Here's what's been happening with me during my self-imposed 'vacation' from running as I attempt to fix my POS knee.
Day 1: Wednesday 4/18/12
Watched "The Descendents" with Cupcake. Not bad. If I were the director of that movie, and I was a little bit more of an asshole than I already am, I would've made Clooney do about 50 takes of the scene where he's running through the neighborhood in flip flops. Just sayin'.
Day 2: Thursday 4/19/12
Saw my doctor, got x-rays, made a physical therapy appointment for Saturday. When the nurse entered my vitals into the computer, it told her to ask me two questions. Question One: Do I do a fair amount of aerobic exercise? This must pop up when the patient's pulse is low. Mine was 45 beats/minute. I told her I've been running between 50 and 60 miles a week. She then asked, "So that would be...something like...3 days a week? 30 minutes a day?" I told her 7 days a week, about an hour at a time. That seemed to satisfy her curiosity. Question Two: Do I drink more than 5 alcoholic beverages a day? My answer: "You buying?"
Day 3: Friday 4/20/12
Stayed home from work because Cupcake was pregnant, sick, and had an additional, 'unmentionable' medical issue. I'll spare everyone the gory details of the issue, but I did get to hear Cupcake shout, "MY ASSHOLE FUCKING HURTS SO BAD!" at least twice.
Day 4: Saturday 4/21/12
Biked home from the Toyota dealership after dropping off our gangsta Prius for the 10,000 mile service. Then it was off to Kaiser Permanente for a group class on rehabbing my knee. Now I've got some exercises for strengthening my hammies and glutes that I'll be doing every day for the rest of my life. Yay? Then it was back on the bike to pick up the Prius with the new 23" rimzzz. Holla!
Day 5: Sunday 4/22/12
La la la la...la la la la...Elmo's song! La la la la...la la la la...Elmo's song!
Day 6: Monday 4/23/12
Finished installing the chandelier Cupcake bought months ago. There was a lot going on with this project. Climbing around in the attic, cutting holes in the ceiling, installing a new electrical box, wiring, patching drywall, and then actually hanging this sucker on the ceiling. Celebrated by doing my physical therapy exercises.
Day 7: Tuesday 4/24/12
Cupcake made meatball subs for dinner, and they were marvelous. After the feast, I did my rehab exercises. Stretching is part of the exercises. That's right. I like to live dangerously. I may have felt something move in my knee as I was exiting a standing quad stretch. This seems like it should be bad, but it didn't hurt and afterward it actually felt pretty good, so maybe it was a move from Paintown to Smoothsville? Probably not, but maybe...just maybe. If the knee is now suddenly better, I'll have to amend my 'stretching causes injuries' theory to 'stretching toggles injuries.'
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
My Shit's Fucked Up
I very gingerly jogged about 6 miles last night, taking care with every step not to hurt myself, but I still hurt myself. I gotta stop doing that.
Done.
The new plan is to not run a step for one month. During that month, I'll be trying to strengthen my incredibly weak hamstrings and quads. I'm sure my doctor or doctors are going to recommend stretching.
As everyone should know by now, stretching causes injuries. But since I'm already injured, I shouldn't worry about that. Right? Then, if I stretch my injured leg, should I stretch the good one too, and risk hurting myself there? What happens if I start running again and have one stretched leg and one unstretched? How bad will that be? My mind is more boggled than Deion Sanders' was when he hosted the Miss USA pageant.
Anyway, here's the new theme song for thaoblogg. Enjoy!
Done.
The new plan is to not run a step for one month. During that month, I'll be trying to strengthen my incredibly weak hamstrings and quads. I'm sure my doctor or doctors are going to recommend stretching.
As everyone should know by now, stretching causes injuries. But since I'm already injured, I shouldn't worry about that. Right? Then, if I stretch my injured leg, should I stretch the good one too, and risk hurting myself there? What happens if I start running again and have one stretched leg and one unstretched? How bad will that be? My mind is more boggled than Deion Sanders' was when he hosted the Miss USA pageant.
Anyway, here's the new theme song for thaoblogg. Enjoy!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
[x] injured
And just like that, it was over.
After months of gradual deterioration, and a couple of weeks of pretty rapid deterioration, my oft-fucked-up left knee finally jumped its own personal shark about 3 minutes into last night's tempo run. When this has happened in the past, I've been able to get it back in action after a little while. Not this time. After three tries to get moving again, I had to give up and walk home. I guess now I'll be forced to see a doctor about it. Le sigh.
There's a chance I'll be able to run tonight, however. It may just be that I can't run fast in my fun, lightweight shoes anymore.
After months of gradual deterioration, and a couple of weeks of pretty rapid deterioration, my oft-fucked-up left knee finally jumped its own personal shark about 3 minutes into last night's tempo run. When this has happened in the past, I've been able to get it back in action after a little while. Not this time. After three tries to get moving again, I had to give up and walk home. I guess now I'll be forced to see a doctor about it. Le sigh.
There's a chance I'll be able to run tonight, however. It may just be that I can't run fast in my fun, lightweight shoes anymore.
Monday, April 9, 2012
[x] Ass: kicked.
Friday I had the rare opportunity to run at lunchtime. Normally I go home at lunchtime to help get Junior down for his nap, and then run at night after Junior goes to bed. However, Cupcake wanted to get a pizza and watch War Horse on Friday night so at high noon I hauled my old bones over to Rancho San Antonio to do a fartlek on the powerlines trail.
On the powerlines trail, after a little warmup hill to get the juices a-flowin', there are 5 climbs to the top before heading back down the high meadow trail. The climbs vary in length and grade, with the first being the longest and the last being the steepest. The plan was to work the climbs as hard as possible and recover on the short drops between the climbs.
As I was making my way up the climbs, working as hard as I could, I thought to myself, "Self...I don't think you're going any faster up these hills than you do when you're working a lot less hard. Are you really getting any sort of workout in besides a nice run in the hills?" It took me a day to find the answer to that question, which was a resounding "Yes!" It's Monday night, and I'm still sore from that motherfucker. Guess I was doing it right.
On the powerlines trail, after a little warmup hill to get the juices a-flowin', there are 5 climbs to the top before heading back down the high meadow trail. The climbs vary in length and grade, with the first being the longest and the last being the steepest. The plan was to work the climbs as hard as possible and recover on the short drops between the climbs.
As I was making my way up the climbs, working as hard as I could, I thought to myself, "Self...I don't think you're going any faster up these hills than you do when you're working a lot less hard. Are you really getting any sort of workout in besides a nice run in the hills?" It took me a day to find the answer to that question, which was a resounding "Yes!" It's Monday night, and I'm still sore from that motherfucker. Guess I was doing it right.
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