May Flowers

Okay, so this really has nothing to do with actual flowers (although I did enjoy my tree’s cherry blossoms this year!), but I get bored titling everything with the month and the word ‘update’. I’m going to touch on my injury progress later, but I want to start with work first.

I started my new job a week ago, and I think it’s going to be soooo good for me. I love having a set schedule. It’s nice knowing that unless it’s my turn for a late day (which is shared and usually only an extra hour and a half max), I’ll be gone at a certain time. I’ve made plans to do a workout at a wooded metro park once a week, a run Saturday morning at a different park, and there are weekly glow rolls Saturday nights all summer long I want to make it out to once in a while. I love having a schedule that lets me plan events and have evenings and weekends off to see people much more easily. I’m already feeling a lot less lonely.

Next, my knee. It’s not 100%, but it feels so much better now that I’m not on my feet all day long without a break. The pain is minimal, but I do still have trouble with running. I’ve only been doing three sets of 5 minute run/ 2 minute walk when I go out, but I do get some pain at the beginning of my runs. At this point, it’s more the patellar tendon that’s giving me trouble, and a little bit is coming from my hamstrings on the same side. The sports medicine doctor I was seeing said I didn’t need to come back unless the pain got bad enough to want an injection, or unless my knee is swollen for two or more days despite rest. He said to just work on continuing to strengthen it and to try to be less fat (not how he said it, but that’s what it comes down to). He said there isn’t anything I can do with my knock knees, so I have that working against me forever, but strengthening should at least help downplay it a little. I still lack so much strength in my right leg that it feels like a never-ending battle. I still can’t do a single leg calf raise or single leg squat, which means I still can’t jump rope. However, I haven’t had very much trouble with biking unless I overdo it, so if I keep it reasonable, I have little pain afterward. Honestly, my biggest issue is stiffness, and I think a lot of that has to do with sitting all day at work now, so I need to start stretching more. I did find out Friday that the desks all convert to standing desks, so I’ll be going back and forth standing and sitting throughout the day.

Lastly, I’ve been having some shoulder troubles. I think it’s leftover from my last job, so I’m hoping it will eventually go away, but it’s been lingering for a good 6-8 weeks now, so I’m going to ask my physical therapist if he’ll look at it for me and at least give me an idea of what it is so I can try to work on it on my own until I can get in to see my doctor. I don’t think it’s major because it’s just sore enough doing certain things to be annoying, but given that I’m not stressing it at work anymore, it should start to go away soon. Fingers crossed.

I’ll do another update in a few weeks in regards to work, but I might post something else in the meantime if something is worthwhile so these don’t always end up so long.