Week 7 ACL Rehab Workouts

Feb 22-28
02-22-2010
Mon: Chest workout
          Swim: Freestyle: 300 meters
          Hot Tub for 15 minutes
02-23-2010

Tue:    Stationary Bike-45:00 min/16.21 miles; Lev 11 of 20~

           30 minute Leg workout
           Swim: freestyle: 4 sets of 50 Meters
                          1 set of 200 meters
                      Side stroke: 1 set of 50 meters
                      Total: 450 meters
           Hot Tub 10 minutes w/stretching
02-24-2010
Wed:   Stationary Bike-31:00 min/11.11 miles
02-25-2010
Thu:    Stationary Bike-55:00 min/19.80 miles
            20 minute shoulder workout

            Swim: freestyle: 4 sets of 50 meters
                         2 sets of 100
                        Total: 400 meters
            Hot tub: 5 minutes w/stretching

02-26-2010

Fri:      Rest

02-27-2010

Sat:      Rest

02-28-2010

Sun:     2 mile walk in the canyon in the Vibram FF's

Week Totals 
Swim: 1150meters
Bike time: 2hr 11min
Bike Dist: 47.12

Week 6 ACL rehab Workouts

Feb 15-21

02-15-2010

Mon:   Stationary Bike- 40:00min/14.39 miles; Lev 12 & 13 of 20

            Randy Couture Workout- 5 sets of 55 lbs

            Leg Press- 160/15, 160/15, 180/15, 200/14

            Hot Tub for 15 minutes

02-16-2010

Tue:     Stationary Bike-40:00 min/14.40 miles; Lev 12 of 20~

            Randy Couture Workout- 4 sets of 65 lbs~

02-17-2010

Wed:    Stationary Bike-20:00 min/7 miles

02-18-2010

Thu:     Stationary Bike-20:00 min/7 miles

02-19-2010

Fri:      Rest

02-20-2010

Sat:     Stationary Bike-45:00 min/16.20 miles level 11

           Randy Couture Workout-4 sets with 65lbs

           Military Press: 115/10, 135/8,5,5

           Swim: Freestyle: 300 meters

           Hot Tub- 10 minutes

02-21-2010

Sun:    Rest

Week Totals:
Swim: 300 meters
Bike Time: 2hr 45min
Bike Dist: 58.99 miles

My First College paper

Well, this has definitely been a small struggle but has been well worth it.  I just finished my very first college paper and honestly I am looking forward to writing my next, but next time I will put alot more thought into it and I will use the writing center at school.  I found that writing papers can be fun if you actually know what you are doing.  Since I haven't taken college English yet (next semester) and it has been 10 years since I wrote a paper in high school, I found myself going through over 20 different college websites looking through their college writing material and handouts trying to re-learn how to write papers and how to write in APA format.  I haven't received a grade for it or even turned it in yet but, I will call this paper a success, considering I had to learn everything by myself and I think I did a fairly decent job on it.  I have 1 more paper, 2 group projects and 2 individual presentations left for the semester.  I just have to manage my time a bit better and thing will be all good.

Rabbits and Cold Feet

Today me and the Family decided to go on a little adventure, the goal was to find animals.  We decided to head up Provo Canyon, towards Sundance Resort to see what we could find.  We started our journey and the weather was beautiful and calm.  We passed Sundance, where we saw all the skiers have a blast, speeding down the mountain at what looked like 100mph.  We kept pushing forward, with the intent on finding a gruesome 12 legged, fanged beast. 
We finally found what we were looking for only smaller.  Well I thought it was cool and so did the kids.

So we continued up the mountain until we reached the BYU Motel looking thingy, and I thought the Icicles hanging down were flippin sweet.  So we made it to the Timp trail and since its still winter the road is blocked off here.  We journey back down the mountain and went east toward Heber, and I figured since the kids have never walked more than 3 feet on ice they should get a better experience so we stopped at Deer Creek, to walk on water, frozen water.  Amy and the kids were enjoying it but my feet started to get really cold, guess why...............................................

Yep you guessed it, Barefoot...No, Vibram Five Fingers it was.  I have discovered for the second day in a row that these shoes are very comfortable but they are not made for leisurely walks in the cold.  They are ok for the first 15 minutes but then it gets cold really fast.

So So today we set off on a mission, accomplished it and the kids even got a new experience under their belts.  I will have to say today was a success.  I can't wait to get all better so next maybe this upcoming summer, fall and winter, I can take the kids out to see why daddy loves the outdoor life.  Until then, cya................

