May 30, 2008
Happy 41st
My therapy has been progressing fairly well. I am definitely experiencing diminishing marginal improvment (less marked improvement each week). But I continue to get better. My physical therapists have been having me do mostly combinations of exercises with very little rest between sets. Just the way I like it! My strength continues to improve, although by now I have almost as much strength as I did pre-surgery. But my range-of-motion continues to be the problem. And although I am strong in the shallow squat-type exercises, when I bend my leg more I definitely lack the strength and control that I wish I had again. It will come with time, I am sure. I am just impatient.
I have been biking leisurely with the kids quite a bit lately. And I rode my bike to/from work one day a couple weeks ago. I played some volleyball with coworkers last Wednesday, in preparation for the charity tournament next week. I have been doing a little more of the workouts with my karate classes when I teach. I am still not doing all of it. But last night I did everything but about 2/3 of the kicks (which was just 10 minutes of the total 1 hr 45 minutes of class time). As is tradition at my dojo the evening closest to my birthday (I turned 41 today), we perform repetitions equal to – or multiples of – my birthday. So we did 41 of a lot of different techniques; some in place and some stepping. Then we did Heian Shodan and Tekki Shodan each 41 times. 41 each of 4 strengthening exercises rounded it out. I feel great today. I had planned to bike into the office today but decided at the last minute that I would rather have the extra 10 minutes of sleep. I biked wth my son after work for a while.