The last few days

I've been doing great on zee fitness front since Monday's post! Yes! Or did I even post on Monday? Je ne sais pas. I just checked back and see that I did not post about Monday's workout, which consisted of running to the Eaton Center North Goodlife, doing a Body Flow class (a combo of pilates, yoga, and tai chi), running for 3o minutes on the treadmill, and then walking home. I think the gym is less than 2k away from my place, but it was a great workout in total.

Just because it's nice to post pictures now and then, here's a shot from the other weekend in NYC. Lunch in Little Italy.

On Tuesday I played ultimate with my team. I played really badly. I don't know why I've been having bad games the last two weeks in a row. New field, perhaps? New structure of 5 on 5 instead of 6 on 6 could be it. Anyway, I need to run faster somehow, and also catch.

On Wednesday I didn't think I was going to be able to fit in my run 'cause I had lots of work to do and a plan for dinner and a musical (Rent.. again) later in the evening. Lo and behold, the sun was shining for the first of what seems like MANY days. So I ran outside! It was my first outdoor run in over a month and it felt great! The weather report said it felt like -12 outside, but I was dressed well and I felt fine. I might have to invest in a windbreaker/running jacket one of these days.

Today I went to Body Pump for a little weight lifting action. Then I came home and baked lousy cookies. Dang.

Alas, I've had a workout every day this week and I don't plan to stop there! Tomorrow - run. Saturday - Body Pump again if my muscles feel fine by then and/or run. Sunday - first game of DODGEBALL. Now that's a game I'm pretty sure I won't be good at. But we will soon find out.

Exercise: check; healthy eating: umm...

I'm doing quite well with my fitness goals so far. This Friday I went to the gym and did another 30 minutes on the treadmill as well as some ab work. Then Saturday morning I did an hour long Body Pump class. Today I took a break.

Too bad I've been eating basically anything in sight. Must work on that. Check.

Back on the run after a month long hiatus!

Yay, I'm back at it! I went for a run on the treadmill yesterday after not running for one whole month.

I ran for half an hour and my foot felt fine. Yes! I don't know what the problem was, but my suspicion is that I was walking around in these new high heel boots that were causing some damage to my foot. Does wearing heels affect running? Probably. I'm 6'0'' tall so I'm not the most frequent heel wearer, but ever since I got myself a tall boyfriend about 1 year 8 months ago, I've been dabbling in heels a bit more. I don't think they agree with me. That's fine, I guess. I'll wear my tall, expensive boots on special occassions and save my flats for regular wear.

Anyway, I did an easy 5.5 speed (whatever that means) run on the hill setting. In half an hour I think I only did about 2.75 miles but that's fine for a first run back. I didn't want to push it. Then I biked for twenty more minutes while watching horrible celebrity gossip on the gym television. I was going to add in some ab work but the tiny mat section was full so I gave up and went home instead.

It's amazing how going back to something I felt really good about has an immediate impact on my body image and my feelings generally. I was looking in the mirror, fearing that with each day missed of running, I was slowly heading back in the wrong direction. I ate whatever I wanted over the holidays so I'm sure my weigh-in on the 20th of the month won't be great, but at least I'm working out.

So my plan for the winter is basically to stick to indoor treadmill running, at least until it's a little less cold. 3o minutes max on a treadmill is fine with me. I'll add in a few Body Pumps each week, and hopefully some yoga and swimming too. Let's say I will run four times a week, and exercise six times a week.

I hate to be late!

Back in action today after a mostly exercise-free weekend in NYC visiting my friend on her birthday. We did attend a workout class her local gym. It was pretty nice compared to my small gym here in Toronto. And the class which made use of the bosu half ball thingy, really did work me out. Other than that we just walked around the city a lot. And ate a lot.

Today, though, I had plans to meet some friends for sushi in the early evening. For some reason I thought taking the Spadina streetcar up to Bloor would make sense, but at 5:30pm, there's not a seat nor standing room to be had. Two cars passed me by before I decided to walk, and it was already 5:27.

I hate to be late!

So, I jogged there. Wearing my big ol' winter parka, my ultimate (frisbee) gear for a game later in the evening, and a floppy backpack, I jogged up Spadina from Dundas, all the way to Bloor, stopping once in a while to walk.

