The T

Another session. I seriously need to a. e-mail Mr Physio and get this tedious programme revised and b. get some painkillers to reduce the stupid irritated knee. Anyhuu.

10 mins cycling
Interval cycling
Leg press: 3x 70 kg
Leg extension: 17+19+19 kg
INCREASE! Leg curl: 41.5+43.5+43.5 kg
INCREASE! Squats: 3x 10 / 20+25+25 kg
Lunges: 3x 10 4 kg/hand
Ski jumps: 3x 40
Bending
Step-up: ~7 mins

I e-mailed the basketball club here today. A little dip in the sin pool. I'm just thinking that soon I am supposed to start sporty stuff and I know nothing else but basketball. And it's not a real club, they just play once a week for fun. Yes, yes, I probably shouldn't, I know, moving on and all that jazz. Maybe I'm not ready, or maybe I just need to stay involved. I have nothing. So there you go.

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issues

In one month I am allowed to try sporty stuff. I'll then be at 6 months post-op (halfway through!) One month. 4 weeks. That's nothing. Where I'm at now, there's not a chance for me to do anything even marginally sporty. Running forward is bad enough! (My friend, remember 3 weeks behind, is playing golf and swimming...me? bitter? never.)

Will have to e-mail Mr Physio and ask if this is normal. Also need to get some solid painkillers. Bad times.

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7.0

Completed the big 7 km today. Went ok, despite some uncomfort in the last kilometre. Not happy about that, but finished at least so that's good. Time appr. 47 minutes. Not brilliant, but ok I suppose. Had carbo-LOADED before so it felt better than many times before. Now this carbo-loading is problematic. On the one hand it does allow me to complete training without dying. On the other hand, it makes me fat. I have not lost weight since I came here - I have gained it. Not happy about this.

Will have to find a balance somehow.

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5 month-training

Another gym session. Boy, I feel repetitive. As follows:

10 mins cycling
Interval cycling
Leg press: 3x 70 kg
Leg curl: 3x 41.5 kg
Leg extension: 17+17+19 kg
Squats: 3x 10 (with 20 kg bar)
Lunges: 3x 10 (with 2x4 kg)
Ski jumps
Bending
Running: 20x 15 sec intervals (lvl 16)

Pain on the side during the second half. Running intervals went ok, mostly because I kept a relatively low pace, but it's so difficult to do on the treadmill. Next week I might go down to 10-sec intervals and that is just not going to work! Have to find a solution. Anyway. Squats were ok, even if I put more weight on the healthy leg than the other one. Leg extension is getting better but it crackles while I'm doing it. All in all I just have to be glad I pulled through. Not a great day.

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5 months

No idea how it happened, but somewhere a month passed by and I reached 5 months post-op.

25/5 - 25/10

However, I'm not sure I deserve any celebrations this time. Postponed my intervals for today (can't wait!) and in a general state of BLAH. Also on the verge of giving up, without a cause etc etc. If you follow this blog, you know the drill. I rather deserve a big kick in the behind and possibly a slap across the face, so if anyone fancies volunteering for one or both of those two, message me.

And you know the worst part? No one cares! Should I fail his whole project and go back to my old ways à la 2004-2011 (more or less), the only one who'd give a crap is me. Not sure why anyone else would care, but there you go. Boo-hoo, go cry me a river.

End of rant. What a milestone celebration. Happy 5-month Day, m'lady. Bah.

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cheating/compromise

It has happened. Before 5 months I cheated. Or at this point it's a compromise. Let me explain. I went running today. After getting back late yesterday and having to wake up early today I was tired, tired, tired. Almost didn't go/gave up early but managed to push through and completed 6 km in 36 minutes. Of course as it is the end of the week I should have gone on to intervals. But I was exhausted. Honestly thought I'd faint. I sat down straight after the finish line and the guy on the treadmill next to me actually stopped his workout to ask me if I was ok! I must have looked absolutely destroyed. So after a lot of thinking I decided not to do the intervals today. I went and did some mobility work and made sure I stretched properly instead. The compromise is that I'll do intervals on Tuesday after the strength session. This is not ideal, but it felt necessary. Yes, I feel guilty.