Week 5 Leg Rehab Workouts

This weeks Leg Rehab

Tuesday- Feb 9
Stationary Bike-20:00 min/; Lev 6 of 12~
 Leg Press With Bands  3 set 10  weight unknown~
Treadmill  Backwards Walk-10:00 min/15 degree incline~


Wednesday- Feb 10
Stationary Bike-30:00 min/10.80 miles; Lev 6 of 12~
Hip Abduction-125/15, 130/5, 140/15~
Leg Press-120/15, 140/15, 160/15~
Hip Adduction-80/15, 75/15, 70/15~


Thursday- Feb 11
Stationary Bike-16:00 min/5.78 miles; Lev 6 of 12~
Hip Abduction-130/15, 135/5, 145/15~
Leg Press-120/15, 160/15, 180/15~
Hip Adduction-80/15, 75/15, 75/15~


Friday- Feb 12
Stationary Bike-35:00 min/12.60 miles; Level 11 of 20~
Leg press-120/15, 160/15, 180/15~
Randy couture Workout:
      Set 1: 45lbs x 8- Bent Rows; Upright rows; Mil Press; Good Mornings; Squat and Press; Deadlift
      Set 2:  55lbs x 8- (same)~
      Set 3:  65lbs x 8- (same)~
      Set 4:  65lbs x 8- (same)~
Hot Tub for 15 long minutes ~
Walk-.61 miles (was 40 degrees out, wore vibram five fingers, feet were freezing)

10 Mile Stationary Bike Today

Today I decided since I am no longer under the Watchful eye of the Physical Therapist, I decided to start developing leg workout plan.  My first goal is to get to where I am biking 1 hour a day, This will develop the muscles in my legs and will start preparing me for Triathlons.  I said I was going to do one last year but I didnt have a bike and stationary bikes always turned me off and by the time I bought a bike and started training it started to snow a then a few months later I tore my ACL.  So today I went to the gym and hopped on the stationary and rode for exactly 30 minutes and went 10.80 miles.  I was very proud of myself since this is further than I have ever been on a stationary before, when I was younger I would do this all the time on my bike but that was years ago.   Whats funny is that 30 minutes and 10 miles wasn't that had, it's more of a mental challenge than anything else.  So tomorrow I will go 32 minutes, increasing my time by 2 minutes per day until I reach 1 hour on 27 Feb 2010.  At that point I will maintain the 1 hour rides Daily and on 22 March I will start incorporating running into my regiment.  honestly I am not sure when I will stat swimming, I will have to check with my PT to figure that out.

You are free to go!!!

So this will be a short blog, but I went to Physical Therapy and knocked that out.  So at the end of the session the Doc (PT) told me that my range of motion was good over (140 degrees), I walked fine and that I didn't need to go to formal physical therapy anymore.  He suggested that I start biking more, up to 40-45 minutes per session, do leg presses, with appropriate weight and to stay away from leg extensions.
And here comes the best news, He said I can start running lightly at 11 weeks, thats March 22, 2010 and I can't wait.

Pics of my Knee

So I realize that I have yet to post pics of my knee so I'll take the opportunity now post all the pics I have taken while I am thinking about it.  I will post then in the order they were taken. Now as you look at the pictures notice the difference in size.

 This Pic was taken 20 minutes before the Surgery.










This Pic was taken immediatly after the Surgery while I was still in the hospital bed.









 The next 4 pics were taken today, notice the size difference,  a few weeks ago it was double the size it is now so the doc took 90ML of fluid out of it.  It felt great to have all that pressure relieved.


















Heres a pic of the scars.

Barefoot and Minimalist Running or walking for now

I have been thinking about Barefoot running since early last year and for some reason it dropped off my radar and suddenly it has popped back up on it. Due to my recent ACL tearing Mishap and surgery, I have been continuously looking for ways to improve my leg strength and reduce possible future injuries and I was doing some net surfing and low and behold barefoot is in my eyes again. I continued to research barefoot running and decide that this is something I should try out, maybe it will aid in a stronger knee rehabilitation and recovery. So I went out and bought some Vibram Five Fingers KSO Treks. So far these shoes are awesome, I go everywhere in them and get more weird looks than ever, but it doesn't bother me they fell pretty good and I am sure as my feet get stronger they will feel better. I am not able to really give an accurate assessment of these shoe yet since i have only had them for about a week and I am not able to run yet but so far, I think they are worth it.

.36 miles and the most fun I have had all year!!!

So today I dropped my daughter off at school and decided I need to get my son some exercise so that he would be good and tired for his upcoming nap, which didn't happen, he is still sitting in his room talking to himself now. But anyways we take off on our walk, we walked through the dirt, we walked through the snow, leaving did footprints, we walked past houses, got to touch street signs, talked about trucks, people on bicycles and why we need to watch out for cars. And it was fun cause he understood most of what we were talking about. Oh yeah, we got to walk through what he thought was a cave which was just the long 50 foot awning whats enclosed by a brick wall on the side of a local business. That was pretty funny cause when we first got to it he stopped in his tracks and yelled hello 3 times to see if anyone was there, then he walked through like he was in charge. When we finally got home, I asked how was the walk and he said fun, it sure was. Can't wait to do it again!!!

