11th of May

Two months to my 18th birthday today, hurray. As I wrote in the last post, I've started to participate in my floorball sessions and I must say that my knee has gone noticable better during the last couple of weeks. Most of the time I can bend it all the way in without a warm up and when I run in the movement pattern typical for floorball, it's seldom over stretched to such an extent that it really hurts. Yesterday's session was by far the best one this year (given the fact that I never did a real training session in 2011 before I tore the ligament) and even though my coach forbids me to play with body contact to others, I can't help doing it. The shots were however lousy yesterday, must have been something wrong with the stick/ball/floor. My stamina is indeed seriously improvable since I get exhausted after only one rush á 40 metres.

Based on this, my goals for the summer and silly season-rehabilitation training is mainly to do my physio therapy exercises in order to gain explosiveness and coordination in the muscles around the knee, as well as getting that long lost stamina back.

A month later

Here we go again, I kinda wanna be more than friends...

Just kidding, I'm not singing that song. Nope, not me. Not at all. Well well, a month ago since I wrote last time and honestly, I haven't been very active in my training. Probably because I finally have started to participate in my normal floorball-sessions and want the recovery time in between those in order to maintain the energy required in my thighs. Being back and training fairly normal is just as wonderful as I imagined, if not more. My coach always yells at me to take it slow and be careful when I play but hey, that's not very fun, thus I pretend I don't hear him. Also, I went to the physio therapist today and got some brand new things to do, more running:ish. Feels good to do something more specific than just weight lifting and pure muscle building.

This post is most likely the worst I've written so far but I promise I'll write more frequently and also take the nutrients-aspect into consideration. So long!

March 31st - April 4th

No training on Thursday the 31st, my body was a bit exhausted from the body-pump the previous day.

Therefore, I celebrated April's arrival with a spinning as well as core-session. Guess I could've had some more resistance during the spinning but it's hard to know how much is enough if you want to be able to accomplish the core-session afterwards as good as possible. Some days the spinning is fairly painless even with a higher level of resistance and some days it kills you after five minutes. The core-sessions are getting easier and easier and for that I'm thankful, don't even want to think of how much pain I was in after the first couple of times.

Went train- and bus-hoboing for hours on the Saturday with a friend all over Stockholm and after that I did feel some pain in my knee which my mom wasn't too happy about. According to her I shouldn't walk longer distances in Converse but according to me it's ugly to wear trainers so no way in hell that's going to happen.

No training yesterday but a couple of hours ago I came home from the physio therapist as well as the gym. Faced my first difficulty when I did the side-jumps and the knee capsule started to ache. On that particular area I've been sore since all this shit started but last time I did the exercise it went completely fine. The physio therapist told me to avoid those kinds of loads for a few days and then try again. Afterwards I crossed the street to the gym and cycled for 20 minutes on level 10 and 8. Did 12x3 in the adduction (44 kg) and abduction (63 kg) machine and after that my intention was to do some back lifting but stupidly I didn't know how to adjust the machine so I finished the session with a bit of stretching. When the joint is warm I can bend the knee almost all the way in, think it was a new record today.

March 30th

Just got home from the body pump-session and felt some improvement from last Sunday. In the end I managed to do an exercise which I impossibly could've done during the last session. So, progress, I like it. Tomorrow's ache will probably be the worst so far in my life, I'll take a picture of my soon-to-be-swollen-biceps and show you. If you wonder about my very healthy intake of nutrients afterwards, it consisted of:

• Three buns.
• Two slices of cake.
• One glass of cordial.

I love having my both grandmas between my house and the bus.

March 23rd - March 30th

Wednesday: Went to the physio therapist in the morning and got some new things to do. Did a couple of exercises that had a higher level of weighting on my knee and thigh such as walking up and down a step (appr. 50 cm high) having the pressure on the right leg. I also got to do the funniest thing so far- dodges (jumping from side to side like an ice-skater). The knee felt really stable which was a relief. If the knee is unstable, I'll most likely have to do a new surgery but as it felt as good as it did, I have the best of gut feelings. In the evening I went to the gym and had the best work out so far. Increased all the weights in the machines (and accidently had 40 kg in the leg push for the injured leg instead of 10, maybe not too clever) and increased some repetitions. However the ones I decreased were in the machines in which I increased the weights the most. My coach told me that what the purpose of my training should be, is to activate the muscles and especially improve their reaction, rather than just building even more muscle-mass. When I get back to floorball the most important thing is that the muscles react as soon as my knee is suddenly rotated and therefore I'll from now on work on my explosiveness, hence the decreased repetitions. Spinning for warm up and and...warm down (the opposite, to get the waste products in the thigh in motion). After that hour I wasn't able to lift my shin bone from the ground, my hamstring sure didn't love me.

