Thinking about starting a new blog: Medial Knee Plica Recovery. For the past six months now, that has been the main focus, the IT band almost completely fading to the background.
Overall, much like before, it's more of the same and slowly improving. The IT band itself is fine; the ligaments and tendons around the operated site are getting stronger and pretty much don't get sore any more. I'm still managing the plica irritation by keeping the cycling regular and controlled. The longest single ride so far has been some 32 km, the longest week just over 40 km.
I have been suspecting for some time that tights and knee warmers are contributing to the plica irritation, and I've been able to confirm it as the weather got warm enough to have a few rides with uncovered knees. If things keep improving as they have so far, I should be able to progress to longer rides more rapidly in during the summer. Unfortunately, it still doesn't seem likely that I'll be able to get anywhere close to three digit distances until next year; but, my endurance being what it is right now, I can actually make even the 30 km rides satisfyingly hard and that definitely helps with the outlook during this whole thing.
Other than that, I'm still doing weekly gym sessions to keep the core, glutes, quads and hamstrings fit, strong and coordinated. I've made a break in jogging, but I'm slowly including that back into the workouts as well. It's not a goal by itself at the moment, so I don't really care even if I don't really make a lot of progress with running as long as I do some from time to time. I am also still visiting the physio once every three to four weeks, primarily to keep my progress in check and to keep me honest, not skipping workouts and not overdoing the cycling.
Goals for the summer: keep improving. Hopes for the summer: get to at least 50 km single rides and 60-70 km weekly mileage.
