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Met a New Blend Today!

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May 272011

Today started out like a regular day. The kids and I headed to the J and I did a mostly rehab workout.

The workout:

calf raises, 2 sets of 15
single leg balance, 5 times
bridging, 12 times holding for 5-10 seconds each
step ups, 2 sets of 20
ankle pumps, 2 sets of 20+
quadriceps sets, 2 sets of 10 on each leg
straight leg raise, 2 sets of 10 on each leg
triceps, 1 set of 12 at 60, 50, 40, 30 and 20 pounds all in a row
biceps, 2 sets of 12 with 10 pound dumbbells
elliptical for 3 minutes (this felt “ok”, but I didn’t want to push it yet)
20 minutes in the pool (water bicycling, etc. with a floatation belt)

I’m starting to feel a ton better. My knee is most sore after kitchen work with the side to side motions. As long as I don’t do lateral moves, it’s doing great! Physical therapy works.

After our trip to the J (and a side trip to get Nick’s glasses fixed AGAIN!), we headed to John Carroll University to meet up with Lisa. She writes a blog called Life After Losing at http://www.itsjustlisa.com/. She actually went to high school with my husband. One day he said, I think you’d like this blog and the rest is history! We enjoyed our packed lunch in the cafeteria with the kids. We talked about FitBloggin’ and blogs and enjoyed our time together.

Next up: day off of planned exercises, but will try to do a few of the physical therapy exercises throughout the day

Knee Rehab Workout

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May 262011

Today, the kids and I headed to the JCC. We were under a bit of a time crunch since we had to meet a contractor at our house at 11am.

My goal was two fold: let the kids play and do my physical therapy exercises

Here’s the workout:

20 minutes on the stationary bike at an easy pace
ankle pumps, 2 sets of 20
quadriceps sets, hold for 5 seconds, 2 sets of 10
knee flexion, 2 sets of 10
straight leg raise, 2 sets of 10
clam shells with resistance band, 2 sets of 20
sit to stand (like squats), 2 sets of 10
calf raises, 2 sets of 15
single leg balance, 3 times
step ups, 2 sets of 20
bridging, 10 times

I’m a bit sore in the quads and that’s better than being sore in the knee.

Next up: arm workout and pool exercises in the morning

More Physical Therapy

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May 252011

Today, I had a land exercise session with my new physical therapist. As you may recall, I had my initial evaluation done at the Cleveland Clinic main campus. So, aside from my water session last week, this is my first therapy session at the Beachwood office.

The therapist knew what he was doing, but he didn’t have much of a personality. It was all business and no talk. It was boring. I did get a few new exercises to do including calf raises, clam shells, step ups and balancing on one leg. It was nice because I was actually working (sweating) during the session. The therapist thought I could probably take a spin class (taking it easy) in a week or two. Since Monday is Memorial Day and the following week, my husband is having surgery, I’ll definitely be able to spin on June 13th. I hope to start doing more upper body work next week. Also, I hope to try the elliptical on Friday.

For the most part, my knee is feeling much better. It gets sore if I do too much and the lateral movement is still painful. I just need to rest and strengthen and be patient.

Next up: water exercises in the morning (along with all of the prescribed PT exercises)

Continuing Knee Rehab

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May 242011

Today, the kids and I headed to the JCC and I was determined to get some sort of workout, even with my knee problem.

I’m a bit gun shy to try to do any weights (even upper body). I’m hoping that I’ll feel more like it next week. I’m trying to focus on rest and rehab. It’s really hard to rest.

I did 20 minutes on the Nu Step today. It really doesn’t feel like a workout, but it’s better than sitting at home and it doesn’t hurt my knee at all. I haven’t tried to up the intensity using it since that’s not really supposed to be my focus.

After the Nu Step, I headed to the pool. I put on a floatation belt and did 25 minutes of bicycling in the deep water. I didn’t have any pain and it felt good.

I still don’t feel like I had a great workout, but I took a long nap while the kids were sleeping this afternoon. So, I must of done something right.

