Intended to get up this morning and join the 630 swimming group at Manly. When the alarm went off I just couldn’t do it. That elusive sleep. Went straight into work. Saw Belinda today for the first time in a fortnight. This is the new gym session I’ve organised once a fortnight, rather than once a week. I guess that is some sort of milestone.
Belinda Van de Ven, my personal trainer was vital to my rehab programme. Originally from New Zealand and a specialist in gym based recovery from surgery, Belinda provided a disciplined and graduated approach to recovery. I saw her once a week for the first 9 months post surgery. An investment in a personal trainer is vital if you can afford it.
It was a very taxing session. I started off with half an hour on the bike, cranking up to 100rpms, so by the time she arrived at 1.15 I was a lather of sweat. She immediately got me going on the Freeform board doing a thing called the “ice skater.” This involves one foot on the board, but staying in a crouch and driving out and back with one leg, in a rhythm like a speed skater does at the Olympics. It’s a version of the one legged squat.
We then did a series of jumps off a gym block landing square on both feet into a squat position. We then did the sideways skipping up and over the same box. I’ve done this numerous times on the Bosu ball.
I got very tired but my leg didn’t hurt even after jumping off the box about 30 times. Then I made the mistake of telling Belinda how much it hurt when I broke into a run for the ferry last Friday. She asked me to jog up and down the gym. Apparently it is not good as I run with a very stiff right leg and swing from the hip trying to take the weight off the broken knee. It immediately hurt.
“That there is a little bit of pain there doesn’t surprise me, as you haven’t tried to do it before,” she said.
“Everything hurts the first time you do it after knee surgery. Remember when you were trying to step backwards over the Bosu ball? You’ve forgotten how much that hurt, ” she said.
I haven’t forgotten how much it hurt. I won’t ever forget that.
“If the pain is a 4/10, I’m not concerned. If it goes away I’m not concerned. If it was a 6 or 7/10 we wouldn’t be doing it. If it was painful the following day, I’d also be concerned but it’s not, so I’m not too worried,” she said.
Good session. Tomorrow is 9 months since surgery. That’s half way through the rehab program. Except for my neck I think I’m in good shape. My left hand burned all the way through the session today.
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