March - My Month of Minor Medical Misfortunes (LOL)

Ahh, beware the Ides of March!  The utterance of such a poetic line has never been truer - at least for me.  With not even the first half of the month has yet vanished lest I have made numerous visits to various medical practitioners for a sundry list of ailments.  It's whimsical to me because after all I'm telling my tale with you in the vertical position - LMBO!!!  (And considering the alternative, I can deal with the discomforts and minor inconveniences.)

* Of course, you all are familiar with my knee trouble - getting rehab plus now fluid replacement shots to hopefully slow arthritis' progress.  And hopefully maintain some level/ability to continue 'runnning.
* A confirmed diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome - my right hand has been symptomatic for some time.  I've been working on better computing habits (ergo stuff with desk, positioning, posture, time, etc.) to help ease the pain - which has helped.  It's severe and the doctor is advising that I not put it off more than 6 months.  But the tests also indicate that I have it in my left hand, although I haven't had any symptoms.
* A couple of weeks ago, I was working in my flower bed and apparently came in contact with either poison oak, poison ivy, or poison somac.  I'm not certain which because all I remember is just lots of dead weeds taking over my flower bed and making it look horrible.  I noticed whelping, redness and had been scratching; I was using just about everything you could get OTC and nothing was helping.  So I went to the urgent care center a week ago, and got a steroid shot and pills.  Unfortunately, I think all that scratching made matters worse, which really didn't help much.  So I went to a dermo and got a prescription lotion and cream - almost $45.00!  I'm starting to see and feel some relief, but it's been slow too.

Needless to say, today was the first day after an extended hiatus that I made it to the gym for a workout - one hour of cardio exercise (25:00 recumbent bike, 25:00 modest walking on TM, and 15:00 on  elliptical).

Hopefully, the rest of the month is downhill - :)!

1st Race for 2011 - and It was a Good One!

This morning I ran Adam's Heart & Sole 5K (@ Lakeshore Running Trail).  The trail is mostly a flat course, which was good for me since this was my first race in 2011 and first race back since start rehabbing for me knee.  I set my target pace on the GPS-enabled app on my BB for 15:00, nit expecting to do much better than that.  And the weather certainly was weird today - we had snow flurries! And quite heavy at times during the race.  However, this wasn't a real factor for the course because they melted on contact with the ground, but it was certainly a sight to behold!

My stats - finished 41:36 (13:25 pace)! And my knee felt very good - no pain, but it did get a little tired about halfway between mile 2 & 3.  I was very pleased with performance in this race.  I'm looking for to next week's 5 and I may add a longer run (5 miles) this week to see what my knee can do.

Rehabbing

Saw my doc last week about my knee: diagnosis - arthritis; prognosis - good.  Will rehab for the next few weeks so no running for awhile.  In addition to outpatient therapy and home exercises, doc recommended pool walking and 'treading water' (running in the deep end).

I did that yesterday for about 30 minutes and knee felt great.

Today did elliptical + body strength straining and core exercises @ gym today ... knee felt really strong.

35:00 on elliptical (2.55 mi) - cross training routine (max resistance 8) - didn't hold on to handles; more effort to keep balance and moving - legs certainly got an extra workout!

Upper body strength training and core exercises (exercise - wt - reps - sets):
Biceps - 20 - 10 -3
Triceps - 20 - 15 - 3
Lateral row - 25 - 15 - 3
Vertical brench - 25 - 15- 3
Shoulder press - 25 -15 - 3
Deltoids - 20 - 5- 3
Chest pecs - 20 - 15- 3
Rear deltoids - 20 -10 - 3
Crunches (w/stability ball) - 10 reps @ sets
Side crunches (w/stability ball) - 10 reps @ sets