I am not sure what is happening but I have been super sleepy all day. Even a mid-afternoon coffee can't seem to spark life into this corpse. Hopefully the bike ride home shortly and subsequent ride this evening will wake me up. Thankfully I have an EDO (Earned Day Off) tomorrow so I'll get to sleep in a bit! Tomorrow Mel and I are hitting the gym together for a workout and then heading over to the CheeseCake Cafe for a late lunch! The Cafe mushrooms are one of her favourite dishes...me, I am more interested on the selection of beers they have on tap...oh, and maybe some cheesecake to take home!
Slept in this morning before commuting to work. Nothing exciting about the ride in this morning. I wore some wind-proof gloves and neck warmer so I wasn't cold as the day before. I do find I am much more "refreshed" when I arrive into work after biking...definitely a great way to start one's day!
During lunch I ran my tempo run...no dry heaving/gagging at the end today...close...but no. I left my GPS at home but, based on my heart rate, I figure I was hovering around or slightly under 4-minute kms for the 25 minute duration. Not bad in my books for a tank like me. On the way back the sky opened up and I got dumped on...first it was pea-sized hail followed shortly by rain. The temperature dropped fairly quickly as well. By the time I got back to campus my thighs were like chunks of ice. I knew I was in for a world of hurt when I got inside because my ACL-reconstructed knee gets really bad arthritis in cold/damp weather. I had the surgery in 2003 and was warned that when cold gets in there it will you will experience arthritic pain.
Man, it is a vicious kind of hurt. Most times it is manageable, but there are times when it flares up so bad it will bring tears to my eyes. [I know, poor me...please give me sympathy ;)] Lately though, I have figured out a few tricks to take the edge off flare ups...wearing a knee sleeve helps to keep it warm and stretching it immediately afterwards seems to take the edge off the pain.
I sometimes think back to when I made the choice to get the surgery...at the time I was playing competitive volleyball and really wanted to get back to my old form. That was the pushing factor to do the surgery. I wanted the side-to-side lateral movement back. Of course I could have left it but my knee would give out from time-to-time.
However, after the surgery, things were different. I lost a lot of muscle in the leg, my timing was off, a little mobility was lost...etc. I really tried to make things the way they were before surgery but could never reach that point I felt satisfied.
It was the disappointment from the experience that guided me, in part, down the road of Triathlons. Which brings me back to my original point...what if I did not do the surgery back in 2003? Would things be any different right now? Probably...
I guess certain things happen for a reason.
Happy Unification & Integration Day my Friends(Liberia)
2 comments:
I had to chuckle when I saw your title -- how apt, eh? I'm going to have to remember that one.
Sorry to hear about your knee -- it is strange where life leads us. Since having her hip replaced, my Mom really notices the pain when the "cold gets in." I'm going to give her your tip about keeping it warm.
Great run, by the way! Bonus piece of cheesecake for not hurling AND running through hail! :) Enjoy your cheesecake tomorrow! :) :)
glad to hear you didn't hurl in front of the smokers again! haha. i was wondering if keeping the knee warm would help...of course that can be tricky when you are working.
i agree, things happen for a reason. glad you had the surger, got into triathlon, started a blog, chatted with all us bloggers, moved to calgary and brought us you, mel and jesse!
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