Getting Back to Training

I just saw an orthopedist today, eleven days after having my shoulder rotator cuff operated on. He checked the puncture wounds in my shoulder (healing nicely) and gave me advice about how to treat them (no more antibiotic ointment and no bandages), and told me to keep taking it easy on my arm.

He told me that different orthopedic surgeons give different advice about how to recover. He said the one who did my surgery has a somewhat conservative approach: Don't start doing any exercises for at least eight weeks. Why? Because he believes the possible risk to the surgical repair is too great with exercising too soon. Some surgeons have you raising your hand above your head and so on; my surgeon wants me to wear my sling faithfully and to do only those little pendulum exercises three times a day until I see him in another three weeks.

"He says the purpose of the surgery is to fix the joint and relieve the pain; you may have stiffness from not exercising sooner, but you don't risk tearing out the tendon attachments."

And I say, "Hurray for that opinion." I totally agree. Stiffness can be dealt with later. In fact, it seems to me that with other joint and muscle injuries I've had in the past, when I worried about getting stiff and exercised those muscles too soon I just incurred further damage; when I was forced to lay off the exercise for awhile, I started recovering much sooner.

So I'm going to be watching the men's semifinals whenever they come on, binge-watching "Sherlock" for as long as those old episodes keep being replayed, and reading, reading, reading.

And then I'll get back to training.

Veni Vidi Vinci (Put the Ball in the Court)

One thing about having my left arm in a sling (and still with the pain, in spite of alternating between aspirin and acetaminophen every 3 to 6 hours), is that for the first time ever I've been watching the U.S. Open without too much guilt. Still some, but not as much as in the past.

So today, rooting for Serena all the way, I watched Roberta Vinci beat her in the semifinal, and I was crushed. Not as much as Serena was, obviously, and what struck me was the courtesy with which she handled the inane questions from the "press" right after the match.

Some started off with the usual stupid question: Can you tell us how disappointed you are? Serena gave the perfect reply: "I don't want to answer any questions about how disappointed I feel. If you have any other questions, I'll be able to answer them." And she went on answering for a good 10 minutes longer. Brave woman.

It reminded me of a press conference she had to participate in after the quarterfinal. So many questions, so many of them idiotic and undoubtedly maddening to Serena, or anyone. Finally someone asked her why she wasn't smiling. She said (paraphrasing), "Well, it's 12:30 in the morning, and I'm tired, and I have to get up early tomorrow to practice, and you all ask the same questions all the time..."

Now, for what Roberta Vinci said after her amazing win, replying to the usual set of inane questions, this time about what she said to herself, how she powered through and won even when she was down in the second set, and kept on even facing break points in the third set:

"Put the ball in the court, and then run. Run. Run."

A great philosophy for all of life, not just tennis.

Angie (Again)

I love going into classes taught by teachers who have been with their "peeps" for a long time. Too bad Angie is moving back east in a couple of weeks. We'll miss her.

"Hi, my name is Angie, and I have an Oreo problem."

She uses basic words of encouragement and facts about exercise and fitness that end up encouraging us, too. A few of her gems:

The heart is an inefficient pump, and it takes awhile for it to catch up.

The central nervous system only makes changes if it absolutely has to. You have to create a deficit for it to make changes. 

Remember, you walked in here with a goal, and what you're doing now, you're achieving it.

I want you to keep going. ATP. This is it. Three. Two. One. You did it. 

We're almost done. This has been a relentless ride, and you guys have crushed it.

Calories are expended in oxygen consumption, AKA respiration, so it makes sense to work hard so you'll need more oxygen.

You guys want me to tell you how much time you have left on this interminable climb? No?

First Ride of 2015

Last Saturday. (Not for Jason, bur for me.) Good experience, reminding me that what I'm doing in all those spin classes is NOT the same as riding on the road! We only did about 12 miles, but it wore me out. Here we are, about halfway:

It was a perfect day, and then Jason (who had already done a bike ride earlier in the week) rode his bike to and from work yesterday. For me, it was back to spin classes, but with the resolve to ride outside if and when we get another clear day.

Forks Over Knives

People (North Americans) seem to think you need to eat a lot of meat to be healthy and strong. Of course we get those ideas through years of unwittingly being on the receiving end of huge billion-dollar marketing and lobbying campaigns by the meat industry.

Every once in awhile I read about super athletes who are vegetarians, even vegans. Now, added to that list, is Frank Medrano, whom I just heard of yesterday. I found this article about him from the folks at "Forks Over Knives," a program followed by our friend Rick, whom we met our first year at Reach the Beach.

Here's the official Forks Over Knives Web site.  Here's the Web site of another vegan body builder. 

Hmmmm. Looks like all these guys are selling something! That's okay with me. But is the vegan diet for super strength really legit? Lots of people say it isn't. Just Google "forks over knives debunked" to find out more.

I'm not planning to go completely vegan, but I'm always looking for healthy ways to eat and get stronger....without succumbing to that whole orthorexia phenomenon, where you become so obsessed with "healthy eating" that it becomes an eating disorder!

So, like I said, just trying to get healthier and stay healthier.

Archery

I just posted this on my Aunt Louise page, where I also posted a few weeks ago a video of some amazing archery tricks.

Here's the new and amazing archery trick: 

And here's part of a workout of one archer. Hmmm...seems like a workout that would be good for anyone and everyone!

I found these at Frank Medrano's Web site. Anyone know anything about his programs? They look intense and look like they give good results, for those who are committed (and don't have shoulder issues!). Anything else?

Hippie Chick Half

Yep, I'm all signed up. I'll be "running" (jogging and walking) this event with my friend Lara, who did it with me last year. It was a great event, the day before Mother's Day, all the participants  women, except for the kids who participated in the various fun-run activities. And what I really loved about that day were all the husbands/dads who were there to support their ladies.


I've decided to keep regarding all these events as training exercises, to keep myself from getting too stressed out about them or worrying afterwards that I should have done this or that better.

I'll be signing up soon for a couple of duathlons and I think I'll do another triathlon this year, after skipping that whole idea in 2014. But...I'm not positive about any of this. We'll see. There are lots of other things to do on Saturdays!