Knee Deep

It was finally confirmed what I had been fearing for the last several weeks; I tore the medial meniscus in my left knee for the second time...what I wasn't ready to hear was that I also tore the medial meniscus in my right knee for the third time. That was news I really could have done without.

Surgery to repair my knees isn't on the table at this time. The damage to my right knee is severe enough that microfracture surgery is an option I'll need to consider. My summer would be pretty much shot if I have the surgery in May as recovery from that procedure involves being on crutches 6-8 weeks. Rather than endure a summer of hopping around on crutches for two months, I'll just be going in for cortisone shots as needed....and then revisit the topic of surgery in the fall.

My left knee is in much better shape and a simple arthroscopic clean up procedure to remove debris and what have you should do the trick. However, that also involves some recovery time and my doctor really couldn't get pain to flare up in that knee the way he could the right one. Therefore, he's thinking that we can put off even cleaning up the knee for quite a while given my ability to tolerate pain and discomfort...a trait I picked up having learned to deal with sh*tty knee injuries for 23 years.

In the meantime, I'm supposed to stay active. I wasn't restricted from any activities as long as I can handle/mitigate the pain of having torn cartilage in both knees. Running is still allowed, and I ran 3.5 miles today at lunch...slowly at first and then building up speed as my knees warmed up and my brain simply got tired of telling my that my got-damn knees hurt. I'll continue running until I can't. Then I will find something else to do...

As much as I would like to swim to avoid the impact that running doles out, getting to a pool is a gigantic pain in the arse...and then there is no guarantee I'd even get lap time. Here are my main issues with swimming:

1. Pools are kind of hard to come by. We don't exactly live in pool country here in the PNW. Lake swimming is out of the question, even with a wet suit. A harrowing case of swimmers itch back in 1983 has turned me off to lake swimming for the rest of my life. So, that leaves indoor pools which brings me to point 2...

2. ...indoor pools are very often found at the YMCA. Joining the Y is expensive, as are municipal pools. If I joined the YMCA I would purchase the family plan, which isn't cheap. That means the girls would want to come swimming too...so, yeah...lap swimming would be out of the question as I'd be spending my time bobbing around in the 3 ft pool with Katelyn and Jocelyn or teaching Maddy how to swim. While those are worthwhile endeavors, it wouldn't do much for my overall fitness.

3. Being able to work out at lunch is kind of awesome. I don't pay gym dues and don't have to leave The Better Half all alone with the girls so I can work out. However, I have always dreamed of owning an Endless Pool, which is more or less a treadmill for swimming. Sadly, I am not independently wealthy and don't have the duckets to pony up for an Endless Pool, so that will remain a dream...for now...but I can see it set up in the refurbished garage right now as I type this...

4. Avid swimmers are annoying. Even more annoying are avid geriatric swimmers that spend an eternity completing one lap, barely leaving ripples in the water as they drift by. Criminey, some of these old timers expend less energy than a meditating monk...yet, there they are...taking up a lane and taking their sweet time doing so. The flip side are the wannabe men/women from Atlantis that show up in Speedos, swim caps, and then proceed to do a million laps of every stroke imaginable, including the ridiculous butterfly...the butterfly is a stroke that exists mainly to let others know you can do the butterfly. Peddling a unicycle across the bottom of the pool would be more efficient than the butterfly. Anyhoo, yeah - so I'm not exactly enamored of swim culture...but I do like to swim. I would do more of it if it weren't for swimmers and the scarcity of pools that don't require a days pay to use.

For now I plan on running every other day and biking in between. One thing my neighborhood is blessed with are three heart bursting hills that are all but custom made for climbing on a bike. I'll have to find a way to get some climbs in when out on rides with the family. I usually haul Katelyn in a bike trailer, and she's a little tank, so pulling her is a decent work out as it is. What I wouldn't want to do is try to ride down a hill with her behind me, that would be disastrous...and climbing while pulling her would be ludicrous. So, I'll need to work out a routine where I can get some hill time in on days I don't run.

Here's hoping my knees hold out for the summer...!