What I did this weekend

So this weekend was kind of a bummer and it was cool all in the same. I had drill this weekend (2 more drills left I think) and it started on Friday and for the ost part I did nothing, my replacement was going around trying to get stuff squared away, he's been a Nurse for 10 years, in the Army for 18 years and he seems like a good guy. So I'm happy the Medical Section is getting a guy of his caliber. So after Friday drill was over I drove to Amy's Grandparents house to get some sleep cause I had a early Saturday scheduled. I got to their house, ate and attempted to get some sleep. I ended up getting about 2 hours of sleep that night, I just couldn't sleep for some reason.

So 4:45 am on Saturday morning arrived very quickly, so I got up cleaned up and headed down to the Utah State Examiners Office to get my hands dirty. So we got there and got the briefing from one of the nurses, she informed us that we had 6 bodies to do today and the goal is to get in, get them done and get out of here, since they dont get paid overtime, they don't want to be there any longer than they need to be. I'm not going to go through every single case we had cause it I did I would be typing for a very long time. We did Autopies on 2 suicide victims, 1 overdose, 1 Natural death and 2 heart attacks. The other guy didn't necessarily get an autopsy, he had been decomposing in his apartment for, what the doc says about 16 days, when he was found he had the heater on full blast and had just went shopping prior to his death, so needless to say it wasn't the most pleasant aroma I have ever smelled. After examining him the Doc said he most likely died of natural causes also.
After that I got to watch one of the heart attack victims corneas being cut out and preserved for donation and also her legs and arms were taken for donation.

After this we did CPR training where I was certified for 2 years.

On Sunday I sat in briefings and and did NCOER's all day, can anyone say BORING!!!!!
After that I drove up to another 70 miles out of my way to watch the Super Bowl and attend my sons Birthday Party, honestly if his party wasnt happening, I would have just driven the 15 10 miles to my house, did a little studying and went to sleep, but I got some good food and got to watch the game.

So that was my weekend and I will say I could have been awesome it I just did what I did on Saturday ad my sons Party.

Progess is happening, The Need For Speed!

I made it on time to my 1445hrs Physical therapy appointment safely. As usual The first thing we do is warm up my knee for 10-15 minutes, then I go on to leg raises and for 3 sets of 10 with weight on my ankle which is pretty easy. From there I move on to the stationary bicycle where I did 7.42 miles in 26 minutes at level 11 out of 20. I was pretty proud of myself, cause last week I couldn't go as far on as high a level. Then came the the lying leg press wile squeezing a ball in between my legs and 3 sets of 10 while pulling my knees apart with band resistance and it felt good to be using my muscles. I then moved back to my treatment area to check my range of motion and today I reached 142 degrees, so progress is being made. After that I got on the treadmill, increased the incline to 15 degrees and walked backwards for 12 minutes. Overall Therapy went great, and I am now very tired, I attempted to hit the gym up after I left and was only able to survive 20 minutes of lifting, so nowhere I am dozing off and trying to write a blog. Well until ext time enjoy life!!!

30 Days of School down, alot more left!

So as most people know I joined the Army right after high School in 1999; and here it is, the year 2010 and I have started school again. Now the purpose of this blog is just to convey how going back to school has been for me.

I'll start off by saying the Army education system is nothing like the College education system. In the Army you learn by doing or kinesthetically, there really is not much lecture aside from the yearly briefing which everyone sleeps through anyway. In College most professors teach by lecture, which in my opinion is the worst way to teach anything. If you want someone to learn something you have to get them actively engaged in conversation and actively doing whatever it is you would like them to learn. So in this aspect I have to some how train my self to learn by listening or aurally. The one thing that knew before college, but College has reinforced is that I am a kinesthetic learner.

So I have 17 credits already from Military education and classes I took while in the Army, and since I am looking to get a Masters degree in Nursing, I need about 180 credits to be officially done. Now as soon as I get my RN done I plan on getting a job, but I still have a long way to go after that.

So back to my current college situation, all in all College has been fun, aside from the having to hobble all around campus in pain, The Professors are pretty cool, knowledgeable and experienced. I am only taking 9 credit hours this semester because I just want to ease back into school life and not fully submerse myself and drown. I am taking Medical Terminology Interpersonal Communication and College Success and I these classes are going to really be helpful in my pursuit of a Nursing degree.

I really enjoy learning and doing the work and studying, the only thing that will give me problems is writing all the papers that are due. I never have been a big writer, and honestly it never seemed like something I would enjoy. I enjoy writing these blogs because they are not forced upon me and they can be as long or as short as I want them to be. But luckilyI have amy who is like a human paper writer, and she can help me along the way.

So for my first 30 days in college I give myself a B-.