Day 80: Smashing through the boundaries

Lunacy has found me
Cannot stop the battery
Pounding out aggression
Turns into obsession
Cannot kill the battery
Cannot kill the family
Battery is found in me
Battery

After the weekend off, I went to Highschool Rugby practice and helped coach. I managed to hang in with the youngins during the sprints.

I then went lifting. I decided to try my luck at the squat machine again. I started with 320.

320x10x2.
340x10x2.

Both were rather uneventful. Lift off was a struggle for both. I usually do 0->90 or my leg press but I have the set at maybe 80. So the first 10 degrees are a bit of a struggle. I can definitely say that most of my atrophy has gone. Visually there's no difference (I really need to get my camera into the gym for doing these reps).

Then I decided to do a full 360. Changed the iPod to Battery, my power lifting song (more specifically Battery as performed by the San Francisco Orchestra and Metallica [0]). Got on the machine and did some slow breathing during the intro. Then up. Take off felt like forever and almost felt like I was moving against a stone wall. Everything was going good through rep #7 when my knee locked straight. Reflex took over and I contracted it and dropped all the weights. I finished the set and #8 take off was more difficult than the first.

Then a 'simple' 360x10 on the left leg.

I think I broke some blood vessels in my pecs holding on to the hand grips on the last set. I was dead tired (as if I had just sprinted) and couldn't immediately stand without feeling light headed. Surprising from an anatomical point of view how much O2 had to have been carried and how hard my heart was pumping to get it there just for a simple set of 10 leg presses.
-
Gotta love the doctor. I went in for my thumb.
10 minutes - Driving to doctor
10 minutes - Waiting and filling out a form (apparently my allergies may have changed since I had an ACL done at the same place)
10 minutes - Waiting for X-Rays & Doctor
30 seconds - Doctor grabbing my thumb, "Yep, you did something to it, lets schedule an MRI"
10 minutis - Driving back to work.

I should have just scheduled an MRI from the beginning. Although to be fair to the office I saw the sheet of appointments ranging from "Wrist pain" to "Something hurts in hand." I think I was the only one to walk into him and told him what I did.

MRI tomorrow determines if it's a just a cast or surgery and a cast.
-
[0]. Battery, as performed by the San Francisco Orchestra and Metallica.

[1]. Hall of the Mountain King, as performed by Apocalyptica. My other 'power' song. Typically I use it more when running to set a quick pace or for trying to punch out reps. I have other stuff on my iPod, but these two seem to get played more than anything else.

Day 74: One Ligament to Another

So at the SIU Carbondale Rugby Tournament I managed to tear another CL, my ulnar collateral ligament (UCL). ACL held up most excellently. According to the team captain I was a tackling machine. Knee felt great through it all, i completely forgot about being only 10 weeks out. Managed to smash the other one into the ground. Currently it's bigger than my right knee.


I don't remember tearing it during the game, but I don't remember tearing it at the social either. Currently my thumb does this awesome trick.


I have an appointment next Monday, but given that I can barely tie my shoes without the joint almost coming out of place (Think of a Mini ACL and the knee) it looks like I'm headed for another 3-6 weeks of a cast/splint and then another 3-6 weeks after that in a soft cast. Good news is I've almost hit my MooP for insurance so this one should be free.


SKIERS THUMB