Had an appendectomy on June 1st. Got an “ok to get back to workouts, but listen to your body” from the doctor yesterday. Other than a slight phlebitis in the right forearm, everything feels ok.
Pre-surgery was doing about 2-3 workouts per week for a toal of 3,500 yds swim per week, about 3 rides per week totalling 50-75 miles on the bike, and running 3-4 times per week for a weekly total of about 15 miles running.
I am a fit 42 yr old male, and was planning on doing a handful of sprint distance tris and some sprint distance duathlons this summer.
How long should it take me to get back up to training pace, and any tips or advice from anyone else having gone thru the same experience.
How long should it take me to build back up to these
Hi- I had an appendectomy the very end of April myself. I was probably training about 12 hrs per week for short local events before it happened. I actually did two workouts that day and felt a bit uncomfortable but no idea anything was really wrong till that night. They told me about 6 weeks recovery. I was in the hospital 3 days/2 nights. I went back to training the next week anyway. Stayed away from lifting for about 2 weeks though- not like you want to do any ab exersises anyway. Against my drs advice, I did a sprint triathlon about 3.5 weeks later. By the time I got to the run my surgery area was really killing me and I had to walk. I am back to regular training now, but I did cancel 2 races I had signed up for after that.
also just an FYI, I am about 2 yrs younger than you if that matters- in other words, same age bracket. 
Thanks for the insight. I appreciate your taking the time to respond.
Had my appendix out during college (great way to spend a spring break) and was back to slow (basically walking) workouts in 2 weeks. Mine burst while they were opperating so I was on liquid diet and tons of antibiotics for a week in the hospital. Worst part was when my brother visited and made me laugh, hurt in all the wrong places to laugh at his jokes. I was a lot less fit than I am now, but was still able to get back into running pretty easily and ran a PR 5k within 6 weeks.
My surgery was laproscopic, so very minimal impact in terms of cuts but they still move around muscle to get to the right area - definately be careful with core workouts and such.
Good luck, and I think as long as your races are still later summer you should be at full speed. If you’ve got races coming up soon be ready to take it easy.
Josh
Gotta tell you my story…
Last year I met my sister to run the America’s Finest City half-marathon in San Diego, CA. Felt some unusual pain that morning, but blew it off as mild food poisoning. Started the run, and my sister and I were smoking some sub-6 minute miles (downhill, but probably too fast to do well later in the race.) At around 6 miles, it felt like someone was sticking a soldering iron into my gut. I pulled off near a restroom and took a leak. Walked out and then doubled over in intense pain. Eventually, I hobbled my sorry self over to the medical tent a mile away. I lied down on the cot and figured my next action. Fifteen minutes later, I started shaking so I asked them to get me an ambulance. During the ride to the hospital, I started shaking real violent. They pumped me full of morphine and I woke up in recovery with a bandage across my belly. My appendix had burst on the run.
I couldn’t stand the recuperation time, so within a week, I painfully draped my leg over the top tube and took ride. It felt great! But I did have a hill to climb. That was tough and bouncing through the rough spots in the road hurt, too. The stomach muscles that were cut don’t seem to play much of a part in cycling, so it seemed OK. Couldn’t run or swim, though. Not for another couple weeks.
I’m 48 and heal real fast. Did a tri in a month and won my AG.
While we’re on appendectomy stories…
In Nov 2000, we flew back to spend Thanksgiving with my parents. Me, the wife and two little babies. We got hung up in Las Vegas for 5 hours because a lightbulb burned out on the plane. By the time we got going, it was 10 pm and our flight to Baltimore had turned into a redeye. One or the other of our dear little angels was screaming and crying the entire time.
Got to B-more at 6 am, got the boys to bed and finally laid my head down for some sleep at 8 am. I sat bolt upright in bed at 8:10 thinking, “Holy shit! Something is not right.”
So, I spent Wed-Fri in the hospital having an emergency appendectomy, with associated abdominal infections, while my wife was left alone with my parents and two toddlers. We flew home on Saturday. What a wonderful vacation!
To this day I have four nasty scars. They tried to use the “scope”, but it didn’t work and they ended up just cutting me open the old-fashioned way. My scars are laid out in exactly the pattern of the four corners of a race bib.
Sometimes, when getting ready for a race, somebody will glance at my stomach scar pattern, and I just shrug and say, "At my first race, I didn’t know you were supposed to pin the number to your shirt."
Anyway, I have no idea how long recovery takes because I was a fat couch potato at the time and didn’t start running until a year later.
Good luck!
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