Friday, December 21, 2007

Happy, Merry & All That

Well, it's officially the holiday season now. Why? Because I have completed the three things necessary for me to get in the holiday spirit. They are: 1) listen to at least part of Elvis' Blue Christmas CD; 2) watch Bad Santa; 3) make at least one sugar- and butter-laden holiday treat. DONE.

I am now able to use the exercise bike and am working diligently to eradicate the last vestiges of the limp. Then I can think about reincorporating squats, and running intervals for cardio, in my workouts.

Normally this time of year I am not terribly motivated, and this year is no exception. It has been cold and rainy as usual, and with a sore leg on top of it, I have to really chastise myself to get out the door to the gym. Usually any sort of motivational phrase that includes the term "lard ass" works nicely.

Happy Holidays to all.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

In the home stretch

Now at the 4-week mark, I am in the home stretch on this injury. Kevin rated muscle function at 4+ (on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being normal) on Friday. I am still limping slightly...but apparently that's all in my head. When the injury is off the radar, I don't limp, but when I think about it, I do. It's as if, even though I know it's better, there are still some trust issues.

That's just going to take time to work itself out. I have been used to babying my right calf for the past month, and there's also some fear involved, since the injury was so painful. I have always been strong and was always able to keep going despite sprains, strains, etc. but this was a whole new ballgame.

Dave, the IT guy at work who is one of my friends and who played college football at Virginia Tech, has had this same injury and has eerily predicted everything I have gone through, leading me to dub him "Dr. Dave." He gave me a few pointers on eradicating the limp, and predicted I would be over it by New Year's if I followed his advice.

Kevin (my physical therapist) upped the ante today by saying, "you can't do any of your power lifts till you are walking normally." The reason for that is I could actually make the limp worse that way.