Running: 6 km, 36 minutes (lvl 10-11.5)
Bending

On a brighter note our old knee felt ok today. Still far from good but a little better is better than worse.

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Scheiße!

I just realised it's October 22. OCTOBER! In 3 days' time, Oct 25, I'll be hitting 5 months post-op. When, how and where did this happen? Time flies when you're having fun? How can a whole month have passed by without me noticing? Didn't I just write yesterday that I reached 4 months?

Wow, ok. This needs processing. 3 days until 5 month-mark. Needs a treat/celebration of semi-high quality. But what?

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suspicions

Today's session felt suspiciously easy. It wasn't the weights - I increased some of them even; it wasn't effort in cycling - I did one of the best ones in a long time; and it wasn't cheating either - I did everything. Some pain in lunges but bearable. Strange. It's like I didn't 'suffer enough' so it can't possibly have been a good session. Oh well.

10 mins cycling
Interval cycling
Leg press: 3x 70 kg
Leg curl: 3x 41.5 kg
INCREASE! Leg extension: 17+17+19 kg
Squats: without bar
Lunges: w. 4 kg in each hand
Ski jumps: 3x 40
Step-up: 4 mins

It still crackles and stuff, but feels a little teeny tiny bit better I think. No jinxes. Still far from good though.

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6K

Late update, but Wednesday saw yet another increase in running distance. 6 km officially completed for the first time! It went fine (I went on the treadmill with TV screen - so much better!) even if it was tough and I had to decrease the pace a little every now and then. The treadmill messed up so I'm not sure about the time, but roughly 35-40 minutes. Level was 10-12 km/h.

Now off to strength training. Not in the mood but carbohydrate loaded to max so hopefully it'll be ok. Also sneaked in a few more good songs in my iPod for extra motivation. I got the moves like Jagger!

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training training

So. Training time. This week's organisation is planned as follows: Divide the running and strength. I give two reasons for this: 1. Time 2. Effort. First of all, as I'm stepping up to 6 km now it will take 30 mins-ish (not a major difference to last week, but gotta start somewhere) and all in all my training would take close to 2 hours. It's not very nice or good to do intense work-out for that long. I'm sensing this might one of the reasons for the pain I'm feeling. So that includes number two as well. Plus it makes it all a little easier and healthier for my mental effort too. Today was strength day and it felt brilliant (mostly)!:

10 mins cycling
Interval cycling
Leg press: 3x 70 kg - no problems!
Leg curl: 3x 41.5 kg - no problems!
Leg extension: 14.5+14.5.17 kg - quasi-uncomfortable
Squats: 3x 10 (with 20 kg bar!)
Lunges: 3x 10 (both legs) - severe pain in the last set but otherwise ok.
Ski jumps: 3x 40 - tried pushing a little harder. Felt ok.
NEW! Step-up - tried a cheeky bit of step up. only for 3 minutes but at a decent pace. Actually felt ok, so might add this one.
Bending

I've kept a mind record of what I'm doing differently for each time, to find out what triggers pain and what makes it feel ok. Everytime it feels ok I've eaten loads of carbs. Maybe I'm subconsciously focusing a lot of food, or maybe this part is important? When I eat less it hurts/I get very tired. But by "loads" I mean stupid amounts, so I'm not too happy if I need to keep doing this (obv tummy happy but fat% not happy). Anyway, we shall see. After all this is the one shot I have, so might have to sacrifice a few % for the sake of the knee. I can do that. Surely.

Tomorrow morning is time for the lovely 6K run. I actually like running, so I'm happy. I haven't run this far since August 2010 so it's great. Especially if I don't have to do it after 1½ hours of tough strength training...

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more training

Another day, and time for running. Was very much not looking forward to it. These intervals are killing me! But in the end my conscience managed to kick me in the behind and hurl me off to the gym and leave the bed behind.

