MRI in 2 parts

I am about an hour and a half away from my MRI and I've kinda been freaking out most of the day and I'm not really sure why.  I'm not claustrophobic or anything, so it's not the actual event that's been bothering me.  My guess is is that by getting the MRI, it finalizes everything.  Like, I'll be looking at the picture that proves that I've been walking with a busted knee for the last two and a half months.  I'd still like to believe that is going to heal on it's own.  It also probably didn't help matters that I spent some time researching recovery.  It get's very overwhelming.  Different people handle different injuries in different ways.  That's probably the big thing I need to overcome.  Person A who hasn't been having much success in recovery doesn't mean I am going to be in the same boat.

However, since sitting down at home, I've put on the new season of The League and I've calmed down so when I head out in an hour, it should all be cake.

And as I was typing this, I got a phone call from the MRI office and I my apt had to be delayed a little bit.  And by a little bit, from 6:30pm to 9:15pm... so that kinda rekicked the nerves.  But the answer to calming those nerves is just more The League.  It's always the answer.

I originally wanted to do this in 2 parts in one post.  But since Im going to be tired when I get back from the MRI, Im just going to do 2 parts in 2 posts and discuss the actual MRI experience tomorrow in the AM.  Tonight, you just got my rambling about it.

My left knee

The last time I wrote anything was Aug 23, 2011. Well over 13 months ago. Since then this website has changed and I don't even know if I'm writing in the correct space. I just clicked new post and now I have a huge white... page I guess that I'm typing on. Let's see if this is being wasted or not.

Hello my readership of 4. This is my umpteenth time trying to get this blog off the ground. I think this time is a little bit different because this journey is a little bit different and it's going to be more informative then the dreck I was writing about before. What am I talking about you might ask?

 Two and a half months ago, I tore my Anterior crutiate ligament on my left knee. So what? This is a common injury that many athletes face at some point during their careers. It's not that uncommon, why waste a tiny corner of the internet writing about it? Because I think it's interesting and I want document the entire process since I don't think many people have (I could be wrong, but where I live in the world wide web, I can't find much, if any)

 So back to the story, two and half months ago I tore my ACL. The big deal about it is that it happened two and a half months ago, but I found out about it last week. To clarify, I've been walki... hobbling around on a busted wheel for two and a half months. Why? Easy, it didn't feel like a ligament was busted. It felt like I sprained it, which is still a pain in the ass to deal with, but recovery is... simpler. Despite friends, family and co-workers telling me to go see a doctor, my stubborn ass stayed put because hey, the swelling was going down... my limping went from full borne pain each step to a slight limp with minimal pain. I R.I.C.E'd myself everyday for the first month and as the pain subsided, I weened off doing that. I was feeling better, it certainly couldn't have been worse then a sprain in my mind. I even started jogging again.

 Then in early September I re-aggravated it. I don't know how, but it really started bugging me, out of the blue (to my mind). My knee started buckling on me, so at that point I "caved in" and went to the doctor. He thought it was a torn meniscus but refereed me to the orthopedic doctor to be sure. After that appointment, he confirmed that it wasn't a sprain at all, but a torn ACL. With a possibility of a torn meniscus. I have a MRI later this week to a) see the severity of the tear and b) verify if the meniscus is torn as well.

What my goal is here is to document my trials and tribulations over the course of however long it takes to recover.  Any questions I have/answers I receive will be discussed.  In the meantime, I'm going to figure blogspot out.  Ehhhh?  EEHHHHHH?

Now, Rafi Bomb!!!

When you know you just love to lift

You know how people seem to dress to the 9's, even at the gym? Paying $50 for a fancy under armor shirt and a fancy mesh/gym shorts and $100 gym shoes with their fancy iPod and their fancy arm band and their fancy earpiece and those arm band things that look pointless? Today we had to dress a bit more business-y today. (typically I can stroll into work with a t-shirt, shorts and my chucks. Today I had to wear a collared shirt and slacks with dress shoes.) Now when I get ready for the gym, since I just wear my Chucks while lifting, I just throw in another t-shirt and gym shorts and be done with it... which is what I did today. Notice where the potential problem is going to happen? So I get to the gym and realized I didn't bring any sneakers or non dress shoes. Most others would be "Fuck it" and go home. Not me, f that s... I walked up to the weight room in my t-shirt, gym shorts, dress socks and dress shoes.

Of course, today was also the day that a bunch of people decided to lift, so a lot more people saw my goofy attire then I intended. No worries, just walked to the cage like everything about me was on purpose and busted out some squats. To rub it in even further I did a couple of sets barefoot (look it up, it's kosher) and went along the rest of the workout like normal.

Now I'm watching the worst movie in the world (I say this a lot)

Best in the world

So here we go, part 2398239842930923. I don't know what's going to make me stick around this time as apposed to the previous times but I think I feel the dedication this time around, now that summer is ending and cooling off, so the non air-conditioned, 3rd floor gym would be livable this time around. What's the goal this time around? I don't know. More then likely losing weight (tee-hee) but I am going to be going to San Francisco at the end of September so as a time frame, there's that. But I just wanted to get this out so that the accountability starts sooner rather then later. So the five of you reading this can start getting on my case....


