Slow Comeback

Injuries are such a nuisance. All week I was trying to do exercises that wouldn't aggravate my knee. The strength training seemed to help and so did the heat/massage pad I used every morning and evening.

Bicycling is supposed to be good but the first day I tried it the front tire was low and the hand pump didn't work so I strapped the bike to the car rack and took it to a gas station to inflate the tires. The next day the front tire was flat, guess I overinflated it and ruptured the inner tube. Following day I got a new inner tube but it had a different valve and I needed a new pump. Here we are a week later and the bicycle is finally ready to ride so what did I do? I went racwalking.

Today was workout day with the Southern Cal Walkers and I talked my wife, Rosie, into coming along. Not wanting to over do it and make things worse I used the excuse of coaching Rosie in order to take it really slow. I probably could have gone faster but my knee was telling me not to. The bottom line is that I got out there and didn't make the injury worse. In fact I'm actually feeling much better after the workout. Guess it is time to start getting back into the program--albeit very slowly.

Rosie and I were always bringing up the rear in the 800 meter repeats so if you're interested in how slow the slowest walkers were doing, here are the results:

1st 800 Meters - 7:59 - 15:58 min/mi pace
2nd 800 Meters - 7:34 - 15:08 min/mi pace
3rd 800 Meters - 7:56 - 15:52 min/mi pace

Not very impressive, but we got out there. Rosie is just getting started in racewalking and I'm getting back to it--slooowly. Tomorrow I should pick up where I left off and do 12 miles. At this pace it will take about 3 hours but the idea here is to go the distance now and work on the speed later. Hopefully my knees will agree with that.