Drizzy Drake All the Time

We go 0 to 100 $&**, real quick; Started from the bottom now we’re here; I had someone tell me I fell off, ooh I needed that…

Three days into p/t and all of these lyrics seem to apply.  I went into Day 1 expecting very little and not knowing what to expect other than being able to start my road to recovery.

Day 1 saw me unable to do a single leg raise because my quad muscles were so weak.  Although my wife was with me for p/t, she missed my leg raise performance, but the Physical Therapist let her know I didn’t fare well with the leg raises.  That was to be expected though since I haven’t used my quad for almost four weeks. “I had someone tell me I fell off, ooh I needed that…”

Although this was Day 2 at P/T, I did all of my exercises at home in between sessions.  As such, Day 2 saw me able to do 10 leg raises.  A marked improvement from Day 1.  “Started from the bottom now we’re here…”

Day 3 of P/T and I was suppose to do 15 reps of each exercise and I was able to do 16.  “We go 0 to 100 $&**, real quick…”

It was only 3 days of P/T and there will certainly be many more, but being able to make progress everyday felt really good.  I’m sure there will be days where I don’t make progress or even days where I even regress, but I will keep working hard on my road to recovery.

Forward, always. Aroo

Some helpful tips for when you find yourself on crutches for an extended period of time…

The Sunday Stoic

“We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.” – Epictetus

I did not choose to rupture my right patella tendon, nor did I choose to be in a knee brace or on crutches for an extended period of time, nevertheless, those are my circumstances.

I have chosen to provide some tips that I have found helpful when it comes to being on crutches or in a knee brace or cast for an extended period of time.

The first thing you should do is grab yourself a backpack of some sort of an over the shoulder sling bag.  I’m personally using a backpack and a over the shoulder sling bag.  In the over the shoulder bag I keep my iphone, a charger for my iphone, a few books, a small idea journal, a magazine or two, some pens, a couple of snack tins and a water bottle.  I also kept my wallet and my checkbook in this bag as well when I went to surgery.  I am able to keep all these items readily available to me at any time.  Anytime I go somewhere at home or if I venture out, this is what I carry with me.  I find it fairly easy to manage using the crutches while carrying the over the shoulder bag.

I have used the backpack to transport my laptop along with other bulkier items like gel ice packs.  Some people may find that the backpack is easier for them to manage while using crutches.  I happened to have both an over the shoulder bag and a back pack, so I was able to take advantage of using both.  I would avoid using both at the same time.

Another item that has been invaluable is the shoulder strap from a duffle bag.  My current circumstances require me to keep my right leg straight and as such, it’s very difficult to move my right leg.  At first I was using my left leg to lift and lower my right leg, it worked, but it wasn’t ideal.  Then a physical therapist from my wife’s work suggested I use a towel, which worked, but it is was bulky to carry a towel around everywhere.  I then got the idea to use the shoulder strap.  It is lightweight, not bulky and definitely does the job of helping me lift and lower my leg.  If you are in similar circumstances to me, then find yourself a shoulder strap from a duffle bag or something similar that won’t be to difficult to carry around with yourself.

The third and final item is something to cover your cast or brace when you are in the shower.  My wife got me what amounts to a cast protector for the shower from Amazon and it was perfect.  We had tried using trash bags and electrical tape and it was not very practical.  The cast protector kept my knee brace completely dry.  The cast protector is made out of shower curtain material and has a watertight sealing mechanism.  This will save you the hassle of trying to deal with garbage bags and tape and a mess.

I hope these tips were helpful for anyone in a similar situation.  Aroo

Wellness Wednesday

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”
– Confucius

Do you struggle figuring out what to wear in the morning, do you need to make breakfast, make coffe, make lunch, feed and dress the kids, etc.? What can you do to make your mornings less hectic?

Simplifying it one way.  Whether you are a morning person 😁 or non morning person 😡, mornings can be hectic and throw you off for your whole day.  Simplify.

Here are some tips…

• 1. Do as much as you can the night before.  Pack and make lunches, snacks, etc.  I have smoothies for breakfast, so I get out all the smoothie ingredients the night before.  I pack my lunch and snacks the night before.  I can do a better job of getting my clothing out for the next day, but I’m working on it.

 

• 2. Simplify you wardrobe.  I have a lot of blue shirts.  Due to the fact I have so many blue shirts, I’ve decided that I’m going to wear blue shirts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Tuesday and Thursday I will wear more diverse colors. What can you do to make your wardrobe simpler?

 

• 3. Spend less time on social media or whatever electronic device you spend time on in the morning instead of getting ready and getting going.  I used to check Twitter & Instagram & The Score, now I don’t.  Will all the scores, tweets and FB posts still be available to you if you check them later, of course they will be.  I may check out a weather app just to see what kind of jacket, hat, gloves, shoes, etc. I will need to wear.

What can you do ahead of time to make your mornings less hectic? What can you skip in the morning to make your morning less hectic.

Wellness Wednesday

Today I’m going to share a post from juststand.org that explains a standing/sitting interval of sorts for you to do at work.  Here is the link…http://blog.juststand.org/2016/09/06/702/

Another tip, make sure you have shoes at work that you can change into and walk in comfortably.  That then removes the excuse of not having shoes/sneakers to be able to walk while at work. AROO.