I haven't been running since December 13th. Oh, just about one month ago. I think I'm ready to get back to it. My foot felt fine today.

I also played ultimate and got a good workout though I had a horrible game! I hate when girls are faster than me. I suppose I could try working on some sprints or something to improve that. Suppose, suppose.

It is now 10:00pm and I'm thinking I will go to sleep now and wake up early to get to the gym. Time to bust a move, yeah?

Weekend Holiday!!

I'm going on a trip! To New York City! To see my friend Randi and to have some fun.

This has been a not so hot week for exercise, but hopefully Randi and I will get some girly workout time in together at her NYC gym. Oooh la la. See ya on the flip side!

Indian food revenge

Last night's Indian food woke me up this morning and kept me on my toes, or should I say, on the can, on and off all day. I was planning to do a good long cardio session this evening but instead I'm going to take this opportunity to relax and try to replenish lost fluids.

In other news, I was called away from work early to pick up my baby niece from daycare. She herself was having stomach issues and in daycare, three strikes means you're out. Apparently she doesn't do well with chicken. I picked her up and she was fine, so we enjoyed some play time at my place until her mom could come and get her.

Body Pump Monday!

I started things off this first January Monday with a Body Pump class. For those out of the Goodlife Fitness loop, Body Pump is a one hour weight lifting class that targets all the major muscle groups. We do squats, chest, back, triceps, biceps, lunges, shoulders, and abs. It's set to music and pretty rad.

Today I felt shaky and much more tired than usual despite eating a decent amount of food during the day. I don't get it.

Then I went out for Indian food friends, and made up for any burned calories and then some. Mmm mmm Indian food.

Spending money and making commitments

I went back to the office today after two weeks away. Bleh. Transcribing interviews leads to a number of things: excessive transcribing, random emailing, and of course, race registration.

Here's my official line-up for the 2010 season thus far:

April 3rd: Harry's Spring Run-off - 8K

May 2nd: Sporting Life - 10K

May 30th: Women's Half Marathon and 5K - 5K

July 18th: Gravenhurst Give-it-a-Tri - 400m swim, 20K bike, 2.5K run

September 26th: Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon - Half Marathon

I plan to register for a running clinic in June to prepare safely for the half, and hopefully to also meet some other runner's in the neighbourhood. Oooooh! Exciting stuff this is. Looks like I also need a race for August.

I mentioned yesterday some foot pain I was experiencing a few weeks ago. I have no idea what it was and I just left it alone and haven't been running since. It's feeling fine now, but I'm still afraid that I might have a stress fracture. I'm going to stick to the plan of laying off the running for the rest of the month, which will leave me two months to prepare for the 8K. No problem.

I think I've spent about $250 on the events listed above which is kind of steep considering the fact that my mortgage leaves me basically house poor.

Also, I got an email at the office today, offering a special employee discount at my current gym. Even as an existing member I can qualify for this special, which would mean paying the entire annual amount up front, but also saving $150 overall. I have to decide whether this is worth it.

Alright, back to work! Transcribing is such a dream...

A new beginning

I haven't blogged in soooo long. But I've got some fresh motivation so let's see how it goes.

A basic recap: the knee is back in action! I began playing ultimate again this past Spring, and played it all through the summer. I also took up running, slowly training to do a 5k with the Couch to 5k program that I found on itunes, and then increasing up to a 10k race in October. I was running various distances 4 times a week up until two weeks ago when I had a pain in my foot that I couldn't explain. So I've been on a bit of a running hiatus over the holidays which is fine by me.

Since I started running and playing ultimate in June I lost 10 pounds, going down from a pretty high starting point of 180 to a very nice 170. At 6'0'', I find my average weight over the last decade or so has been about 173 so I'm doing alright. I was a bit lower than 160 two years ago

and felt really great, but I can't complain right now.

The best part for me about running has been the feeling of accomplishment and success as I slowly increase the distances and time that I run. There is so much that can be improved upon, and nothing is better than feeling improvements. Working towards that 5k goal, and then the 10k goal has been hugely inspiring.

