Well, that was sort of an odd weekend, with no hiking and no footy other than lame international friendlies, but I’ll take what I can get.
If you are late to this human shit show, I will repeat that a little over a week ago, I strained my back and hurt my knee in two separate incidents; my back carrying Jake (the dog) and the knee from being old and overuse.
With that, my hikes were limited to just two last week, and both were painful. I rested, iced, massaged, and all that stuff and the results are that my back is better, but my knee is still hurting.
However, not all was lost; in fact, I salvaged some fitness by having a Come to Jeebus moment of mental clarity with cycling and mounted Mr. Burgundy (not code for a love that dare not speak its name, but the name of my Trek Checkpoint mounted to a Hammer trainer) for the first time in over two and a half years. I also realized my knee felt fine while pedaling.
So, I did a short spin on the Hammer on Friday (discussed in the last post), and on Saturday, I did a 15-mile “Belgian” course on Whoosh in an hour and felt great.
Come Monday, my knee was still hurting, so I once again descended into the Not So Stankment to do the 16-mile Cities Loop in “Australia” followed by some weighted leg lifts that reportedly help patella tendon issues.
It was awesome to have something to do and get a sweat on without pain, and even better to have put some pesky mental demons to bed. I won’t feel like I’ve gone full Prodigal Son with cycling until I get back pedaling outside, but this is the first time in years that I can honestly say I even want to.
As I type this in the dark Tuesday morning, my knee is doing a bit better, and I was able to walk down the steps this morning with less pain. However, while I’m eager to get back outside to lumber some miles in the rain, I also want to be as close to 100% as possible. So, I will probably do a repeat of yesterday, but choose a flat course to “ride.”
Time will tell whether this newfound mental clarity in regards to riding translates to miles outdoors this spring, but until I get my knee feeling better, time in the Not So Stankment will have to do.
Sadly, my picture-takin’ is going to take a hit this week. I may have to do a macro photo creep around the vast (not really) estate of the Cul De Sac Shack to scratch the itch.
Later.