Thursday, July 12, 2012

Playing catch-up on the blog posts and surgery #5

I can see from the stats that while I have been neglecting to post new blog entries lately, people are still reading my old ones. I'm glad I'm posting interesting enough things to keep up the world-wide traffic! It's such a battle to keep going sometimes. My absence from here is for several reasons. I had gotten pretty sick and also went on another quick trip to NYC. My allergies had an overreaction to something when I was run down from personal stress and insomnia, which was awful to fly across the country with fluid in my ear. I was still fighting the pain battle and kept trying to go off my pain medication, without much success. Chronic pain is a real mindfuck.

My next workout wasn't until June 19th. I could still feel and hear fluid in my ear so I did a really light workout.

Joint mobility

10 kg presses with assisted pull-ups, 1-2-3, three rounds

Two rounds:
10 kg windmill, 3+3
10 kg goblet squat, 6

10 kg snatches, 10+10, three rounds

The highlight of the practice was accomplishing getting below parallel for the goblet squat, something I hadn't been able to do in 7 months since my first surgery. It felt amazing!! Once the hip flexors open, great things happen :)


It was also my first workout in new vivobarefoot shoes, which I absolutely love. They are more responsive for training than Converse, and now my top choice for workouts where shoes are necessary. Of course barefoot on my concrete patio is still my favorite way to train.

Workout June 22nd

Joint mobility

10 kg presses with band-assisted pull-ups, 1-2-3-4, three rounds

10 kg TGU 1+1, four rounds

Band-assisted pistol squats, 3+3, three rounds

24 kg swings, 10, 5 rounds (50 total)
16 kg swings, 10, 1 round (10 total)
Double 8 kg swings, 10, 1 round (10 total)

Grand total of 70 swings

I was pretty done after that workout!

June 26th

Joint mobility

10 kg presses with assisted pull-ups, 1-2-3, four rounds

Circuit, three rounds
10 kg bottoms-up clean, 3+3
10 kg front squats, 3+3
10 kg get-up sit-up, 3+3
10 kg 1-leg deadlift, 3+3

16 kg swings 5+5+10 (1-arm, 1-arm, 2-arm), three rounds
16 kg swings 10+10 (I wasn't paying attention and forgot to switch after 5), one round between rounds two and three of above sequence
16 kg swings 20 2-arm

Grand total of 100 swings

My hamstrings were talking to me for FOUR DAYS after this workout. Brutal!! But it was really fun and I'll do it again with pleasure :)

I didn't do another workout until July 2nd. I did minimal workouts from then on, as I was in a very dark place at the time. I didn't enjoy the workouts and had to force myself to do what I did. Before surgery, I had to discontinue use of a few things that keep me feeling good, including kombucha and ibuprofen. I hope I don't feel like that ever again. I watched four seasons of Gossip Girl in 11 days and was almost comatose. The kind of pain I was in made it hard for me to do anything, so I withdrew from everything and everyone, including my kids. Like I said, a dark place. It happens.

July 2nd

Joint mobility

10 kg presses with assisted pull-ups, 1-2-3, three rounds

12 kg 100 2-arm swings, consecutive (no rest)

July 7th

Joint mobility

10 kg presses with assisted pull-ups, 1-2-3, four rounds

14 kg swings, 25, five rounds (125 swings total)

July 9th

Joint mobility

10 kg presses with assisted pull-ups, 1-2-3-4, three rounds

Double 8 kg swings: 20, 10, 20, 10, 20 in 3:45 (80 swings total)

The breakthrough of that workout was that I was playing around with different pull-up grips and decided to see if I could do anything unassisted. I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that I could do a neutral grip pull-up from almost a dead hang, and that I could do an underhand pull-up from a dead hang. Who knew??! Still working on that overhand unassisted pull-up though.

I did want to mention that with the minimal training I'm doing, through all this horrible pain and my issues, my body has never felt or looked healthier or stronger. I saw some friends in NYC that I hadn't seen in a few years, and they all had the same reaction. I don't spend hours in a gym or even that much time with kettlebells at all. Just some consistency and basic moves, coupled with a good diet. It really is that easy. No need to reinvent the wheel when there are RKCs around!

So this brings me to now. I had a fifth surgery yesterday, and am back on bed rest. It doesn't really feel like I've spent much time outside of my bed in the last 8 months though!! My doctor went back into the joint, removed three inch-long bone chips (pieces of the artificial bone matrix used to help "glue" the subtalar joint together back in November), and removed the excessive amount of scar tissue from the deep wound site that was binding the joint. Now that the local anesthetic has definitely worn off, I am very pleased to find that the pain in my joint is gone. I have some post-op pain from the procedure itself and have been treating it with vicodin every 12 hours and using my cold therapy machine twice a day. The cold therapy machine is the only thing I've actually had to pay for in all of my surgeries, and it has been worth every penny. I have a special foot and ankle attachment that fits very well with the help of some velcro pieces, so cool water is continuously cycled through the entire foot and ankle area. I can even adjust the temperature if it feels too cold or not quite cold enough. Genius. Anyway, I'm FINALLY feeling good. It's amazing what the removal (or even significant diminishment) of chronic pain can do for how I feel, even if I can't walk and am back on crutches. Here's to hoping the stitches stay closed and I regain full range of motion :)

Thanks for reading and keeping up with this journey!