So, the plan is to lay out some goals for this upcoming year.

January: I plan to let my foot heal by laying off the running for most of the month. I will be playing ultimate, lifting weights, doing my yoga-esque class at the gym, and hopefully get started with some spinning. Maybe I'll throw some swimming into the mix too. I aim for a total of 5 days of some kind of fitness a week.

February: Continue with the above, but add dodgeball to the schedule. Will that be a workout? Not sure. Dodgeball Sundays, Ultimate Tuesdays, and some other good stuff in and around that. Back to running. Hopefully my foot will be fine and I'll bring the running back.

March: Achilles St. Patrick 5k - March 14th.

April: Spring running, casual biking, swimming, and weights.

May: Begin Triathlon training. May Women's 5k.

June: Ride for Heart, tri training.

July: Tri-a-tri in Gravenhurst

August - October: half marathon training. Half marathon September 26.

That is what I envision as a very crude outline of my upcoming year.

I'll see how it goes!

Three months later

3 months post op

It's been three months!!

I have been as lazy of a rehabber as I've been a blogger. I hate to say it but I've quit physio and have instead been going to the gym not quite enough and working specifically on rebuilding my leg muscle not quite enough.

I'm bad.

But I feel pretty good! I can do almost anything. I can kneel on very soft things like beds and folded up yoga mats. I can go down stairs basically normally.

My knee gets stiff when I sit at my desk or in a show for a while.

And the scar isn't really looking that great in some spots that were more scabby during the earlier recovery days. Let's take a look.


I try to remember to put special scar oil stuff on it twice a day but it's hard to say now whether that helps.

But all in all I'm doing well! I'm going back to the surgeon next week for another follow up so we'll see what he has to say.

My First visit with the surgeon

Post op week 7

I had physio yesterday and apparently I need to strengthen my hamstrings and improve my balance. Psh. I'm getting tired of going to physio. Can I stop now?

I didn't have a chance to go to the gym yesterday or today, though. :( Did I go Monday? Hmm. I can't recall.

Today I met with my surgeon and all was great. I thanked him for his good work, and he thanked me for being a great patient. He said everything is going according to plan. Apparently I'll be feeling perfect by three months but still can't do real sports for six months. Six months! That means I can play ultimate again in the Spring season. Yay Yay!!! :) I'm excited to play play play.

And I'm thinking of takng up running. What do you think about that?

Anything else new with the knee? Well, no, not really. I can dance a jig, more or less. Probably just as well as I ever could before, in fact. I feel almost normal! I still can only kneel on a thick mat or a pillow and even that feels weird. And my leg feels sore if I have to stand for an hour, say, at the Of Montreal concert. Otherwise I'm very happy!!

Updates!

Six weeks and six days post op

Yesterday I hurried up the subway stairs in a jog-like manner! It wasn't quite as fast as a normal jog up the stairs, but it was a jog up the stairs nevertheless.

Three days ago I began working out once more on the elliptical trainer, in addition to the stationary bike.

Tomorrow I've got physio and Wednesday is my first follow up appointment with the surgeon. Alright!

Range of Motion continues

Six weeks and two days post op

And now we're onto week six of this ever-exciting adventure in knee surgery land! Welcome, boys and girls!

Let me think, what happened in the last week. Well, for one, I went hiking in the Canadian Shield. Yes, that's right. I traipsed up and down through the rocks on a two hour hike. I can't say it was easy - I had to go very slowly, particularly when descending, and my left leg felt it the next day because I depended quite a lot on it to climb up things, but hey, I did it! I twisted my right knee oddly once and feared for my graft but all seems fine.

Yesterday at physiotherapy I had good news and bad news. I'll start with the good. I have 135 degrees of bend!!! That's a mere five off from normal! Wow! And we weren't even really pushingit to its max when it was measured. How sweet it is to be almost normal. The other good news is that my physio had me walk across the room for him. I did that no problem. Then he had me JOG across the room for him. And I did it too! It was the first time I'd tried jogging and it was no big deal. I've since jogged a couple of times here or there, like through the halls of my condo on my way to the garbage shute, for example. It feels good.

