Looking Better

Even though the Physio ordered rest, the knee felt good after Saturday's ride, so I continued training for the rest of the week.

Sunday morning was a 3 hour ride to Dromana and back containing a few hilly sections (but not really any hill climbing).  The planned open water swim on Monday was canceled due to poor water quality, but I got in 2 good swimming sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday, both over 3km in distance.  Wednesday's session was an open water swim at Half Moon Bay totaling almost 3.5km, including swimming around Cerebus 3 times - the chop was starting to pick up a little towards the end and I finished feeling absolutely exhausted.  I also slotted in two 6km runs (Tue & Thu) and an easy, flat 3 hour ride on Wednesday, although it was a head wind all the way back from Port Melbourne.

I had a rest day on Friday before my appointment with the Sports Medicine Doctor and my knee was feeling quite good - certainly much better than a week ago when I last saw the Physio.  The Sports Medicine Doctor is Dr Kal Fried, who is also the Sports Doctor for the Melbourne AFL Football Club.  He checked over my knee, looked through my MRI, Ultrasound & XRays and assessed my injury as minor.  There are 3 phases of tendon injury and I am still in the first phase regarded as inflammation stage.  Cortisone injections are not advisable in this stage as they are more likely to worsen the situation (which is good, because I hate injections).

I was given a prescription for Doxycycline & Ibuprofen and also advised to drink lots of green tea.  Hill climbing on the bike is still not allowed, but I am free to continue riding on the flat and allowed to extend my running distance as much as I like - assuming I don't feel any pain in the knee, or any other parts of my legs.  And naturally I am encouraged to do as much swimming as I can.

He also gave me a few extra stretches to do and keep attempting the single leg squat exercises I was given by the Physio.  If the squats cause pain in the knee, I am to immediately stop.  But once I am able to do single leg squats pain free, I am allowed to add hill work to the bike and the run - basically it will mean I am recovered.

This morning I went out for a 10km run, unfortunately I hadn't charged my GPS watch, so the battery ran out after 500m.  It felt very strange to run without knowing my speed or heart rate, but after a while I fell into a rhythm.  With roughly half a kilometre to go I had to stop and walk due to tightness in my ITB.  I suppose it is a good sign that other pains are now appearing before my knee hurts, but it is also evidence that it is going to be a difficult task getting my run mileage up.

The Alpine Classic event in late January now looks very unlikely, but my chances of doing the Long Distance triathlon at Geelong in February and Ironman in March have definitely improved - maybe 70/30 now.