Knee, Tandem, & Hot Tubs
It hurts in the morning, walking the dog around the block, stiff and little twinges every footfall. It aches when I sit too long at the computer, but I was able to go a careful 80% hard last night in my jump workout (skipping the really ballistic stuff). I think lifting would be baaaaaad, so I am still staying away from the squat rack. It’s a maddening injury. Ok then pain, pain then ok.
When I first hurt my knee, I thought it was an “owie” not an injury. But it’s definitely an injury, yet seems to be slowly getting better. The doctor explained to me that knee problems of this sort can happen in “white tissue” or “red tissue” within the knee, and the red tissue injuries are the ones that are capable of healing themselves. The white tissue injuries are the ones that sometimes require surgery. I am hoping this is a “red” issue.
My MRI is scheduled for Monday, and my follow up on Wednesday. So we shall see.
Jess and I went for a really lovely tandem ride this morning (knee 100% normal). This picture, she shot over my shoulder as we were engaged in typical Ithaca climbing. We had been steeply and gradually climbing for a solid twenty minutes when she took this, and we still had some ways to go till we got to the top (this is waterwagon road, for Ithacan reference) .
Shouts go out to my “brother-by-another-mother” Evan Schaibly, the artwork you did back in 1992 for the Hampshire College bike racing team jersey is still beautiful! Notice our hot tub company sponsor! The day I first met Jessica I was in one of their hot tubs, but that is another story…….
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Till answers come, my coach wants me riding my bike to keep the fitness gains I have made (cycling is ok & does not hurt). Great! So I dug around my box of jerseys, and pulled out one of my father’s early 1980’s wool jerseys. It is very clearly “not of this decade” in a wonderful way. I wore it for a reason, because I want to dwell in the positive! I have to. This knee problem could be merely a delay, or it could be bad, so wearing this reminded me to be very thankful for what I can do. With almost 20,000 miles in his legs, My Dad has really not been able to ride since his heart attack in 1993, more than a decade of blood thinners & subsequent pacemaker instillation has gotten in the way since. My dad has “software” that controls his heartbeat, how’s that for a thought! Wearing one of his old jerseys reminded me to keep perspective.
It was 70 degrees today and with a blustering wind. In the spirit of thankfulness, I wanted some serious punishment to crumble my worries into dust, so I did a bunch of 5-minute intervals into the wind and big ringing it up the hills in my 
I thought at first he was joking, but the hungry glint in his eyes at the mention of this California based burger franchise, and his following detail of how he only likes the smell of sushi, not the taste, convinced me of his sincerity. He also went on at length about how he loves the iron chef, “Those chefs are really good, the best, but the show is all about entertainment, not about their skills.” He then proceeded to artfully slice up an Orange, and drizzle plum wine across the slices, as a freebee desert for us! Wow….. Jess and I were speechless, and quite full by the time we waddled out of there.
Feeling phenomenal in the gym today, like the plates & bar were made of Styrofoam, I was tossing around weight with ease and snap, my body has absorbed all my recent hard work, and then doing a front squat with 185lbs on the bar (and I do this all the time, this weight is not even close to my max) at rep 8 of a 10 rep set, I felt a bad twinge behind the right knee, I put the bar back immediately, walked around, stretched, shook the leg cautiously, it felt fine, no problem at all… I took the bar off the rack in back squat position (easier for me, I am far stronger in that range of motion) and the same bad twinge announced itself on the second rep, like an electric shock of pain right behind the right kneecap…
This strange yet joyous Ithaca event consists of people spending $5 or so to buy one of over 3600 little plastic duckies that are dumped into the headwaters of Cascadilla creek. They float about a mile downstream, and the first duck across the finish line wins $500 for the people who put the $5 on that duck, place #2 was an ipod, and so forth down to place 405! 
Then I stopped watching the ducks and really shifted my attentions to the crowd. How funny we are, cheering this on and finding it so engrossing. The mass of buzzing attention following the lead duck, the cheers for the hapless chase pack.
How many watchers swirl our selves into the duck eye view of the world, how does it feel for that lead duck? Or even a mid pack duck, swarming down the river, banging off rocks, jostling in the current, looking up to the cheering crowds, and the ghosts of huge fish below (the spawning is mostly over, and the remaining fish, mostly sexed out males, like diehards at the singles bar at closing time, were quite unimpressed by the ducks).
my body mostly not of my own design (hey, right ankle of mine, stop hurting, I need you healthy this year!!!)…. 
And it does not matter really in some ultimate sense, how I did at nationals last year –or will do at Olympic trials, who wins Westminster kennel club, what NFL team has the best record and wins the super bowl, or what duck shot the rapids of chance and floated across the finish line first…
Its spring, and for each sunrise and sunset
And what of the Chris and Varya story?
But if you asked me,
I love those lines, Robert Lowell wrote them. I think Lowell is talking about freedom, pursuing desire, illogical sex drive, and the ability to really committ, to “break loose” (with the ten steps/ten commandments & your own failing self/raw jaw in the way). 
Even though the mind knows better, sometimes a new workout program that one is REALLY BAD at, can seem a 
