Geek Habitat

I have to admit I feel like someone unplugged my power cord this week and I’m running on low battery power. Every PT session this week has whipped my butt, and while a lot of it has to do with progression in difficulty of the various exercises, I don’t feel like I should be this exhausted during and after each session. My beet-red face is pretty normal during exercise, albeit annoying. Like I said in another entry, this gal doesn’t just perspire during exercise, she sweats!

Here’s my PT regimen from this morning, more or less in the order I did the exercises:

• 10 minutes on the Schwinn AirDyne stationary bike (elliptical was occupied when I arrived); about 7.5 minutes sustained at level 3.1+, dropping down to 2.3 to 3.0 for the remainder.
• Single (post-op) Leg Press on the Total Gym for 4(?) minutes at incline level 7
• Dual Leg presses on the Total Gym for 8 minutes at level 10
• Resistance exercises for my calf, hamstring and quad muscles (using black Theraband): 2 sets of 20 repetitions each exercise (3 exercises — one sitting on a stool, the rest standing)
• Ball (4lb.) toss into a trampoline, while balancing on a semi-circular piece of foam with my post-op leg: 2 sets of 30 — this is now easy, but apparently the next step up is significantly more challenging so I haven’t advanced yet.
• Forward/Normal Steps: 2 sets of 20
• Side Steps (bends only the post-op knee): 2 sets of 15
• Wall squats w/a ball: 10 repetitions of 10 seconds each
• Calf Raises: 2 sets of 20
• Lunges on the Slide Board: 2 sets of 15
• 6 minutes on the elliptical trainer — 3 minutes forwards, 3 minutes backwards (I was hurtin’ by this time — it took me awhile to realize WHY: normally, I do either the stationary bike or the elliptical, but not both. The one time I’ve done both, we dropped my time on it down to 4 minutes total rather than 6.)
• Supine Hip Flexion: 2 sets of 20 with black Theraband pulled by one of my PTs (Laurie, who’s filling in for “Gentle Bob” while he celebrates his 25th wedding anniversary in Hawaii this week and next week.) I hate, hate, hate this exercise. It’s a stark reminder of the awful shape my hips are in, even with my nearly 20lb. weight loss in the past year. My muscles just disappear about 10 reps into my total 40 required reps on this exercise. It’s one I’m going to need to do at home if I have any hope of getting over this hurdle!
• And, finally, I-C-E for 10 minutes!

I wasn’t going to do it, but I could feel all my muscles freezing up (lactic acid build-up) and figured this might be my only chance to fit it in today — so I walked 2 miles right after PT. Beautiful weather, as we’ve had all week, and even though I left my iPod Shuffle at home, I made very good time… probably the fastest walking I’ve done, yet. I really want to get a rowing session in this evening, but we’ll have to see how I’m faring by then. Mostly, I need today to be a total workout day because Justin and I will be in Dallas tomorrow and Sunday to visit Justin’s brother and sister-in-law, Jason & Karen, as well as nearly one-year-old baby Jillian. It’s not entirely a family trip, however; Justin’s got an interview to do for an upcoming General Aviation News article he’s writing. The unique part about this trip is rather than driving all the way to DFW as we normally do, Justin will be flying us there in a rental Cessna 172SP. Finally, he can pretend he owns his own aircraft for 36 hours or so!

My duties in the air are to take a slew of aerial photographs and, probably, take photographs during the interview if he desires. Since Spring has sprung, we’ll be planning a wildflower photography trip soon, but my saying that is about as far as we’ve gotten in the planning process. Typically, that means an overnight stay in Marble Falls. Since Justin is on assignment in mid-April (also for General Aviation News), we’ll have to work around that to fit in the wildflower trip. I also am dying to take a camping trip, even if it’s just a little one nighter at the State Park near our house. I miss it terribly; it hurts me to admit it’s been over 1 year since my last camping trip. How awful is that, for the gal that owns and operates WildTexas.com, “Your guide to Texas parks, travel & recreation”? {sigh} I figure my knee will slow me down on the trails, and probably keep me off some of the rockier, steeper ones yet, but I don’t think I’d have any trouble pitching the tent now. If I can mow the lawn and wash my car, certainly I can pitch my tent, right? Right!

Late (10:40 PM) Edition: Even though the weather forecast for non-flyers is going to be gorgeous this weekend both here and in Dallas, the aviation forecast is not looking good. Basically, we’d be flying into a 40 knot headwind all the way to Dallas, making a 2.5 hour flight into a 3.5 hour flight (Driving’s between 4 and 5 hours). And when we reached Love Field in Dallas, Justin would have to fight a 30 knot (basically 40mph) crosswind to land. While he’s done crosswind landings in 20 knot gusts, they’re not fun and not something pilots generally seek out. 30 knots sustained? Well, let’s just say “No!” to that, if we can help it. As an unfortunate side effect, this means Justin’s bummed because he won’t get to experience a long “cross country” flight — his first since his flight instruction (IFR) ended — and his first overnight rental of one of the Cessna 172SP’s he so loves. I’m bummed about the lack of aerial photography on a long flight such as to Dallas, but otherwise have tons of stuff here to keep me busy. Spring is making me go a little nutty about cleaning up, organizing and taking control back of my schedule and home office.

I’m a little too burned out on it right now, but it’s been an “interesting” week dealing with Humana, our health insurance provider, as the first of many medical bills related to my knee surgery start to pour in. Patients are victims of bureaucratic b.s. and I’m sorry, but in 2005 that’s just wrong. Computers and other technologies weren’t invented so we could find more ways to screw with each other and make life more complex, but you wouldn’t know it when dealing with the billing departments of most medical care practitioners or your health insurance company.