybe the night before race, when you are not
pre race. You know, within a few hours, then protein
(24:37):
is where it's at. Protein restores the muscles, builds the muscles,
helps the muscles. Uh, It's it's critically important to runners.
Protein protein, protein with every meal so you have your salad. Sure,
I'm gonna have a salad for lunch today, I guarantee,
because it's already up there waiting for me. And what
else is waiting for me? The the boneless, skinless chicken breast.
Then I'm gonna grill up, chop up and put on
(24:58):
my salad so that I've got some protein on it.
And of course I'm a meditarian, so it helps a lot.
Makes everything better. The protein with every meal, sleep target
protein with every meal. Hydration, ding ding ding, the ding
ding ding. Hydration. We all suck at it, most of us. Anyway.
Drink more water. Water helps everything. If you got a
bad knee, if the joints are bad, get more fluid
(25:20):
on them. That's water. So yeah, waters where it's at. Duh.
Next up, anti inflammatory plate. Okay, it's not the medicine.
See anti inflammatory plate. And what does that? What that is?
Colorful veggies? Okay, so not just the lettuce on a salad,
Not just a carrot, although carrots are very good. Get
(25:41):
the colorful veggies out there. The more colorful the vegetable,
the more it's gonna do for you. Vegetables and blueberries
are natural anti inflammatories. And you don't want inflammation in anybody.
You can also throw in an Omega three pill and
there's some ways you can get it within the food
fish of course, but I just use pill form because
I'm not a big fish eater. But Omega's Amega three
(26:03):
fatty acids also very good at reducing inflammation. What they say, naturally,
it's not like popping or n abvill it's not taken
in a leave an over the counter drugged anti inflammatory.
These are more natural approaches to it. And then you
just kind of got to figure out your your pain
scale as it relates to this new level of exercise
(26:25):
in how it's affecting your body and how you feel,
and really like I'm trying to think if I okay,
I'm gonna date myself a long time ago in a
galaxy far far away. If you remember this, you're gonna laugh.
And you're old enough to remember it. I bought the
ab slide. Do you remember the ab slide? The blue
plastic bubble with the handlebars on the side, and you
(26:48):
roll out on your abs and you come back and
skt a little spring loaded action in it to help
get kil fat self back, you know, to the end position,
at least for me. Anyway, I still have my amslide.
To be on your to do your app slide, you
have to be on your knees. So I'm going out
to say, can I use that even though I'm putting
weight on this bad knee? And if I can't, then
(27:10):
I have to adjust. And you just you gotta be
aware if the pain gets above a certain point, I
either have to modify what I'm doing or I have
to stop. And that goes for everyone, whatever your injury is.
If you're continuing to train, if you're continuing to work out,
if you're continuing to do your thing, if the pain
becomes X, you have to modify or stop. And again
(27:31):
only you can determine what X is. I cannot. I cannot.
All right, So next up we got pt in prehab.
All right, prehab, so two things that we're gonna chase,
all right, full extension that's gonna be a rehab thing.
And calm the swelling. That can be a prehab thing.
I can try and get the swelling down before I
(27:52):
even get to the surgery and can get to the rehab.
It's gonna take a lot of ice, lot of elevation,
it's not doing it now, at least not quickly, but
with a continued approach and continuing to stay off of it,
I imagine that would go down. And then afterwards you
can kind of track simple markers morning stiffness, rank it
on one or a zero to ten. I know that
(28:12):
when I first get out of bed, this knee is unhappy.
And then next the ease on stairs. Nope, I have
no ease on stairs. I can actually go upstairs with
less pain than coming down them. Coming downstairs, I am
constantly afraid I'm going to fall. At this point, I
am just afraid this knee is gonna give out and
it's gonna crumble. So a lot of times I'm just
(28:34):
one leg in at at a time, step step step
step step step, like going down sideways down the staircase,
just because I have no faith in this right knee
as it pertains to going down a staircase right now. None,
all right? And then mental fitness. So what they recommend
here five to ten minutes of breath work or body scan,
(28:54):
I'd call that meditation. If you need to take five
minutes sick, quietly, think, just think, meditate, just let the
thoughts either fill your head or the thoughts leave your head.
But mental fitness is also going to be one of
the really really big things that's important when you're down physically,
which I am down physically, and again I took my
(29:16):
weekend to be upset about it. Now we're on the
comeback trail of good mental health, but I was unhappy.
I was not a happy camper this past weekend. And
I know there were people who wanted me to come out.
You know, you can still come out, you can still
hang out, you can still say hi to everyone. No,
I didn't want to because if I got there, I
was gonna grab my bib and I was going to
go for a run, and it probably wouldn't have been good.
(29:37):
But that was where I was at. I was still
processing everything. I'm still angry about the situation, so I
couldn't be there. Another one. We talked about this before
journal prompts what can I improve because I'm benched. I
think I went over that I can improve upper body, chest, abs, core, arms, shoulders, back.
(29:58):
I can do all these things that I haven't touched
in fifteen years because I can't run. It would be good.
It ultimately helps strength training. Hello Karen Wherever you are.
Strength training makes us better runners. And anytime you've seen
Karen come on the show, she will beat that into
your brain so that you do not forget it. And
then you can ask yourself the question what would healthy
(30:20):
come back look like? So after the surgery, what would
a healthy comeback look like? For me? Maybe a little
more definition in the arms, maybe a little an inch
or two off of the chest, off the circumference of it.
You know, I'd love to go down a brass eyze
or two. It would be fantastic. Or do you go up? No,
I think you go down? Smaller is down right? Not up? Ladies,
(30:42):
You'll have to tell me. I have no idea. Honestly,
I was making the joke and then I made it worse.
