It's late so today's post will be be short. Today's bike ride was more intense than those in the past couple of weeks. Either that or it was hot in the house because I worked up a pretty good sweat. Forty five minutes was pretty easy today even with the varied gear selection. I'll stay at 45 minutes for a couple more days and then jump up to 50 minutes. Until then I'll work on building some more bike strength by pedaling in harder gears.
My walk today was good as well. I took Rosco with me and he really enjoyed it. Having him with me kept me moving pretty quickly. After my walk I did a core workout and increased my sets.
Today's workout:
Core 12x25
Planks 4x45 seconds
Usually I go to PT on Mondays, but this week I will be going Tuesday and Thursday morning since it is that wonderful time of the year called Spring Break.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
March 30th - Apparently WE let the dogs out
I decided to increase my minutes on the bike to 45 today. I was considering going to an hour but I didn't want to push it too much. I am having good luck varying the gears and playing with the resistance without any pain so that is encouraging. It was a good ride and I think I am getting close to training ride intensity at this point. At least I am sweating like its a training ride.
We decided to take the dogs on our walk today and that caught the attention of every other dog in the neighborhood. I thought that it would slow me down a bit but the dogs did great and they need the exercise too. I was hoping that my walking gait was becoming more normal but Kelly said that every once in a while she can see a very slight limp. I try to be conscious of how I am walking and work on keeping my stride as even as possible. I do notice that walking downhill causes a little discomfort which in turn causes me to favor it a bit.
As I wrote yesterday, I am going to start tracking my weight and body fat percentage. The Health-o-meter scale I have may not be the most accurate on body fat percentage but it does a pretty good job with weight and will at least let me know if I am heading in the right direction. I am going to check my stats each week on Saturday mornings when I wake up before I eat or do any workouts to keep things consistent.
Here is the rest of the workout today:
Pull-ups 6x15
Push-ups 6x20
I made sure to do some new hand positions and worked in some swim strength moves as well.
Weigh in:
160lbs
16.3% body fat
We decided to take the dogs on our walk today and that caught the attention of every other dog in the neighborhood. I thought that it would slow me down a bit but the dogs did great and they need the exercise too. I was hoping that my walking gait was becoming more normal but Kelly said that every once in a while she can see a very slight limp. I try to be conscious of how I am walking and work on keeping my stride as even as possible. I do notice that walking downhill causes a little discomfort which in turn causes me to favor it a bit.
As I wrote yesterday, I am going to start tracking my weight and body fat percentage. The Health-o-meter scale I have may not be the most accurate on body fat percentage but it does a pretty good job with weight and will at least let me know if I am heading in the right direction. I am going to check my stats each week on Saturday mornings when I wake up before I eat or do any workouts to keep things consistent.
Here is the rest of the workout today:
Pull-ups 6x15
Push-ups 6x20
I made sure to do some new hand positions and worked in some swim strength moves as well.
Weigh in:
160lbs
16.3% body fat
Friday, March 29, 2013
March 29 - Normal is good
I noticed that I am walking with even more of a normal gait today after my 45 minute walk on the track. I decided to reward myself with an extra hour of sleep this morning since I have been so religious with my PT exercises, bike riding and walking. Instead of riding at the insane hour of 4:45am, I did my 40 minute ride after school.
Spring break is here, and while I will still be doing all my workouts, I will be using next week to ice and rest as much as possible. I hope to get as much healing time as I can, but boredom is going to be an issue. There is already a pretty good butt imprint on the couch from the last few weeks. I'm really looking forward to being cleared to get back in the pool and out on the road for some rides.
One of the things I hope to do is to cut 5 - 8 pounds before Ironman Lake Placid. The lighter I am for the event, the easier it will be to get through the bike and run while conserving as much energy as possible. I have been trying to eat as well as I can by eating mostly fruits, vegetables and a small amount of meat or chicken everyday. My NutriBullet smoothies make it easier to make sure I am eating all my veggies every day. I have also decided to take a bold step and not drink any booze until I am officially an Ironman. I haven't had anything to drink since a few days before my surgery and I think that it will help me cut a few pounds. Don't get me wrong, I love beer, so it will make that first post-race drink that much better once I hear Mike Reilly, the Ironman announcer declare me an Ironman. I haven't weighed myself in a while because in the month after the initial injury to my knee I did pretty much nothing exercise-wise and I don't really want to know what that did to my body composition. I will begin weekly weigh-ins this weekend.
