Too much time . . . not enough to do!

Hard to believe but this is true!

There really is a lot I NEED to do but for the time being I really need to be doing very little as I recover from my hip replacement.  I've already learned the down-sides of trying to "Hurry" back!

The hip is a sneaky joint!  You think things are healing up well so you decide to up your exercise level a notch.  So you head out walking (or doing your exercises) and it doesn't hurt.  The whole time you're out there you don't notice any increase in pain!  Sweet!

You get home and everything still feels good!  BUT . . . the next day the pain is back!!!  And you have to ease up for 2-3 days to allow your hip to recover.  Why the heck can't it hurt when you're DOING something so you know you need to stop!!!

Anyway . . . with extra time sitting around I'm trying to come up with my recovery plans that include physical exercise.

I'm 7 weeks post surgery and my doctor tells me I can't return to golf until 12 weeks!  So 12 weeks is my starting point!!  Done.

From what I understand my rules are:

1. I shouldn't run . . . I'm not sure the real reason why but I do plan to ask a lot of questions about this rule.
2. I shouldn't do things that increase my risk of falling.  Not sure how long this rule will last.
3. I should keep my weight down as extra weight adds stress to the hip.

Sooooo . . . I'm trying to come up with a progression of goals to work towards.  Short-term, Intermediate-term and Longer-term

Short-term is fairly easy.  I've got things like:

• Walk 9 holes of golf (My first day back playing golf!)
• Walk a 5k Race  I could easily do that today so that's not much of a goal!)
• Walk 18 holes of golf

Intermediate-term goals are tougher to come up with:

• Walk 36 holes of golf in a day

And long-term goals are very hard to establish!  I do think I'll need to understand my "rules" more before I can establish these.

Biking and swimming are simply NOT in the cards.  I love hiking and backpacking . . . but there is a significant falling risk and backpacking you carry that extra weight.

Hopefully I can start out with 3-4 day hike and see how that goes!!

So . . . any suggestions / ideas you think I should be considering?