Recovery

Lying in bed in the wee hours of the morning this past week I’ve tried visualizing exactly how I might have injured my usually sturdy left knee, and I think I got it figured out. About three weeks ago I was adding short runs into the Power Walk, and I hyperextended going downhill on 9th Avenue; it’s not hard to re-imagine the feeling of that first tweak, and then I tried to ignore it for too long. 

Now that I know how it likely happened I've got to be careful not to do it again. 

The past two weeks of abbreviated activity, needing to take big doses of Ibuprofen on the worst days, and the canceling of my yoga class have had me feeling kind of low. But it's reinforced my determination to take it easy, paying attention to every twinge and whinge of my weakened knee. A week ago it told me not to go up the steepest part of the Pine Street hill, and I obeyed. I similarly curtailed another attempted Power Walk this past Monday, obeying Knee’s complaints. 

To keep from going nuts, in addition to beach walks and daily warm-ups I’ve been doing Workout Light at the gym every couple of days, letting my right knee bear most of the weight while I pedal or press. There have been ups and downs, but slowly Lefty has come around. A strenuous workout yesterday included leg presses and some hard rowing, and it felt good. I just finished the first full Power Walk in two weeks—full tilt, but no running, and being especially careful on the downhill. I’ve been listening to Lefty, and today he’s offering no complaints. 

That’s a big hoorah. And to keep it that way, I promise to continue paying attention. I don't want to go through another three plus weeks like this!

Onward.