Mainly due to my sore back, and partly due to my knee, I haven't done any training since swimming last Friday morning. My back got progressively worse until Sunday and then slowly improved throughout the week. Last night the Physio used a machine to put an electric current through my back. He usually places a hot pack on my back and leaves me for 10 minutes before coming back to work on the injured area. This time I had the hot pack and electric currents pulsing through my back each second. It felt strange at first, but then I got so used to it that I dozed off.
I plan to swim tomorrow morning and am hoping to ride again on Saturday morning. I'm really missing the riding. Last season I could not do any intensity or hill work because of my knee, so I am hanging out for a good hill climb. The club is doing what looks to be a great ride in the Dandenongs (very hilly) this Monday (Queen's Birthday), but I think this may be too soon for my knee in its current condition (very disappointing).
Yesterday and this morning I did 3 sets of 20 single legs squats on each leg (total of 120 per day). This is the first time I have been able to do this since I injured the knee early October last year (before Ironman I could not do any squats without feeling pain). During the left leg squats I definitely had an awareness of the knee injury (it didn't feel as good as the right knee), but there was no pain which is fantastic. Back in December when I saw the Sports Doctor (I've forgotten his name, but he is the Sports Doctor for the Melbourne AFL Football Club), he said once I could do 3 sets of 20 single leg squats on my injured knee without pain - I could resume full training (ie. ride hills). But I've got plenty of time at this point in the season, so I want to take a cautious approach to avoid any risk of re-injury. I believe it has been the week off training that has helped my knee finally reach this stage.
Even though my back has been problematic for the last 3 weeks I have never been concerned that it will plague me long term like my knee injury has - it is more of a nuisance. Whereas the knee injury completely ruined last season's training and initially looked like it might ruin a fair portion of this season as well. So I am extremely happy with the current positive signs demonstrated by the squats. I will try to continue doing the exercises every day and re-introduce running very carefully and hopefully I will be 100% recovered within a month. I think my knee is about 90% at the moment and the back is probably 60%.
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