My bad news is that my extension, which is supposed to be zero degrees and which was zero the first time I went to physio so I figured it must still be, is off by two degrees. I now feel like I must straighten that bad boy out. Extension is very important, so they say. My physiotherapist was less concerned about it that I was.

The other day I decided enough is enough. I'm sick of limping down the stairs. So I've been taking the stairs down whenever possible and working hard on using the muscles required to do so normally. I believe it's the quads that really deal with descending. I think in the two days that I've been making this conscious effort I've started to feel an improvement, though it's still quite slow going.

I went to body pump today and actually put a bit of weight on for the squatting section. I forget now how much weight it was. I think 5 pounds in total. I also went swimming this week as well as biking at the gym. On the bike I've been doing 3o minutes of actual cardio biking and then five or ten minutes with the seat as low as possible, working on my bend. It seems to loosen things up.

That's all the week six knee news for you. Oh, except I've now spent about $500 on knee-surgery related expenses (most physio). I very much look forward to NOT having a $55 a week physio expense. Though happily I've been managing to pay for it out of my normal monthly budget instead of going into savings like I feared I'd have to.

Next week I have my first follow-up appointment with my surgeon!

I got new shoes!

5 weeks

It's been five weeks since surgery and here's where I'm at.

I think about my leg 65% of the time.

I've done two bodypumps and two bodyflow classes with no trouble. Except I can't kneel so that can get ackward.

When I walked around a lot on Queen street my leg got heavy and tired and uncomfortable.

Going up stairs is painless though I can feel my muscle is not strong, meaning it takes a bit more effort to do.

Going down stairs is still difficult for me. There's a strange interior pain that's almost like a block somewhere deep inside that kicks in sometimes when I go downstairs. My muscle is not strong enough to lower my bodyweight smoothly from one step to another. I can do it very slowly, quicker with a handrail or two, and even quicker if the handrails are close together and I can "crutch" down. But that doesn't count.

I haven't been elevating or icing, except the other day when I walked too much.

I started up with a new physio today. My old physio recommended that I alternate between the two for a variety of physio styles. This one had me do a much more physical session as opposed to the relaxed massage-esque sessions of the last five weeks.

I did:
- about ten minutes of the muscle stimulation machine(is this a crock or what?)
- 3 sets of ten leg lifts lying on each side (so adductor and abductor muscles, I think.)
- 4 sets of seven hamstring curls, which had me standing with the front of my thighs against the edge of the bench and a five pound weight on my calf, lifting the weight up behind me by pulling my heel up.
- 3 sets of ten things where a strap attached to a weight machine went around my knee, and I had to bend and straighten as if I had a ball between my knees, sort of. I felt the same "going down the stairs" pain during this one.
- some supported squats
- a few step ups onto that squishy half ball thing
- a bit of balancing on a balance board.

Everything was easy.

This physiotherapist had a helper girl who kind of did all the work. The guy himself wasn't particularly friendly and I didn't feel motivated or cared for or encouraged like I do usually when I see my other guy. :( They haven't measured my flexion in two weeks!!! Booo. Next week I will insist.

I'm thinking about biking to my friend's house this evening without any approval to do so. Hope that's okay...

Back in the pool! Back in group exercise classes! Back in the game!

Post Op Week 4

Don't even ask me how it's possible that four weeks are behind me. Please. Don't ask.

Things with the leg are really great.

Yesterday I went to the pool which I've only just recently discovered. It's two short blocks away from me and it's free! What the?!?!

I went to a lane swim and I started off doing arms only. I did 20 lengths to just get some cardio action on the go. That felt fine and the leg didn't complain at all. Next I took a flutterboard and did some light kicking for ten lengths, picking up the pace as I went on and realized there was no pain or discomfort really. Finally I realized that I was good to go, and I did 20 more lengths of full crawl. It was great! It's so nice to be able to feel like I'm really burning calories while stengthening.

