Alarm woke me at 530. A dark Monday Morning.Leg is stiff and knee sore as usual so I spend a couple of minutes just lying prone and stretching. No itchiness however, so had a good night’s sleep. Wind has come up during the night, blowing hard, rattling the windows. Maybe the days of calm seas and good weather are over. Can’t hear swells pounding into the beach, which is curious given the wind. I’m fortunate that the first thing I hear when I wake in the morning is the sound of the ocean. Very different to where I grew up. Get dressed quickly, check bed for bloodstains – thankfully there aren’t any so maybe that’s all over. Howling southerly wind as I walk along the beachfront in the predawn darkness. Ocean is wind-pounded. Flat as the top of a billiard table. Sun at 5:45 AM aglow on the eastern horizon – it’s going to be a glorious day, but cold. I shiver outside Manly Surf club until Margaret and Denise turn up at 630. We hit the water with a small group from Bold and Beautiful. No obvious shoulder pain so I decide to have a go and stick it to Denise. On the way to Shelly Beach the sun sneaks up and turns the water golden. I’m lucky to have these friends to swim with. They are such an important part of recuperation. It makes the dreary monotony of the exercise bearable. Well short of fitness but I keep going all the way to Shelly Beach pushing as hard as I can. Cold as we swim past Fairy Bower into the still-dark calm of the beach. Water very flat and feeling okay so I try and stay with Denise on the way back to Manly going at about 80% pace and don’t get left behind. This is my first good hit out in the water since mid-January. Very slow but no obvious shoulder pain. It is an amazing relief. It gives me a strange sense of euphoria, like I just might make a complete recovery. A pod of dolphins surface on the point as we arrive back at Manly.

Monday has become a traditional work/gym day. Bit tired after the swim but I manage a fair hit out on the bike at Virgin gym. Half an hour at half level 5 and half level 6 with the cadence between 76 RPM and 92 RPM. Still only doing 12.3 km but get my heart up to 120 bpm which is high for me. Into the stretch cage for five sets of squats on each leg. Seems to work my left quad quite well but not doing anything for the right quad. Twenty step ups on the low box front on, then 20 side on with each leg. Onto the high box – 20 step ups with each leg front side and 50 on each leg, side-on. This is a record for me as I have struggled with the side on step ups with my bad leg. Onto the leg press machine doing 10 kg presses… 20 on each leg, then 10, then another 10, then five alternating with each leg. Similar on the leg flex machine. It’s much harder to flex your quadriceps than it is to bench press with your legs. Not sure why. Feel like I’ve had a pretty good work out today so reward myself with a protein shake and protein balls for lunch. It’s one of the good things about recuperation from serious injury – you can eat lots of protein balls.