So what would a healthy comeback look like? Okay? Well, yeah,
like I said, maybe a little more tone in the arms,
maybe a little loss around the chest, in the mid section,
maybe a little bit stronger in the ams, all these things.
And you know, of course, anything that comes off the
scale is just less. You're putting on a surgically repaired knee. Okay,
(31:05):
so dummy, drop a few prowns is what I should
always do and can't Hey, I am just now noticing
because I looked at the screen where the camera is,
my hat looks transparent. That's pretty cool or weird. Haven't decided, dad, anyway, Sorry,
I just saw that's that's weird. So anyway, Yeah, check
(31:25):
out what your healthy comeback looks like. All right, And
then you can always stay in the sports. We've been
over this community roles. Volunteer at the finish line, you
can cruise somebody who's maybe doing a long race. You
can you can MC at a local five k. I
don't think they need me for that. But you can
also be part of the run club. Credit to Terry.
(31:45):
This past week Thursday, she is battling big time injury
possible surgery on her horizon, she still came out to
the Chasing Rapids run club and she just hung out,
you know, everyone left for their run. She stayed on
the patio, you know, guarded everyone's purses and probably had
a beer or two waiting, and then was there for
all of us after the run to continue to socialize
(32:06):
and still be a part of the running community. So yeah,
volunteer crew and then go to a run club. Yep,
seems seems good to me and So see here I'm
trying to think, yeah, there's you always want to have
a good idea of what you're looking at inter your wise.
So like when I go to the surgeon of the
(32:27):
PT guy, I'm gonna ask him what is the exact
diagnosis in the grade? All right? Is this going to
be an operation or is it going to be not?
What's the timelinth timeline look like? Can I bike now?
Can I swim now? Can I walk? Now? What can
I do while I can't do this? And then you
know everything post op pain and swelling, you know, give
(32:49):
me an idea about that, and then what does success
look like for my surgery in particular at least what
I expect to have. Again, they can't put tread back
on the tire, they can't put car you back of
my knees, So what can they do. They're gonna go in.
They're gonna remove the baker syst, They're gonna remove the
bones burst. They're going to, I guess, trim down some
areas that are causing some of the inflammation. There's some grinding,
(33:12):
there's some rubbing, there's some stuff going on. They're gonna
try and clean it up. So really, this is not
gonna be a replacement, at least I don't think. So,
this is going to be a repair job. Okay, So
what is it gonna look like on the other side
of that repair job? Well, what am I going to
be looking at for a recovery time? When can I
start doing things again? You just you want to have
(33:32):
a good idea from your surgeon repete what you're looking like.
And then after the surgery, imagine there's gonna be some
physical therapy and so I'm gonna have to be ready
for it. And then now make yourself some micro goals
and put those on the scorecard too. So weekly, see
what your movement is, if you see if you're on
the men, see if you're healing, especially from a surgery.
You know, are you actually healing? And then your mind?
(33:55):
Is your mind still good? Check in with yourself, probably
several times a week to make sure even after surgery,
even when you're on those crutches and you got that
big thing on your leg and you can't hardly do
a staircase and getting up from the toilet causes huge pain,
continue to look at your mind, make sure that you
keep track of it so you don't go spiraling and
(34:16):
do something stupid or get kind of out of control. Okay,
so if you have ever been benched, shall we say
by any of this nonsense, let me know what worked
for you? You know, please respond, you know, send a
message to me or put it in the comments. You
can comment on almost any platform. Now, what worked for
you when you were down for a period with injury.
I'd love to know, and you can. You could help me,
You could help someone else who's also in the same boat.
(34:38):
And then yeah, that's that's it. You know. This weekend
coming up, I'm supposed to do the Turkey Trails ten
k by Bodies Race Company. That's probably not gonna happen, thankfully.
I did not sign up for Goble Grind, but that's
on Sunday. That is not gonna happen either. And then
we're dead heading into Thanksgiving. I've already given away my
Thanksgiving Day ten k. They credit to the race company
(35:00):
for the word Parkway Thanksgiving Day ten k. I emailed them,
I said, Hey, I can't run, I'm injured. Can I
transfer to this person from run Club who wants to
do it? They said, sure, what's their email? Here it is,
It's done. She's got my registration. So no Thanksgiving Day
ten K for me, No Thanksgiving Day annual football game
for me. I will go, but I'm gonna be watching
from the sideline. I'm gonna be sitting in my chair,
(35:21):
probably drinking a Mamosha and watching all the all the
friends and family and kids play the football game and
all that's kind of be there. So it sucks, and
this is definitely not what I wanted, especially with all
the things on the horizon for twenty twenty six. But
this is where we're at, and so even when we're injured,
we just were go and work on getting through it
(35:41):
and coming back even stronger from it. I have no
doubt I will be back as a better runner after
this is all concluded. But it's gonna be a process.
And so if you ever feel like my mind isn't right,
if you ever think a episode was a little too dark,
or a little too snarky, or a little too he
doesn't seem right, then you speak right up. You let
me know, because keeping track of it all in your
(36:02):
head and keeping yourself mentally strong while working on the
other physical aspects of your body are all hugely important
when you are down from injury. Okay, that's gonna do it.
For this week's episode of the Back of Back podcast,
I'm your host, Kyle Walker, my pleasure as always, everyone,
have a safe week of training and have a great
run this weekend wherever you might be at, and we
(36:23):
will see you well Friday for another episode of Second Wind,
and another note, we'll see you next week.
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