Today was yet another milestone. I went back for the first time to the group exercise classes that I really love at the gym. In fact, I did them both, back to back, after doing a quick ten minutes on the bike. Maybe it sounds like I'm overdoing it. I hope I'm not overdoing it but I don't feel pain or any reason to stop. So I did a Bodypump class, modifying the heavy weighted squats and lunges sections so that I was just lightly squatting with no added weight. The rest of my major muscle groups were happy for the attention. We'll see how they feel tomorrow. Following that, I did a nice, relaxing Bodyflow class, a class that combines yoga, tai chi, and pilates. There were a few kneeling things that I couldn't do (I can't bend fully yet and I can't put full weight on my knee) but other than that I did some great stretches, strethening exercises, and balance work. My balance on the operative knee is pretty much as good as it was before.

So that's where I'm at four weeks post. I am extremely pleased by this speedier than anticipated recovery.

Overall, I should add, my knee is feeling funny most of the time, but not painful. It feels heavier and kind of achy when I keep it in one position, so I end up moving it around quite a bit, from straight to bent and back again. My walk is almost perfect. The stairs are still tricky on the way down.

Here are some week four photos for ya! Look at that bend!

Three weeks and five days

Physio session #4

post op: 3 weeks and 3 days

I had another successful physio visit today. He says I should be used in his advertising, but he says it in the same tone of voice that he says his encouraging, "hold just here" that makes me think he tells that to all this patients. Whatever works, right?

Today it was another relaxing session with him doing some soft and relaxing leg massaging and a few of the same old exercises that are all basically just very light muscle work for each of the muscles in my leg. The hardest thing for me that he asks me to do is he puts a rolled up weight under my knee and then has me tighten my quad and lift my foot up off the table, holding it slightly elevated for a few seconds. The rest of the exercises are easy as pie and not at all painful or anything as I've heard many people describe their physio sessions.

So either I'm a superstar or my physiotherapist is doing it wrong.

In any case, I've officially graduated from his little shoe-box office at this clinic and I now have to see him at his other office at the Atrium on Bay (a further walk from my house, but still walkable). I think he has more real equipment there. He wants me to alternate between seeing him one week and seeing his colleague another as they apparently have differing techniques that will compliment each other well.

In other news, I reached and just surpassed this week's goal for flexion with a whopping 122 degree bend. Yahoo! I'm only 18 degrees away from normal! The physio said that the biggest hurdle is getting to 90 degrees and after that it's just a matter of time and not so much working at it before it gets back to normal. I'm not sure if I agree.

I asked him why he thinks one person might heal faster than another, besides age as a factor. He said that I have very supple joints, or lots of flexibility, which helps a lot. Other people get very stiff and have a more difficult time healing.

After physio I used my motivation to go to the gym where I biked for 20 solid minutes on the "cardio" setting and actually worked up a sweat. It no longer feels like a stretch when I pedal around the bendiest part of the rotation so I'm good to go on that. I can finally get some cardio in. I also did a bunch of ab work and some calf raises, leg lifts, and ham work with the ball. I didn't bother with any upper body stuff... because I'm lazy.

Didn't make it to the pool after all but I did get the seal of approval from my PT to sit in a hot tub which I plan to do all weekend while surrounded by the beauty that is autumn. Yay!

must. keep. blogging.

Post op: three weeks and one day

It's been three weeks! And here I am, still alive.

I haven't been diligently blogging, but here's what's up on the knee scene.

For one, I've totally ditched the crutches. I am now crutch free and loving it! I've seen THREE different people using crutches since Monday, if you can believe it, and felt a marked affinity towards them, though they couldn't tell that I too am one of them.

My current focus has been trying to walk without a limp, and it's more or less working I think. The effort is kind of funny. I have to be conscious of swinging my arms because in my attempt to walk without a limp I end up holding my arms very still. This looks bizarre, in case you've never noticed it.

I have two newish difficulties now, too. The first is stairs. Going up I'm not too bad. I can use both feet and walk slowly but normally, though when my operative leg is the one stepping up, my muscle has to really work hard to lift the weight of my body. I guess that must be due to the weakness of my quads and hamstrings. Going down the stairs is much worse than that because my operative knee simply hurts when I do it. Sometimes I do it anyway, sometimes I step down with only my left and look like a bit of a weirdo, and sometimes I use railings to lower myself down. It depends on my mood.

