Training Log Archive: kissy

My recovery is still going well. I got up to 118˚ assisted and 108˚ on my own, and I'm very happy with that. I'm not sure how much more I'm going to get. My therapist has begun using the Graston Technique to help break up some scar tissue that formed. It's definitely not a pleasant feeling while she's doing it...it's mildly painful but it also triggers responses from other other muscles, like in my calf. It's kind of a weird feeling, but it appears to be helping. Even though I end up with bruises afterwards, I feel looser around the knee. Now if the swelling would just completely go away.

C • Knee 2

I went back to the pool to try a longer session. I did some drills and then I was going to do 3 x 100, but the 100s were taking it out of me, so I switched to 6 x 50. That was better; I could handle that. I guess I have to work back up to 100s. That's mildly depressing. The good news is that my knee felt fine.

After swimming, I wanted to try out a non-recumbent bike to see how that felt. Not being able to ride a bike was what finally pushed me into getting my knee replaced now. It had been very painful and I couldn't make a full rotation without hitching up my hip. So, this was the big test.

And it went great! I was a little careful at first, but after my knee warmed up a bit, it was all fine. Hallelujah! I am finding, though, that there are certain habits that I accumulated over the past few years to compensate for my bad knee, and one of them was on the bike. I would turn my left toes down as I was completing a rotation to help reduce the strain on my knee. So now I have to work on keeping my foot flat throughout the rotation. It takes some concentration. But, at least I'm on a bike again. Baby steps.

C • "ankling" 1