On the Thursday I...wait for it...brought my stick and played some floorball! For the first time in almost three months. Fantastically and amazingly wonderful. Even though I didn't do more than some shooting and a few rushes with stick and ball it was just the receipt I needed for my motivation to keep alive. Things are going forward, just like I want it. The knee felt normal when I did the tempo-changes and ran in curves which I think is the situations when the knee is under the most pressure.

No training until Sunday when my first Body Pump-session was on the schedule. Really good work out I must say but I've noticed from the ache that I've had since then that I put way more pressure on my left leg than on my right. Probably unconsciously.

Tuesday yesterday and played some more floorball. Shooting and some careful running with stick and ball.

Wednesday today and a new Body Pump-session in the evening, think I'm going to do some spinning as warm up just before and perhaps stay for a while afterwards and work my back.

March 10th-March 22nd

So, what have I been doing the last couple of weeks? No idea, that's why I'm going to grab my calendar and take a sneak peak.

As I mentioned in the last post, I went to the physio therapist on the 11th and got a new training programme. Lighter weights and fewer repetitions to start off with the week after but screw that, I went to the gym the morning after and began with the exercising a couple of days earlier than what the doctor had told me to. I'm not going to make a comeback if I don't train, right? Anyway, it felt a bit irritating to decrease for instance the weights in the "thigh-push"-machine from 70 kg to 40 with both legs and from 40 to 10 with the injured one. Did some spinning for half an hour and normal physio therapy as well and when the knee is warm I can actually bend it almost the whole way in.

Continued the gym settlement on Monday the 14th and did basically the same as on the Saturday. Jumped of happiness when I without problem could increase the hip abduction from 63 to 72 kg and the adduction from 36 to 45 kg. Also increased the repetitions from 12x3 to 15x3. Was still careful with the knee and kept the weights I'd been adviced to use by the physio therapist.

Didn't go to the gym until Saturday last weekend (the 19th) as the teachers thought that their subjects were more important than my knee. Meanwhile my friend shook her booty in a zumba session (which I will participate in when world peace has come and Gaddafi has turned into a nice person) I went spinning for half an hour and then joined her in the core session. Both my physio therapist and coach (Mr. Chiropractor) have said that a strong core is important if I plan to stay free from future knee injuries as all stability comes from that part.

No training since then but tomorrow morning it's time for physio therapy-meeting again.

In addition, I can announce that my team has advanced to division three, being undefeated the whole season and is the team that has let in the least goals in the whole Stockholm-district, both junior, senior, men and ladies divisions considered. 104 scored and 24 let in in 16 games which gives 6.5 goals done/game and 1.5 goals let in/game. Now that's really good.

Day 31-today

So, here we go again, after exactly two weeks. Last time I wrote, I had just gotten home from a spinning session and the morning after I felt a cold coming. Due to the surgery that I was going to have the Tuesday after (Tuesday last week), I had to stay free from all sorts of infections and illnesses and because of that I didn't do any exercise except for some minor physio therapy up until the day of operation.
The arthroscopy went well and the anaesthesia was just purely awesome. Afterwards, the doctor came to me and said that what they had found out was that my cruciate ligament is 50% torn and that it is the half of the ligament that controls the rotation stability (tell me about it, I've felt that a couple of times). Also, I had lots of scar tissue between the kneecap and the ligament which they erased while they were in there. No pain during the first couple of days and straight after I woke up I felt that extending the leg was much easier. She also said that there are two alternatives to consider at the return visit in 6 weeks:

1. If I have managed to built a muscle power sufficient to keep the knee stabilized in every motion and rotation, I most likely won't have to do the surgery when they repair the ligament.
2. If muscle power just isn't enough, I will have to do the surgery and that would mean a rehabilitation period of 6-9 months. That is saying that I won't be able to play floorball until 2012 and thinking about that is just causing a mental breakdown.

However, the good thing in this is that I according to the doctor actually have a chance to not do the surgery. If they had thought that "No way that you're gonna play with that knee", they would have repaired the ligament instantly or booked in a new operation straight away. So, what I have to do for the next couple of weeks is to live at the gym and get steroid-legs. Have been to the physio therapist once since the surgery and going there this Friday as well. In the beginning of next week I can start working with the machines at the gym but will have to create a new programme with lighter weights and fewer repetitions to get the knee used to exercising again.

Just took the last bandage off my knee and see two small dots. Those scars will be pretty at my wedding...