The other difficulty is that after any prolonged walking my whole leg hurts. Actually I'm kind of in a state of constant "uncomfortable-leg". My calf muscle and the muscles in my thigh are all tense and angry, maybe because they're getting used to being used again, but it hurts in a nagging kind of a way and I don't enjoy it.

Despite this I've returned to my normal work and play schedule, ish. I think about my knee probably 90% of my waking hours. This week I have been biking at the gym twice as well as doing a few other things (leg press, ab work, leg lifts, whatever I can think of, stretching, sometimes arms) and I've managed to activate the audio on the televisions! I noticed a big improvement on my range of motion while biking on Monday, after a few days off over the weekend.

The incision is so close to being completely closed and scab-free. I hope to go swimming this week still. Maybe Friday after physio. I stopped by the pool on my way to the gym today (it's really so close!) and found out the lane swimming hours. It appears that swimming there is free. Is that even possible?

Oh, and before I go, I promised to talk about weight gain and knee surgery. Well. I was sure that I'd been packing on the pounds as I lazed around the house eating too much of very unhealthy things. But when I stepped on the scale the other day I was three pounds lighter than I think I was before surgery. I think the explanation is that I've lost some amount of muscle mass and along with that I've lost tone. I'm basically becoming one flabby girl.. but I don't care because it's just the numbers on the scale that count!!!! wink. wink.

Sleeping time.

Walking around like crazy

Post Op: 2 weeks and 5 days

This weekend I became a normal person again. I went to visit Steve in Hamilton on Friday and brought one crutch and my brace with me, but ended up really just using the crutch. We walked what is normally a half an hour walk and though I did it, my leg was really swollen and tired by the time we got home. I sat in a bar for a while feeling fine but did still feel better with my leg propped up on a chair throughout most of the evening.

This is my leg swollen after too much walking.


Saturday I walked around St. Lawrence market - again with just the one crutch.

And today I went to the apple orchard and traversed difficult terrain on my new-ligamented knee. I also went to my parents house without any crutches and managed just fine, trying now to walk without a limp which keeps me moving slowly but steadily.

Here's my leg in the apple orchard. I'm a little obsessed with photographing my legs these day...


I'm feeling pretty great, I must admit. This busy schedule has, however, distracted me from my exercising and tomorrow and for the rest of the week I'll be back at the gym. In some ways I feel like just walking on my leg is progress and exercise. The more I use the muscles to do normal, everyday things, the better they will fare, right?

One question I asked my physiotherapist is, "how much is too much?" His response to that is that the surgeon made sure during surgery that my full range of motion was there. The only reason I don't have it now is because of swelling and stiffness. So... in other words, I should work it out as much as I like as long as I don't feel too much pain or strain. I also, obviously, need to make sure not to do things that are not suitable for an unstable knee.

And one more leg shot from today for good luck.


As far as pain and discomfort go, it's still at this point heavy and noticeable pretty much at all times, but I wouldn't really call it painful unless I've really been walking for a long time, and even that is improving. Sitting in a chair with my leg bent for a long period of time is also not very comfortable.

It's hard to believe three weeks have almost alread passed. Stayed tuned for tomorrow's entry where I'll wow you with... body weight and knee surgery!!!

Physio session #3

post op 2 weeks and three days

My goal was to reach 105 degrees flexion by today and guess what it was?! 110!! Yahoo!!

I went from 60 to 95 to 110. Normal is 140. My next physio appointment is one week from today so let's shoot for a 125 degree bend by then. Go team!

He said the best exercise by far for working on my bend is the stationary bike so I'm just going to contine doing that. I imagine it will get more and more comfortable as the days go by. Soon maybe I'll even be able to start activating the audio on the televisions! Also I think I'll start swimming next week when my incision is a little more healed up.

I feel ready to ditch one of either the brace or the crutches and he said that the brace can be the first to go. But the protocol from the surgeon said that I'm supposed to wear that thing for five weeks so my physio suggested I call and inquire about that.

I'm feeling quite good about my progress and if anything I'd say seeing the physiotherapist is good for my motivation. He doesn't reall DO all that much. A little bit of gentle massaging, some exercises like pushing my leg in various ways against his resistance, and today he worked on my walking, telling me to remember to bend my leg and things like that.

And that's it! I've gotta go!