Or so it seems....
As Day 15 greets me the usual stiffness and pain in and around my knees reminds me this is still all very new. It doesn't seem to have dissipated too much and it can be a source of frustration. The same can be said for walking. I'm still very unsteady and very much in the process of carefully retraining the gait. Every step I have to ensure I push off the back toe, completely extend before kicking through to heel strike to toe.
However, yesterday I had a couple of tiny wins.
Firstly I found a room off to the side of where I'm staying that was like a mini-physio/rehab area and inside I found a massage bench, Roller and a Ball. So I did what any good unsuspecting CrossFitter would do and took to rolling my calves, hams and running the ball over my quads being careful to avoid the area around the knees that was still very delicate.
Whilst there wasn't instant relief of anything it definitely loosened myofacial tissue off and movement became a tad easier.
Then it was off to rehab where I spent the first 10mins with a ball on a wall just going through gravity guided flexion and extension. Kinda like a warm up. I then got a "HOT" lap of the gym under my belt before heading over to the dreaded bike. Here I go through a series of half reps working the joints through extension and flexion. Man this tests your pain thresholds and to this point I couldn't complete a full rotation of the pedals...or so I though! 3 sets of 30 on each leg in and I was finally able to turn the pedals one full rotation, then another and another. Pardon the language but CRAP did it hurt and took a lot of bum squirming. My physio, Bruno the Brazzo came over... "very good Brent, is it painful?" My reply..."and then some"..."Good"..he quips. "Now I want you to do 5mins, okay?"
I nodded, put my head down and pushed through every excruciating rotation. This why we do CrossFit, the ability to stay in the pain cave and complete a task! Eventually as time ticked away it got easier and I guesstimate I averaged 30-32 rpm affording me a grand total of just over 300m. That's a measly 300m for 5mins work! Can you imagine how slow that would have looked if I was pedalling an actual bike in real time??? I don't think anyone in the Tour De France is going to be too worried!
The afternoon session became a mirror of the morning session. This time I managed to average 37-40 rpm and squeezed out just over 500m. The peloton ain't quite shitting themselves yet! Bruno the Brazzo was happy..."Good news Brent, tomorrow we start Hydrotherapy". I was stoked, I've been waiting to get in the pool for 2 weeks. I am well aware of the qualities of movement whilst weightless in water.
That brings us to this morning, tight sore but probably to be expected after yesterday.
I can't wait to get in the pool. For now its off to have a morning roll.
Have a great day everyone
COACH