.....again.

Sunday funday

Well, I guess Sunday will be when I update... it could always be more frequent, but it will never be less frequent. How's that for a tag line? Anyway, there's really not much to report on the Quest to Lose Weight except that in terms of lifting, I'm close to being back to where I was before. If there's anything I love being able to do at the gym, it's lifting heavy. Not because it makes me any better then anyone else in the gym, because it doesn't... but putting a bunch of weight on a bar or taking the heavier set of dumbbells and having people look at you like you're nuts, then being able to lift, push or pull that weight multiple times gives one a nice sense of accomplishment. Still eating well also.

Not much else to say... baseball season is around the corner and I won't talk about the White Sox until the final roster is made. Just so it can either be a happy one (Morel @ 3B) or a sad one (MARK FUCKING TEAHEN AT 3B). I also have 4 books coming in (tomorrow!) that I'm stoked to read up on. 1 is called The Extra 2% which is about the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays and how the road they took to be able to overtake both the Red Sox and the Yankees in the AL East, from a business/financial/statistical standpoint. Another one is Ball Four which is by Jim Bouton and is basically the author recalling all the debauchery he came around while moving up in the Yankees system. The other two are advance statistics books, so I won't get into those because I don't want to start an argument, hah. Lastly, I am getting this on Tuesday (hope this works)



So until next time....

bb

Who am I?

So this whole thing is going a bit easier then I originally expected. I have kept the meals small and frequent. I stopped eating chips (which I would essentially eat a whole bag or close to during lunch (WHAT?!) and would not be cooking my own dinner 4 or 5 days during the week. And this was something I had no problem doing before. Throwing lamb/fish in the oven or chicken/ground beef on a pan... EASY SHIT TO DO! And for whatever dumb reason, I just decided to stop doing that. I went back to drinking soda and beer, which I pretty much have to go out of my way for.

The problem is that it was this easy before. The challenge as it always is, is making this last forever. I have ideas, but there's no way to know how solid they are until I'm in the situation where I can keep it up when I want to hop off the wagon.

Anyway, at this point I really don't have a goal, no time frame, no nothing. However, I have some good friends coming up from FL at the end of the month to good ol New England. One of them threw out a goal of losing 9 pounds before they arrive. Which is (well, was) 3 weeks away. So it is about 3 pounds a week. They say you can safely lose 2 pounds a week, which I still believe, but fuck it, it's a goal, I'm taking it. Now, I don't think I have ever put a number up as to my weight. But for the sake of this goal, I'm going to have to. As of 2/28/11 I was 276. So my goal is 267 by ~4/1 (right Eric?). Anyway, hoping for the best!

Time for dinner, Whole grain pasta with meat sauce (ground turkey) and garlic bread made from whole grain bread. Lots of carbs, but with a lifting day tomorrow, it'll be worth it.

The Intro 3: Electric Boogaloo.

Taking a look back, I never thought that I would take 11 months in between posts. Now, I realize I am going to writing this for an audience of like 3, but it doesn't really matter to me, I just need the forum to write to get shit down that's in my head.

But the question is, where have I been the last 10.5 months? Well the last post was April 11, 2010, talking about another 3 months of training. Which I completed but as my lack of posting can attest to, there was a lack of intensity. I got it done just to get it done. My diet started to crack and by the end I was just glad to be done. The main thing I was trying to accomplish was being able to continue doing what I had been doing after my sessions had finished. I last maybe another 2 weeks, at least diet wise before I did a swan dive off the wagon. I still went to the gym, but instead of going 5 or 6 times a week, it became 4 or 5 (Still pretty good... buuuttt) then it became 3 or 4. Then it became 2 times... then I'd go 2 times a week, then not go for a week and a half before going again. Then for about 2 months I went probably 3 times total. Needless to say, it got to the point where I pretty much just threw those first 6 months of 2010 out the window. It's been humbling and humiliating. It wasn't an outlier, it's pretty typical of me.

The problem was that I basically just let it happen. I could have gone to the gym whenever I wanted to. I chose not to. I could have cooked some pork or chicken with veggies instead of calling in for a pizza. I chose not to. Hell, it didn't snow until the middle of January, I could have walked around the block or something. I chose not to. I get very apathetic and lazy, it's just "how I roll."

But the good news, I've found what I'm assuming is my 20th wind for doing this stuff. Actually, I've started to go back to the gym regularly about 2 or 3 weeks ago. I'm not drastically changing my diet (yet) I am just going to change the real bad habits. Going back to cooking meals myself 5 or 6 days a week. Cutting back on soda, drinking more water (and try to do the 5 meal a day thing again, that always took the most effort, believe it or not). Beer/alcohol? I don't know yet. Everyone should have a vice to keep them sane. For the time being, that will be mine. If I need to drop it in order to accomplish goals, so be it. I guess that's why it took so long for me to write this. I kinda knew by doing it, I'd be locking myself into everything I want to do, officially.

In order to make this more fun for me (blogging) I'm going to be making more posts just on random shit too. Because I'm sure you guys were just as bored reading that as I was writing. I'm a baseball fan, so I'll write about baseball once in a while. I like TV, so I'll write about that occasionally.