Seeking Coastal Utopia

Jeez, what a cliche for a title. That particular phrase is on the back of t-shirts sold by Rebound Physical Therapy  in Redmond.  However, I am glad this week has come as I am glad to be able to start sweating again.  After being in Oshkosh standing around talking to customers all last week for EAA Airventure , I started this week on the technique trainer that Laurie got for me from Performance Bike about 100 years ago it seems.  I started off the ride with a high pedal cadence (90+ RPM)  to get blood flow through the legs and allow me to push less hard to protect the knee.  I also need to work on my pedal mechanics.  Here is a video from the Livestrong YouTube Channel and Chris Carmichael regarding high-cadence pedaling. I start with 5 minutes small ring-big ring and every five minutes skip two gears until I am small front-small rear for 5 minutes, then back up for cool down.  This has been the morning wake-up all week and I am amazed at how much I have been sweating wi

It has been 3 full weeks since my surgery and the swelling has come down considerably.  The pain is significantly less, however the amount of movement is still less than optimal.  Additionally, as the Dr. Cara Walther at Desert Orthopedics had stated, the muscles in that leg took a vacation and have pretty much been taking their sweet time to listen to any commands.  Even the simplest "flex my quads" command meets resistance and quavering.  Still not fully up or down the stairs with confidence yet, but after swimming 3200 meters on Saturday helped more than I thought it would. Especially kicking, as painful as it was.  Of course, after not doing much of anything the past 3-1/2 weeks made me feel like a true weekend-warrior!  Now all my muscles are tight and need significant stretching.  Surprisingly enough my aerobic capacity was not as bad as I though it would be.  Must be all this high- altitude training and living we do here in Bend!  Actually Gaiam has a device they of