Today's workout:
Core 11x25
Planks 4x45sec
Spring break is here, and while I will still be doing all my workouts, I will be using next week to ice and rest as much as possible. I hope to get as much healing time as I can, but boredom is going to be an issue. There is already a pretty good butt imprint on the couch from the last few weeks. I'm really looking forward to being cleared to get back in the pool and out on the road for some rides.
One of the things I hope to do is to cut 5 - 8 pounds before Ironman Lake Placid. The lighter I am for the event, the easier it will be to get through the bike and run while conserving as much energy as possible. I have been trying to eat as well as I can by eating mostly fruits, vegetables and a small amount of meat or chicken everyday. My NutriBullet smoothies make it easier to make sure I am eating all my veggies every day. I have also decided to take a bold step and not drink any booze until I am officially an Ironman. I haven't had anything to drink since a few days before my surgery and I think that it will help me cut a few pounds. Don't get me wrong, I love beer, so it will make that first post-race drink that much better once I hear Mike Reilly, the Ironman announcer declare me an Ironman. I haven't weighed myself in a while because in the month after the initial injury to my knee I did pretty much nothing exercise-wise and I don't really want to know what that did to my body composition. I will begin weekly weigh-ins this weekend.
Today's workout:
Core 11x25
Planks 4x45sec
Thursday, March 28, 2013
March 28th - It puts the lotion on it's skin...
Had a good ride this morning. Another 40 minutes followed by my PT exercises. I was hoping to get some new ones soon but she still wants me to do the ones I already have. I was on my feet a lot today and was able to get in a walk during my planning period. I started with 20 minutes on the treadmill and when I was ready to beat my head against the wall I decided to do the next 25 minutes on the track. Walking in circles was slightly less boring but at least it was outside in the fresh air.
I had a PT session today. Dr. Karyn called me out on a slight limp I had when I went to her office. I have noticed that when I sit for a while my knee gets stiff and takes a few steps to loosen it up again. I think the fact that I was on it a lot today had something to do with it as well. I'm looking forward to having spring break next week to allow for a week of rest and healing.
The exercises I did at PT today were pretty humbling, but she did say that I have come much further in a shorter period of time than most patients are able to. She almost gave me the green light to start swimming, but we both decided that it would be better to wait until after spring break. At the end of the session she did some massage work on the tendons at the back of my knee and my kneecap and worked some Vitamin E cream into the incision. Hurts so good only begins to explain it...
The only new thing I need to do is to make sure I rub some moisturizer into my knee every day to keep the skin pliable.
I did get an email today that said my new brace shipped today. I'm looking forward to trying it out and seeing how it hold up.
Workout for today:
Pull-ups 6x15
Push-ups 6x20
I had a PT session today. Dr. Karyn called me out on a slight limp I had when I went to her office. I have noticed that when I sit for a while my knee gets stiff and takes a few steps to loosen it up again. I think the fact that I was on it a lot today had something to do with it as well. I'm looking forward to having spring break next week to allow for a week of rest and healing.
The exercises I did at PT today were pretty humbling, but she did say that I have come much further in a shorter period of time than most patients are able to. She almost gave me the green light to start swimming, but we both decided that it would be better to wait until after spring break. At the end of the session she did some massage work on the tendons at the back of my knee and my kneecap and worked some Vitamin E cream into the incision. Hurts so good only begins to explain it...
The only new thing I need to do is to make sure I rub some moisturizer into my knee every day to keep the skin pliable.
I did get an email today that said my new brace shipped today. I'm looking forward to trying it out and seeing how it hold up.
Workout for today:
Pull-ups 6x15
Push-ups 6x20
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
March 27th - Cramping my style
This morning I had a cramp at the top of my calf the size of a golf ball. I could actually see the knot in the muscle. When I was finally able to stretch it out, it was one of those knots that you can feel as they stretch and it felt so good. I spent most of the day without the brace, but I did wear it to school so I could justify wearing my soccer warmups. I'll probably milk that for the rest of the week and return to "professional dress" (which, to me means khakis with my sneakers) after spring break.
