Updated Routine

Now that I'm thatmuchcloser to being able to run longer and potentially jump again, the unsupervised therapy exercises look a lot different.

I do aim to get these exercises done in about an hour so I can get to work at a reasonable time.

10-12 minutes warmup on the bike, moving the seat progressively lower.
Light calf stretches
Dynamic stretches (knee lift, "ankle pull", "teapot" reach down, cross leg bend)
Walking lunges
"Fencing" lunges (10 to the right, left and back)
Bozu step ups (3 sets of 10 forward, 3 sets of 10 sideways)
Agility ladder drills (forward, lateral step ins, forward/back side steps, forward/backwards steps)
Step downs (each leg, 3 sets of 10)
Ball assisted squats *
10 minutes jogging (2 minutes at 2 or 3 mph warmup and cool down, interval jogs at 4 mph, walk at 3 mph)

Doctor's follow up this Wednesday, so we'll find out how far away I am from being able to:

- play basketball
- biking (with my clipless pedals)
- golf
- dance (versus the fake dancing I've been doing recently)

Anything beyond that is a bonus, I suppose.

* I don't do these as often as I probably should

Heel to Butt

For the first time in what seems like a long time, my right heel re-introduced itself to my butt at physical therapy today. It's another major milestone in the road back to recovery. It's also been about 3 weeks since I've been cleared to do some light jogging. And by light jogging, it means running at about 4 mph for about a minute or two at a time.

I can eventually see myself running again in the short term, but as far as playing basketball at even half-speed or half-intensity is tough to imagine right now. I'll probably have a better idea once they let me start jumping.

I do get to do some agility work using a flat cloth ladder on the ground. It's 4 basic patterns: forward, a side-to-side inside-outside step, a step towards-step back-step side, and an "opposite attract" step (two steps forward-one step back step).

It was truly a team effort by the PT gals (Denise, Amy and Kristen) on this one to help me turn the corner and even get to this point. I do believe that I'll probably have to stick with the morning routine of stretching out and flexing my knee through the end of the year, if not longer.

It's good to know that I can make it through a rehab process, but you know what, rehab? Let's not plan to meet anytime soon, or ever again.