on three on three

I made good on my plans to go to the gym again.  I got on the bike again, but did not get as far as I did on Sunday.  I did 12 miles in 35 minutes, with the difficulty relatively high most of the way.  The last five minutes I tend to cool down on an easier setting and today I needed it.  Got some great stretching in before doing leg weights again (hamstrings, quads, leg-press), and then some more stretching.  The spot on my leg was pretty sore during some stretches, but overall it wasn’t terrible.  However, there is still a huge difference in how my left and right legs feel.  Here is the excercise bike I have been riding on at the AU fitness center, surprisingly we only have three of them..

Being on the excercise bike brings back some memories for me.  People that know me from college may recall my freshman year when I had suffered a knee injury.  Before heading home for winter break I ventured into the woods for an easy 11 mile run out the Middlesex Fells (Scott’s Run to be exact) with then Tufts captain J.R. Cruz (now an orthopedic doctor at Yale).  At about five miles in I tripped on a rock and my left knee landed on another rock.  It hurt, but I made the run back to campus without too much trouble.  I tried to shake it off, but my knee swelled up.  After a day or two of rest I started feeling a pain in my knee everytime I would try to run.  It felt like a tendon was catching everytime I took a stride, and it hurt, a lot.  After seeing a sports medince doctor a couple of days after Christmas, I was told not too run until January 22nd.

Now, at this point you are probably wondering why I am telling this story.  Well, during that month that I was not allowed to run I still had to go to practice.  So, at practice I took an exercise bike and rolled it up right next to the indoor track.  From there I could watch my teammates workout while I worked out.  A bunch of guys did this, so it was no big deal.  Eventually I got bored with this concept and decided, along with a few other injured guys, to move the bikes to the front steps of the Gantcher Center…….OUTSIDE!  We would put our gear on and go out into the cold and bike for 45 minutes.  It was great.  And thus the Lance Armstrong Indoor/Outdoor Stationary Bike Circuit was born.  I even made membership cards for those that joined me outside, mine is still in my wallet.

After a few days the Athletic Department started receiving calls from neighborhood residents complaining about our presence on the steps.  It was sad, because we were well behaved out there and were technically on school property.  However, in the end, the Assistant Athletic Director personally asked me not to continue biking on the front steps.  Although it dampened my spirits I honored her request and biked inside.

My knee would continue to hurt right up until January 18th.  I remember helping to setup for a meet that Friday night and still feeling pain.  I was so defeated,  I really believed it would be better by the 22nd.  I remember sitting on the pole-vault pads staring at the ground, wondering what I was going to do.

The next part of the story is 100% true and also extremely cliche.  The following day, things felt different.  They felt so different that I decided to play some football after our track meet.  I was crashing into high-jump pads, taking hits from Zach Chrisco, and running without pain.  Amazingly my injury was gone, and I knew it.  As a result I was able to “officially” go for a run that following Tuesday.  On January 22nd of 2002 I ran 3 miles, all indoors, in 21 minutes (8min, 7min, 6min).  Then the Patriots won the Superbowl, but that’s another story.

I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t believe the same thing will happen again.  I keep hoping that one day I am going to wake up and my leg is going to be better.  However, I am not sure it works that way. But then again, I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

Filed under: Life, Training Entry by Nate