I had another good 40 minute ride this morning. Tomorrow I think I will vary the resistance a little more and work in some different gearing to see how my knee responds. I wasn't able to get on the treadmill during planning today because of a meeting but I did make sure to get a 45 minute walk in at really good pace around the neighborhood after track practice. I have noticed that walking downhill causes a bit of discomfort but it's nothing that I think I need to worry about. Aside from the knotted up calf muscles, today was pretty good.
I did my core workout today without the brace for the first time, and that went well too so I added one more set:
Core 11x25
Planks 4x45sec
I had another good 40 minute ride this morning. Tomorrow I think I will vary the resistance a little more and work in some different gearing to see how my knee responds. I wasn't able to get on the treadmill during planning today because of a meeting but I did make sure to get a 45 minute walk in at really good pace around the neighborhood after track practice. I have noticed that walking downhill causes a bit of discomfort but it's nothing that I think I need to worry about. Aside from the knotted up calf muscles, today was pretty good.
I did my core workout today without the brace for the first time, and that went well too so I added one more set:
Core 11x25
Planks 4x45sec
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
March 26th - Learning to love the treadmill
If you know me, you know that I cannot stand the treadmill. I would rather be outside running (or in my case for the next few months, walking) than doing my best impression of a hamster on a wheel. However, because I was woefully unprepared for the terrible weather we are having my planned walk on the track during my planning period turned into a 30 minute slog on the treadmill in the ECMS weight room. It looks like a mid-day walk is going to be on the agenda from now on, at least on the days I don't have meetings or other work related things to pretend to do during planning.
Most of the pain is gone. I still can't put any pressure directly on the knee itself because of the swelling, but now I would classify things as occasionally uncomfortable rather than painful. Things are still progressing very well and I was able to do a 40 minute ride this morning. I'll stick with 40 minutes for a few days and work on varying the resistance until I increase to 45 minutes over the weekend. I'm doing pretty well with my new toothbrushing routine. I've never had good balance on my right side, so getting to 20 reps of calf raises without falling over will be interesting. I'm getting close though.
I hardly wore the brace today. I'm looking forward to getting the new one to see how well it stays in place.
After a rest day yesterday I decided to increase the reps on the pull-ups. Here's today's workout:
Push-ups 6x20
Pull-ups 6x15
Most of the pain is gone. I still can't put any pressure directly on the knee itself because of the swelling, but now I would classify things as occasionally uncomfortable rather than painful. Things are still progressing very well and I was able to do a 40 minute ride this morning. I'll stick with 40 minutes for a few days and work on varying the resistance until I increase to 45 minutes over the weekend. I'm doing pretty well with my new toothbrushing routine. I've never had good balance on my right side, so getting to 20 reps of calf raises without falling over will be interesting. I'm getting close though.
I hardly wore the brace today. I'm looking forward to getting the new one to see how well it stays in place.
After a rest day yesterday I decided to increase the reps on the pull-ups. Here's today's workout:
Push-ups 6x20
Pull-ups 6x15
Monday, March 25, 2013
March 25th - PT is supposed to hurt
Had another good day today back at work. I spent most of the day with the brace off but I did wear it while I was walking around at the track meet this afternoon. I had a really good 35 minute ride this morning and I am thinking of jumping up to 40 minutes tomorrow. PT went well today. She told me to expect the swelling that I still have to stick around for up to 6 weeks. I got a couple of new exercises today as well. Instead of just standing on one foot to brush my teeth I have to now do 20 calf raises on one foot while I brush my teeth. And I have to work up to 20 in a row without falling over. I couldn't do that BEFORE the surgery. I also have to work on bending my knee to match the amount of bend in the left one.
One exercise that we found out I'm not quite ready for is raising from a lunge position to a standing position. I can do the movement without a problem, but I can't really put any pressure on the front of my kneecap in the kneeling position. I had 2 pads under the knee but it was still pretty rough. The swelling behind the kneecap is preventing that at the moment.
Positive number 2 is that after spring break (next week) I will be able to start riding on the road (still using flat pedals though, no clipping in yet) and I will be able to get back in the pool and start swimming with a pull buoy.
Today was a rest day aside from the bike, so no push-ups, pull-ups or core work today. Tomorrow I will try working out without the brace and see how that goes.
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