The Sunday Stoic

“It’s all in how you perceive it. You’re in control. You can dispense with misperception at will, like rounding the point.” Marcus Aurelius

So yesterday, my regular golf playing partners decided it was too cold and damp to play golf.  I decided to play anyways because although it was damp and unpleasant because I thought most people would think the same thing that my playing partners thought. I was right and the course was not crowded.  I got in 18 holes in almost half the time it would’ve taken if the course was crowded.

I perceived the conditions as an opportunity to play a quick round of golf and my playing partners perceived the conditions as an impediment.  Change your mindset and you will change your perceptions. AROO.

Feedback Friday

I really don’t have anything for Feedback Friday.  As I reflect on the past week, the most consequential feedback I have seen is in my golf game.  I took a lesson at the beginning of September and I started practicing what I learned and then I started applying that info to my golf game and my scores have gone down.

If you start eating better, exercising and holding yourself accountable, you will start to see results.  It’s taken me about 3 weeks to see improvement in my golf game and there are times when I don’t see improvements, but just knowing why I missed a shot right or left is important.

If you didn’t sleep well or eat well before one of your workouts and you didn’t perform like you wanted, knowing how to correct and improve the next time through better sleep and better eating will help get you where you want to be. AROO.

Wellness Wednesday

Have you ever Googled “sleep & health”? I did and as you might expect if you are into living a better life, there is a lot of stuff out there, including a nearby sleep wellness center that I had no idea about.  Sleep plays a vital role in good health and well-being throughout your life.  Are you getting enough sleep? I know wasn’t doing a good job preparing for sleep and I also wasn’t sleeping well.  A lot of different factors go into how well you sleep and how well you sleep has a relationship on how well you perform at work or during a workout or a race, if you are overly tired then that’s how you are going to perform.

I no longer use my iPhone for an alarm clock because it wasn’t helping my sleep by being on overnight.  I also shut off my laptop and television at least a 1/2 hour before bed time.  Most sleep articles recommend shutting down your electronics an hour before you go to bed.  I would like to work up to that level, I’m not there just yet.

There are a lot of little things you can do to start improving your sleep.  I’m going to provide a link to an info graphic from Greatist that has some suggestions for common sleep issues.  Enjoy and AROO.

http://greatist.com/live/graphic-fixes-most-common-sleep-problems?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_content=story1_title&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter_2016-09-28_testB_20160817

The Sunday Stoic

“Not what we have, but what we enjoy, constitutes our abundance.” Epicurus

Although this a few days late, this is something to keep in mind as the week progresses.  Do you have an abundance of stuff or do you have an abundance of joy?

I usually help coach my son’s baseball & basketball teams & even helped a bit with golf last fall.  He decided to do fall baseball instead of golf this season. I’ve helped here & there when needed, but I haven’t been involved in making any decisions about who plays where and when and what to do about scheduling practice and everything else that goes with coaching.

As such, I’ve been able to enjoy going to the game as a parent and not as a parent and a coach.   Two different perspectives and two different enjoyments.

This is just one example of enjoyment without stuff.  Can you think of moments that bring you joy and don’t include stuff? Start writing them down and start building an abundance of enjoyment. Aroo

Feedback Friday

To have a scale or not to have a scale? That is the question and an interesting one.

We have a scale in our bbathroom and sometimes we use it and sometimes we don’t.  You can program the scale with your age, height and how often you workout. In turn, the scale will tell you how much you weigh, your body fat %, your muscle % and your bone% or something like that.

All of this information can be helpful if it’s accurate and I suspect that it is accurate to some extent, but not 100%.  During my OCR season, when I’m running more  and training harder for races, my body fat % goes down.  I can also look in the mirror and see that I’m getting leaner and that my abs are a bit more defined.  I can also tell I’m in better shape  or getting in better shape because my running and my workouts don’t seem quite as difficult and I feel stronger.  Do I really need a scale to tell me these things and do you really need a scale to tell you these things?

The problem I see with the scale is that it can be manipulated and turned into an unhealthy obsession.  If you weigh yourself 1st thing in the morning and then at the end of the day, you are going to have 2 different weights and depending on your mindset that can be a problem.  You can also weigh yourself at the end of the day and again first thing the next morning and you will get 2 different weights.  You can also change how much clothing and or shoes you wear when you weigh yourself, which will also change your weight.

Ultimately, I think a scale is a good idea, because it can help hold you accountable, but don’t let the number on the scale control how you feel.  You can use it as a tool, just like a fitness tracker, but you will know you are making progress just by the way you feel.

 

 

Wellness Wednesday

Here are 5 tips from mindful.org on beating the afternoon blahs at work, http://www.mindful.org/5-ways-beat-afternoon-slump/?utm_content=buffer3def7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer.

I personally like to stretch a bit, have some water & sometimes make a mix of Braggs’s ACV, local honey & cinamon.  Try these 5 things mentioned above this afternoon or tomorrow afternoon after you read about them.