Random Rainy LA Thoughts

1. Strange feeling these days: my knee has gotten way, way better: full range of motion pretty much back. I went out dancin' the other night and pretty much forgot about it the whole time. Now and then I've broken into a jog and had to remind myself to go easy. So acute symptoms of the injury are abating.

Of course, as I feel better the idea of surgery feels less and less like an appealing option--because I'd have to take a huge step backwards in mobility and health in order to take a possible step forwards--which may ultimately be a step backwards--where I'd have more stability and less likelihood of contracting arthritis.

So for the time being, I'm playing the waiting game till the new year, at which point, I'll get the MRI and know more. I'm waiting on the MRI, of course, because of insurance concerns--I want to pay down my 2011 deductible just in case I wind up having to go under the knife. And since I'm not in pain, that seems like the best plan. I've called my doctor a couple of times to get his thoughts about this plan, but haven't heard back. Hoping that no news is good news.

Again, kind of curious about how this whole rehab thing is going to play out, with or without surgery. Had some interesting comments on my last post from people who had had similar injuries--nice to get the perspective.

2. The irony of all this is that in the last few weeks I've been steeped in writing about overtraining, the importance of learning to take it easy from time to time, to cycle shorter and more intense workouts with longer and easier ones, and so on. And of course, whammo--I get a tangible reminder that I almost never take it easy.

3. By the way--overtraining syndrome barely exists. No one really agrees on what it means. Same with the phrase "overreaching". That makes writing and article in which you define these things once and for all, very difficult. But what most people agree is that you're not overtrained unless your all-out performance has dropped by 5% or so for a substantial amount of time. That almost never happens: it generally takes months and months of continuous high-volume training to make it happen--not just a few days of tough workouts.