15 mins cycling
Running: 5 km (28 min) lvl 10-12.6 km/h
Intervals: 15 x 15 secs lvl 15-17
Bending
Ski jumps: 3x 40

I was supposed to do 20x 15 secs intervals, but at 15 my knee said 'uh-uh I ain't doin' no more of this' and I had to stop. Was a bit scary, even if nothing happened. It sort of jumped ever so slightly despite the comparatively low speed of 15 km/h (I started off with 17 but that was wa-haay too high) so I decided I'd stop. 15 x 15 isn't bad, even if it is not ideal. Anyway. Did the ski jumps and the bending today so was a little bit good. And the 5K went ok even if I felt the knee all the way through. I want to get down to around 20-25 mins on 5K but 28 is still decent. Next week I hope I can do 20.

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back on sq 1

Ok, maybe not that dramatic, but a setback certainly. Had a terrible gym session today and am now feeling crap. I stuffed myself with food before, far too much, and felt sick all the way through, but it went ok - cycling even went better than in a long time - up until squats. Those damned squats. Pain like bad, bad pain and lunges were no better. And I didn't fiddle around with weights, no no - this was without anything. So annoying. I did them all, even if the majority were with tears in the eyes while biting my lips not to make any inappropriate sounds. Maybe another painkiller period needed? It was only a week ago I finished the last one though. I don't know.

10+10 mins cycling
Interval cycling
Leg press: 3x 70 kg
Leg curl: 3x 39 kg
Leg extension: 14.5+14.5+17 kg
Squats: 3x 10
Lunges: 3x 10 both legs
NO ski jumps
NO bending

Will do ski jumps tomorrow possibly. There was literally no space to do them today. People everywhere. It's a Friday night people! Don't you have lives?!

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the big 5.0

Today I reached a mile stone in this rehabilitation: 5 km running! In other words half-way to my running goal of 10K. And it was fine, really. I upped the level in last km to 12 km/h which made the last 200 m very exhausting, but no knee problems. Afterwards I felt some on the side, but nothing major. Mostly I'm bored when I run. Today I got into some kind of flow and it was fine for 4K, but the last 1000 m were just pure will. As always, the thought of next week's 6K, then 7, 8, 9, 10 freak me out. So let's not think about that. Summary as follows:

10 mins cycling
Interval cycling
Leg press: 3x 70 kg
Leg curl: 41.5+41.5+39 kg
Leg extension: 14.5+14.5+17 kg
Squats: w. small bar 3x 10 reps
Lunges: 3x 10 (both legs)
Ski jumps: 3x 40
Bending
Running: 5 km (lvl 10-12)

All in all a good session. Almost too good. Did I miss something? Did I not try hard enough? Hm.

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training

I'm not sure about today's session. Well, that's a lie, I am. I know it was far from perfect, or from meeting expectations, or even getting close to them. However, given the current mood, feel and how close I was not to go at all/not do the running, I cannot beat myself up for it too much. As a week, I've done what I should have, and I will, for the sake of my sanity, leave it at that.

10 mins cycling
Interval cycling
Running: 4 km (had to stop twice because I couldn't breathe) lvl 10-12 + 30 secs intervals, 10 mins in total. (lvl 13-15)

I was planning on doing the whole programme but then prioritised the running as I wanted to go and watch fireworks with my friends. I know this choice was an active choice on my part, and that I very well could have gone at 10am this morning and finished the whole programme. It was just one of those mornings when I didn't see the point in getting up early, and stayed longer than I should have done. Nevertheless, I somehow need to accept these failures and squeeze in training in my daily life, which is sort of what I did today. Interval running wasn't brilliant either as I was burnt out from the 4K (how on earth am I going to cope with this when I get up to 8,9 or 10K???) but I reckoned anything is better than nothing, right?

Have promised myself to do mobility work tomorrow. It's been a while since I did some proper stuff and as the gym is closed I might as well do at least one useful thing.

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energised

Training session today without running. Will squeeze in three sessions this week as well. Two simply doesn't feel enough! It went ok today actually. Despite getting no sleep the night before. Perhaps even better than in a long time. I don't know if it was because of the energy drink I had before or because I ate just before (but that doesn't usually help energy-wise) or maybe because I have stuffed myself with carbs lately, but something was different. I had energy, and there was no pain, not really.

