22 July 2010 - Activity ramp up, still feeling good

I thought I'd make a post while sitting in my blazing hot office waiting for the day to end.  Only 15 more minutes.....

The past two nights I've gotten out on the bike for some decent rides.  The first night, my knees were killing me, and did so for almost the entire ride.  Towards the end of the ride, they did begin to loosen up, but any pedaling uphill caused quite a bit of discomfort.  Last night, my brother and I attacked the same route as the previous evening and got through it about five minutes quicker.  Again, at the beginning of the ride, my knees felt horrible.  About ten minutes in, however, they actually began to feel okay.  Not perfect, but at least thoughts weren't running through my head to abandon the ride like the night before.  We even managed to tackle a couple of extra hills after we completed the 25-30 minute loop that I normally ride.  I'm still not able to crank up the hills as I once did and must use almost my lowest gear to climb while sitting down.  Standing and pedaling in a high gear almost left me in tears when I tried it.

I plan to continue riding and hope that my knees do start to feel better with time.  If they don't start feeling any better, I may have to go in for another MRI or at least x-rays to see what the cartilage is like in there.  I'm hoping, however, that by strengthening my quad muscles, my patella will be pulled back to a more normal position, aligned properly with the bones and the groove it's supposed to sit in.  According to my orthopedic doc, this could have been what was causing me pain at the end of the ski season two years ago.  I'll monitor it closely.

Today I did wake up and felt pretty darn good physically.  My knees and ankles weren't nearly as sore as they have been over the past few weeks.  With continued exercise, I'm hoping these little kinks work themselves out.  Only time will tell if any permanent damage from gout has been done to these areas. 

I do have a theory regarding my past history of knee problems and pain in my ankles but will have to keep it brief for now (only five mintues left and I can escape this hellaciously hot office....).  In the past, my body was always going between horrible pain and brief moments of feeling okay.  The gout really ended up wearing my body down and never allowed even minor injuries to heal.  There was always inflamation to deal with and I was never able to fully recover nor rehab any injuries.  Now, however, if I can continue this gout-free streak that I currently have going, I will be able to continue getting  exercise, strengthening my joints and muscles, and this can only help.

Time to go!  Thank God......