Next up: PT in the AM.

Water Therapy

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May 232011

I’m settling back into a routine after my long weekend away at Fit Bloggin’. I’ll have some more details about the conference soon.

Meantime, I’m in rehabilitation for my knee. My physical therapy started last Wednesday. It continued today in the water. The physical therapist on Wednesday suggested that I have therapy 2-3 times per week and that one time per week should be in the water.

Today was my first water therapy. Even when I tore my ACL in 2004, I didn’t have water therapy. So, today’s session was all new. It started with warm water. The therapy pool is very warm. I didn’t ask what the temperature was, but I am guessing it was around 90 degrees.

After I got used to it, the heat felt good. I did find myself wishing I had brought water with me to my session. I worked with a physical therapy assistant named Jessica. It was interesting. During much of my session there was three of us. Jessica sat in a chair by a computer and kept track of our exercises and timed us as needed.

The pool was divided into 3 sections. There was a 3 foot, 5 foot and 7 foot deep section. My exercises included things like walking back and forth, walking backwards, walking sidewards, squats (which are much easier in water since you don’t actually move all of your weight), knee kicks, etc. Most of the exercises probably have names, but I don’t have a cheat sheet. My session ended with a few exercises in the deep end with a floatation belt. This part included things like bicycling.

I liked the therapy and hope to be able to practice these exercises in the JCC pool this week.

Next up: a few minutes on the Nu Step and a segment in the pool in the morning.

Physical Therapy and Fit Bloggin’

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May 182011

This is turning into a crazy week. I ended up with my first physical therapy session at 7am this morning and the Cleveland Clinic main campus.

I met with Brian and had my evaluation done. The first physical therapy appointment is always a mix of evaluation and figuring out what exercises need to be done.

Now I have about 5 exercise to do 2-6 times a day. Most of them I can do while multitasking which is good. After my therapy appointment, I got scheduled for my follow up appointments at the JCC office. This will be convenient for the kids and I. The physical therapist suggested a couple of pool sessions so I can learn exercises to do in the water. This should be good since I have never had any water therapy.

It was also suggested that I do either the recumbent stationary bike or the Nu Step at this stage. So, at the JCC, I did 30 minutes on the Nu Step. This was NOT cardio. This was a range of motion exercise, very slow pace activity. There was no sweat involved. 30 minutes was actually too long. My knee was pretty sore when I was done and I shouldn’t do things that aggravate it. I’m really supposed to be mostly resting and icing, but it’s hard for me to sit still.

I’m taking a few days off from my food log. I’m still sticking with no refined sugar (honey/maple syrup ok) and no white flour. I also haven’t had any artificial sweeteners. It’s been over 3 weeks. Besides not eating enough vegetables, my food has been pretty good. It really is just a matter of time. Fit Bloggin‘ starts tomorrow in Baltimore and I will be gone until Sunday. I plan to photograph at least one day of food to share with you when I return.

I’m excited to meet everyone tomorrow and have a great time this weekend. Extra thanks to Stephen for taking 2 days off work to take care of the kids and make the Fit Bloggin’ trip possible.

Lazy Day with errands

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May 172011

The kids and I headed to the JCC today. My knee was sore and getting used to my brace is exhausting. I really felt like I had a good workout just getting into the JCC and walking down the long hall to the fitness area and Kid Kare. The kids needed to play and I spent some time on the phone. It was time well spent since I now have physical therapy starting tomorrow instead of June 1st.

After we left the JCC, we headed to Fairlawn for a stop at Great Harvest to stock up on bread, Earth Fare to check out the new store, and WalMart since Nick was out of Pull Ups.

It was a busy day. I’m exhausted and PT is at 7am. I’m now trying to prep for tomorrow while resting my knee.

Knee Update

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May 162011

I had my orthopedic appointment this morning. I arrived at the correct desk at Cleveland Clinic’s main campus about 15 minutes before my appointment time. I try to avoid main campus, but they could give me an appointment 4 days sooner if I braved the madness. The woman at the desk asked me for my x-rays. Um, I don’t have any x-rays. She told me that I needed x-rays to see the doctor. They sent me off to get x-rays at another desk. About an hour later, I returned with my x-rays.