10 mins cycling
Interval cycling
Leg press: 3x 70 kg
Leg extension: 14.5+14.5+17 kg
INCREASE! Leg curl: 3x 41.5 k
Squats: 3x 10 (with 2x4 kg dumbells)
Lunges
Ski jumps
Bending

However, it still hurts/is uncomfortable walking in stairs and sit still for a longer period of time. All very annoying and unpractical over here, but I suppose it is normal. Not looking forward to this weekend's 4 km + intervals. When I'm down to 15 sec intervals I don't know how the treadmill will work. 30 secs are already proving to fast a pace + too short time to go down to rest, and then up again (takes about 10 seconds in itself!). What I did last time is just jump off the treadmill and let it run for 30 seconds until I get on again. But it feels a bit dangerous. Any ideas how to solve this problem?

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amazon

Amazon is messing with my head. Suggesting a knee brace for me? "Based on the items you purchased" - I have bought a foam roller, but that's it. What a joke.

Stop it Amazon! I'm not playing anymore so won't be needing one of those.

I've got enough going on in my head of my own making without you adding to the pile of crap.

Boo!

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the big four!

Had a good session today, despite a mood rollercoaster. Before I left I was cheery, confident and carbohydrate loaded. As soon as I got there, changed and walked up the stairs to the actual room, Mr Knee (for some reason I always pictured it as a guy...) said 'hold on a second, wait just a minute there miss - why so happy?' and began to be annoying. Not much to do but to get on with it, so that's what I did. Interval cycling is no fun, and I hope my sucking at it won't affect my recovery too much in the long run. Summary:

10 mins cycling
Interval cycling
Leg press: 65+65+70 kg
INCREASE! Leg curl: 39+41.5+41.5 kg
Leg extension: 14.5 +14.5 + 14.5 kg
Lunges
Squats (tried 2x 10 reps with bar - still no-go)
Ski jumps
Bending
Running: 4 km (lvl 10-11.5, increase every 500 m)

As mentioned above, tried adding the bar to squats, as the regular ones start feeling good now - but no. No, no, no. After first 10 I felt it was bad, so I tried another 10 just in case. Bad, bad, bad. Maybe add the small bar next time, see how that goes. In general training, besides running, seems to have reached a static point at the moment. I might have to ask Mr Physio how to increase difficulty in ski jumps (tried adding speed + distance) and lunges for example. And how much am I supposed to push weight increase in leg machines? How important is it? Questions for physio rather than you, my readers, but there you go. Maybe a physio will stumble across this ACL reconstruction question and answer them who knows?

Again, good session but it'll just get tougher and tougher as always. From now on I will increase running distance with 1 km per week, and it will put even more pressure on my mental capacity and stamina. Plus my friend who's doing the same rehabilitation is swimming, doing yoga/pilates and other stuff that I could only dream of at the moment - and she had her surgery 3 weeks later than me! How is that fair? She did first time ACL (so hamstring) + meniscus though so the difference might be normal, but it annoys me that I still cannot do normal things. Yes, yes only 4 months, it takes a long time, big surgery bla bla bla. I know.

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goals

Here are my mini-goals that will be rewarded (in order of expected time):

• 5 km (15 October)
• 5 months completed (25 October)
• 10 km (mid-November)
• 6 months completed (25 November)

Will come more after 6 months, and perhaps one or two in between, but at this point in time, this is it. Rewards yet to be decided (still have one nashi pear left to claim from last one!)

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extra session

10 mins cycling
Interval cycling
Leg press: 3x 65 kg
Leg extension: 14.5+17+17 kg
Leg curl: 3x 39 kg
Squats: 3x 10
Lunges on board
Ski jumps
Bending
Running: 3 km (lvl 10-11)
Intervals: 10 x 30 secs (lvl 15-16.5)

Very nearly died during running and had to stop several times because I couldn't breathe. The whole session got off to a terrible start as I realised my iPod was out of battery. Thankfully I had stuffed myself with carbohydrates during the day so I was full of sugary energy. Running was fine except the breathing part. Next week is 4 km, and from now on I'll be increasing the distance with 1 km per week. Gosh.

That's what bugs me the most, and what makes me panic: the knowledge that no matter how much effort I put in today I will have to do it all again, and again, and again in the coming weeks. Bah.

Today concludes 3 times this week. Good work.

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