Day 16: Wait for me!

Mini gol accomplished! Dang, are they pushing me hard. On Tuesday I just started jogging and that was 1 minute at a time. Today, 15 minutes straight! Are you kidding me? I don't run that much with two good knees. :) But I did it. They not only added running today, but real weight lifting on my left leg. Things I would be doing with a good leg. The funny thing and the reason for the title is that my right leg is feeling weaker than my right leg now. I've been isolating my left leg so much to rehab from my injury that it's passing up my good leg in strength. Like 3 weeks ago I measured my thighs and sure enough my left was half an inch bigger than my right, but now I'm starting to feel it when doing exercises with both.

The other thing I'm noticing is that my weight is a little higher than usual. I have not changed what I eat day to day. I'm doing more cardio in my sessions now so why the extra weight? Muscle! If you remember, I lost like a good 5 pounds after I got hurt and with doing a lot less exercise. The answer is muscle. It weighs 3 times more than fat so if you pack it on or lose it without changing your fat weight you'll see it on the scale. The good news is I've seen this kind of pattern before when weight training. Supposedly muscle burns a lot more calories so I'll start slimming down after this initial gain the more muscle I put on. At this point my right leg quad is starting to look pretty cut and I'm hoping the left leg will follow suit. It's pretty intimidating when you see someone coming at you on the soccer field with their legs ripped. :)

So hmmm, what should be my next mini-gol? Well my aide says next time if today did not cause pain I will start to do side to side stuff with resistance. The gol is to do exercises on the agility ladder without pain and with quick feet. If I can do this then I'm very very close to being soccer ready. Yay! TUANIS!


My Routine:

• 5 minute warm up on spin bike - reduced time since I was going to be running afterwards
  
• 5 30 sec sprints x 30 second rest - went well with a fast merengue song playing in my ears.
  
• 5 30 sec sprints x 30 second rest - The correct position is to just lift your bum out of the seat but still sit back as if you were in it. Again having my ipod really helped me power through these. I did most of them up to 30 seconds long. Not sure if I was taking it easy on these since I knew the treadmill awaited me.
• NEW: 15 minutes running on the treadmill - I thought the aide was kidding. From 1 minute at a time to 15? Hijole! I warmed up about 30 seconds walking and then just put on the merengue to keep my gait on time with the beat and I ran. About 1 MPH less than I used to, but then again I rarely run 15 min straight.
  
• 20 x 3 quad sets with 5 second hold - were fine.
  
• 15 x 3 quad set with 3 second leg raise - boring now that I know how strong I'm getting.
  
• 40x10x30x10x20x10 times 3. Quad pumps on the table. Same position as quad set except heel is off the table. Hold 10 then pump 40 then hold, then pump.... All the while keeping your biofeedback reading at maximum activation. Boring.
• Side leg lifts - On my side, position 1 is my left leg out straight and I push up on aide's hand for 15 second count then do 15 pumps with the weight of his hand on my leg giving resistance. Position 2, same thing except leg is bent 90 degrees but knees still aligned. Position 3, bring knee into my chest and do leg lifts. Do this for 3 sets. The 3rd set burned a lot even though I had rest in between. Probably from the extra running today.
• Ham string bridges - 15 sec hold -15 pelvic pumps - 15 sec hold x 3 - powered through these. I was next to the mirror again, but the pumps were tough. My legs were tired.
  
• NEW:Pyramids on the Leg Press with Left Leg - 20 reps at 30 lbs, 15 reps at 40 lbs, and then 10 reps at 50 lbs x 3 sets This was tough. The last 10 really felt like actual weight lifting where you max out. The kind of lifting that bulks you out.
  
• Shuttle Bounding- 20 double leg bounds, 20 single leg bounds, 5 on the right, 5 on the left repeat each side, 20 double leg bounds x 3 sets - After blasting my left leg you would think this would be tough. It was.... on my right leg. It felt weak on the single jumps and then my right quad was burning a lot with the double leg bounds.
  
• 20 x 2 - Standing calf raises . This was my break time from the squats.
• Squats - position 1 - squat arms crossed but pointing outwards from my chest. Hold here and then 15 pumps up and down. Position 2 - Deeper squat, stick that booty out and put arms out superman style, but still keep the back straight. 5 pumps up and down. Position 3 - reach through between legs, 15- reps. Put hands on ground and pump 10 times then back to position 3 x 3 sets. The 2nd and 3rd sets were different, the aide pretty much made me put all my weight on my injured leg and do the pumps and holds on it to really work that leg. I was dying my right leg was burning just as much as the right. Pretty much each set ended with me grabbing onto something to help me stand up because I had exhausted my legs.
  
• Aide did quad and hamstring stretches
  
• Ice to go