I filled out my paperwork and finally saw the doctor about an hour and a half past my original appointment time. I’m so glad that my husband took Nick and Sally to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History while they waited for me. It would have been torture for everyone to have them in the waiting rooms.

The doctor asked me a ton of questions about my knee, injury, past ACL injury etc. He examined my walking and both knees. This involved lots of pulling, pushing and tugging.

The verdict is that I have a Grade II MCL tear. This means that the medial collateral ligament is partially torn. The MCL is one of the 4 main knee ligaments.

This should heal in 4-6 weeks. I need to take it easy, wear a brace and go to physical therapy. I’m not 100% sure what exercise will be allowed. The doctor mentioned walking on level surfaces as acceptable. So, I’m allowed to do the treadmill. I asked him about the elliptical and that is ok also. I didn’t get more specific and wish that I had asked about cycling. Usually cycling is encouraged for knee injuries. I’ll have to get some further instructions from the physical therapist. The earliest appointment for physical therapy is June 1st. I’m going to work on that tomorrow. 2 weeks seems way too long to wait. I plan to call the main scheduling and try to get in sooner even if that means traveling to a further location. My goal is to get therapy at the Cleveland Clinic JCC location, but I’m not sure if that will be possible.

I spent the evening ~~loafing~~ sleeping on the couch. I’m not going to do a food post today. I ate ok today. I still am lacking in the vegetable department. I hope to get some veggies cut up for salads tomorrow. That will help.

Next up: trying out the elliptical or treadmill with my knee brace in the morning. I plan to take it easy. I hope to read a bit and take a shower so I can allow the kids to play in Kid Kare for a while.

Injured.

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May 132011

So, I made it to the JCC today for the water aerobics class. It felt good to be in the water. My knee, however, doesn’t feel so great. I’ve been trying to take it easy. I made an appointment with the doctor for Monday. I’m bummed that I am injured since it was totally my fault and I am hoping that it’s a quick fix.

Next up: rest until after the DR appt Monday.

Today, I fell off the BOSU!

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May 122011

Today, I showed up at the J for the 4:30pm BOSU class. Usually, Kim teaches the class. Today, we had a substitute – Joel. At first, I was kind of worried because I don’t do new instructors well. I like my routine. But, I decided to stay for the class. I had heard that Joel was hard in a good way and that his classes were more athletic. But, I didn’t know what that meant.

I should have known I was in trouble when he asked how many people usually come to this class. He was trying to figure out if there were enough BOSUs for everyone to have two of them.

Joel ~~showed off~~ warmed up by jumping rope on a BOSU before class. It was amazing!

The class was really good and he had me doing lots of new things. As always, I did what I could and modified as needed.

So, class was going along fine. It was hard and good. About 1/2 hour into the hour class, we started to use both BOSUs. We had them front to back of each other and stood on one and practiced transferring back and forth. It was all good until he wanted us to jump/switch our feet. So, if the left foot was on the front BOSU and the right foot was on the back BOSU, jump so that the left foot was now on the back and the right foot was now on the front.

I jumped and fell. I should have know better. I don’t really jump much on ground and had no business jumping on 2 unsteady BOSUs.

I got back up and gingerly finished the class and didn’t try to jump anymore. I mostly torqued my knee. I wasn’t really sure if it was ok. Unfortunately, it’s my “bad” knee that was never the same after my ACL tear and surgery in 2004. Once I was home and we finished dinner, I stretched, iced, and took some medicine.

I sure hope that I feel good as new in the morning. I have so much going on this week. I’m taking a wild flower class on Saturday, spectating at the Cleveland Marathon and having my brother’s farewell on Sunday, and going to Fit Bloggin’ on Thursday. There’s no time in my schedule for any injuries.

Next up: hoping for water aerobics in the AM.

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