coffeebuzz (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
coffeebuzz) wrote2011-03-28 08:17 pm
coffeebuzz) wrote2011-03-28 08:17 pm
No pain, no gain
I got my ass kicked tonight.
I'd signed up for the privilege, too. The road back from all the injury crap and the aftereffects thereof is definitely not one I've expected to be easy or short, but thus far it's been surprisingly enjoyable.
Tonight, my trainer bumped my routine up a notch. Ow. But I'm not really complaining. After all, I did ask for it. When you've had a period of enforced inactivity in your life, I think once you get back to being able to do physical things, it's such a relief that you can't imagine ever wanting to just sit again. I know I can't. I have a friend who will never get out of his wheelchair, so having been able to leave mine behind is an extraordinary blessing. And at least I always knew my time on wheels would be temporary. But it does seem to have permanently altered my attitude, in some very good ways.
In any case, I busted my butt tonight. My legs haven't been this sore in forever. I'm still focusing mainly on them to get the strength and stability I need to compensate for the bits that are missing or damaged in my left knee. There really isn't anything I can't do even right now, but the goal is to reach the point where I don't have to worry much about re-injuring anything. I already went back to dance classes a month or so ago, and that hasn't caused me any issues, although I do find myself being extra-careful with moves that put torque on the knee. I'd like to get past that to where I know the knee can take pretty much whatever I ask it to. And Joe (my trainer) says I'll be there soon if I just keep working at it. I'm lucky, at least, in the fact that my right leg doesn't seem to have any lingering issues other than some occasional stiffness in the ankle. I can work that out with a few moments of stretching and rotating it.
I'd like to start working as hard on my upper body as I am on my legs, but right now my shoulder is still painful, so until that gets resolved I'm babying it and concentrating on my lower body. No biggie. I've got time to do this right. I already knew this coming summer wouldn't be a bikini season for me, and that's okay. Next summer will be a different story.
Don't get me wrong; I know I'll never be a size 2. Don't want to be that tiny anyway. For one thing, I haven't the skeletal structure for it and in any case, real women are supposed to have hips and boobs! I'll be happy when I can again wear the pair of size 6 jeans I keep hanging in the back of the closet, a legacy of my pre-injury days. Not for reasons of appearance so much as for the fact that my body felt best then. I was never a competitive athlete of any sort, but I was athletic in terms of my physical condition, and I'm working toward being there again. I've got the cardiovascular portion even now; I can walk for miles, even on steep hills, without tiring and do some pretty energetic and protracted dancing without getting short of breath. Those are good things. Biking is coming along, though hills do wind me a bit more than I expect for some reason on a bike and I want to get to the point where that no longer happens. The expense of the YMCA meant I didn't keep up my membership there, so I don't go swimming like I used to, and I miss it. But all the other stuff I do at my current gym mostly makes up for it, except that I do miss getting in the water. Oh well.
But oh, my aching legs. Time to hunt down the muscle rub, the aspirin, and a heating pad. If I still had the Y membership I could just go sit in the whirlpool. Now that's what I really miss!
I'd signed up for the privilege, too. The road back from all the injury crap and the aftereffects thereof is definitely not one I've expected to be easy or short, but thus far it's been surprisingly enjoyable.
Tonight, my trainer bumped my routine up a notch. Ow. But I'm not really complaining. After all, I did ask for it. When you've had a period of enforced inactivity in your life, I think once you get back to being able to do physical things, it's such a relief that you can't imagine ever wanting to just sit again. I know I can't. I have a friend who will never get out of his wheelchair, so having been able to leave mine behind is an extraordinary blessing. And at least I always knew my time on wheels would be temporary. But it does seem to have permanently altered my attitude, in some very good ways.
In any case, I busted my butt tonight. My legs haven't been this sore in forever. I'm still focusing mainly on them to get the strength and stability I need to compensate for the bits that are missing or damaged in my left knee. There really isn't anything I can't do even right now, but the goal is to reach the point where I don't have to worry much about re-injuring anything. I already went back to dance classes a month or so ago, and that hasn't caused me any issues, although I do find myself being extra-careful with moves that put torque on the knee. I'd like to get past that to where I know the knee can take pretty much whatever I ask it to. And Joe (my trainer) says I'll be there soon if I just keep working at it. I'm lucky, at least, in the fact that my right leg doesn't seem to have any lingering issues other than some occasional stiffness in the ankle. I can work that out with a few moments of stretching and rotating it.
I'd like to start working as hard on my upper body as I am on my legs, but right now my shoulder is still painful, so until that gets resolved I'm babying it and concentrating on my lower body. No biggie. I've got time to do this right. I already knew this coming summer wouldn't be a bikini season for me, and that's okay. Next summer will be a different story.
Don't get me wrong; I know I'll never be a size 2. Don't want to be that tiny anyway. For one thing, I haven't the skeletal structure for it and in any case, real women are supposed to have hips and boobs! I'll be happy when I can again wear the pair of size 6 jeans I keep hanging in the back of the closet, a legacy of my pre-injury days. Not for reasons of appearance so much as for the fact that my body felt best then. I was never a competitive athlete of any sort, but I was athletic in terms of my physical condition, and I'm working toward being there again. I've got the cardiovascular portion even now; I can walk for miles, even on steep hills, without tiring and do some pretty energetic and protracted dancing without getting short of breath. Those are good things. Biking is coming along, though hills do wind me a bit more than I expect for some reason on a bike and I want to get to the point where that no longer happens. The expense of the YMCA meant I didn't keep up my membership there, so I don't go swimming like I used to, and I miss it. But all the other stuff I do at my current gym mostly makes up for it, except that I do miss getting in the water. Oh well.
But oh, my aching legs. Time to hunt down the muscle rub, the aspirin, and a heating pad. If I still had the Y membership I could just go sit in the whirlpool. Now that's what I really miss!