Lately I have been thinking that ever since my last blog entry in 2011 or something like that, I never continued my updates, which is really, really bad! The time when you are almost 100% and getting back to normality is the hardest part. How do you avoid being stuck in limbo? How do you get out of a plateau? Do you just learn to live with, "this will be good enough" or do you push on until you reach and excel your baseline?
5 months post op I was able to go back to working bedside in the ICU. I was incredibly happy, but mostly shit scared. I underwent the gradual return to work program, which I throughly recommend. No gym in the world had a machine that gets you ready for being on your feet for 12 hours a day. It was tough, I tried to be tough, but you know what? If it hurts, stretch. Simple.
Prior to going back to work I would try and catch up with my physio at least once a month and make sure I was back to my usual baseline activities, such as, being able to sit on my knees for 5 minutes while blow drying my hair, full squat to the ground in order to make sure I was stable enough to balance while emptying a urine bag from a patient, hopping backwards and side to side, like I do when playing with Gus (Kevin's nephew). These things might seem really odd but these are activities in my my life that require the use of bending and balancing on my knees. I need to be back to me.
I also kept up seeing my massage therapist monthly. My hamstrings where all intertwined and now flowing straight, they where tangled really. Possibly unavoidable, it was odd to feel him run his hands on the bag of my legs and feel the tangles of my muscles. But I'm at that point of realising that everything is linked and somethings are not avoidable. So you just deal with the current situation as best as you can with a smile, and some strong positive thoughts. If I continued to dwell on that "bad things" going on with my body, well then I'd be a grumpy cow. And no one likes a grumpy cow.
So before I went back to work, Kevin and I decided to do a climbing road trip through the rockies. Where am I with my activities?
- lead and top rope climbing. Thanks to pilates I came back stronger that pre op and was able to climb my first 11a lead outside! Woop! Wearing the brace with climbing and hiking to crags
- trail running in the local Squamish woods. No brace, given clearance by physio. Feeling rather stable and content.
- waiting impatiently for winter to see how the legs will hold for skiing. In the meantime, squats, squats, and squats. Keep those thighs burning to reduce my knees compensating and reduce any chances of swelling if on my feet for too long.
Below are some photos from our Rockies trip...
11a lead!
Most beautiful and long 5.9 climb ever: back of Lake Louise.
Skaha: hitting the chimneys and walls
Look! No brace!!
Come November 2011 I am back to full time work and we decide to hit Mt. Baker in Washington for opening day. I skied with the brace on for over half a day and although I was exhausted, I loved how confident, calm, and most importantly, how happy I felt. Oh, and I did get proposed to the day before (!!!!!!) so I was flying!
The next day my knee didn't hurt, but my thighs burned so it was good to see that I had really worked those muscles and not relied on my knees.
Exercises by November:
- Bouldering indoors...that's right. I'm right back at what I was doing when I injured myself. If you where injured in a car accident and you could go back to drive, would you? If it's your life, why stop? Kevin is my spotter at all times and for the mental aspect of falling, I need to learn to control my fear and anxiety because it is there and it will control my climbing life if I let it.
- where am I with bouldering? Rocking the V3s! Holy hard core Batman, and I mean hard core! You want a flat stomach and obvious abs? Don't do 100 sit-ups, go bouldering for 2 hours 3 times a week. Add some interval or pyramid training to your sessions, then try some of those harder problems you've got your eye on and see the difference.
- E.G. x4V0, X4V1, X3V2, X2V3, then climb back up. Or: 5 v0-v3, rest for 2 minutes, repeat 4 times, then a 15 minutes. Then repeat.
- we are also getting ready for ice / mixed climbing season so bouldering is perfect for building power and learning how to climb static. Hence, we have also started pull ups and one arm hangs indoors with our ice tools
Ice climbing in Marble Canyon
Tis a cold, cold day to be ice climbing...-20 without wind chill!
Come January 2012, it is a mild, mild winter in Squamish, so here we are bouldering! I call this, "crouching Sarah, hidden hold"
We then hit the Rockies in March for a tour le ice and mixed climbing. A few shots of ice porn for your pleasure:
Bear Spirit
Walking back from Bear Spirit.
And some rock porn...that's dry tooling porn...ok, rather lame but hey I'm new to this!
Back of Grotto Mountain, where we dry tooled in "The Playground"
We've had such a lovely spring, mild and occasionally wet for Vancouver standards, but it's been rather nice. We've been able to hit a few outdoor bouldering areas such as the fish hatchery down Paradise Valley road, and the Pemberton boulders.
Trying to play air guitar on V4 mini crack...made it 3/4 up the darn thing!
So it's been a rather interesting year. I'm stronger now then I have ever been, muscular, trimmer, still too darn short...I finally measured myself and I'm 4'11...that's rather pathetic since most 10 year olds are taller than me. However I do feel rather awesome when I can climb the same routes as Kevin and send them.
Would I go through this again? If I do the other leg, I would. My lifestyle was temporarily stunted, but I was able to explore and learn new things about myself that I never knew. I learnt how to be patient and approach things in a more calm and systematic manner, and this is now being transitioned into my work practice, not just climbing. I'm still overly sensitive but that will never change. And I still procrastinate; that tool will not change! This is not a "life changing" experience....do those exist? Maybe if you are stuck in the dessert with your arm pinned under a rock then yes, that would change you. But bone surgery? This just made me stop and re-look at myself. Witness who I am from the outside and see what my priorities are.
It'll make you learn things about your body that you really should know, such as, good pain and bad pain. When to push forward, and when to say, "I'm sore this week but I feel strong however, maybe I won't go ice climbing this week" You learn to control and put your ego aside and not let it run your life. It's not wrong to take things slower and it's not right to not listen to your body. Being physically tough is easy, being mentally tough is not.
It's now April and here is a link to my latest awesome exercise. I throughly recommend this to anyone who wants to especially improve their power, but also to those who love to get their heart rate up. The jumping has helped with my confidence, especially when it comes to jumping from a bouldering wall, or even if I fall off. I trust my knee 100% and I know it is rock solid because I made it that way. I showed this to my my physio Paulo (who, did I mention is God?), and he was totally impressed with the workout that he is now telling all his clients!
These guys are amazing: check out irrationalfitness.com
My quads are super happy with this, and my feet land gracefully. I fell confident and powerful completing the hockey jumps and I love springing on my toes in the kitchen. Bring on the summer!
xo
