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| Early morning at The Y, and it's empty. Perfect! |
It's not easy trying to be an middle-aged athlete, but such is the case with me. After knee surgery with complications from DVT (Deep vein thrombosis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVT), I had months and months of physical therapy to regain leg extension. Muscles atrophy extremely quickly, and after some months, I could see a noticeable difference between the size of my calves. My life changed quickly overnight, as the result of an accident walking my dog, which I've written about before. But here I was, and I was glad to be alive. I was at the point of deciding my next endeavor. What to do? Fencing? Hm. I hate gyms, but I need to continue the momentum.
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| Cool down time. |
I had set a routine for PT: early mornings before work, I went to PT sessions, supervised by a physical therapist, then I would clean up in the locker room, and get dressed for a full 8-10 day at the office, packing my work clothes in a gym bag. One morning my Physical Therapist asked me, "Hey, nice of you to show up ready to work!", because I was yawning and drinking coffee during warm ups. "Oh", I laughed, "that's because I need a boost to get me out the door to go to work." He stopped, paused for a second, and took a good, long look at me. "You...you...go to work." he said slowly, "After doing this." "Yeah!", I laughed, and then I glanced around the room.
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| Time to hit the bag! |
Many of the people there were disabled from obesity, riding in motorized carts, doing arm exercises and other limited, stationary routines. Oh. I was the healthiest and most active person there. And I wanted to keep it that way. So, when someone from work asked me to go to a martial arts school with them as part of a group (probably to get a discount) I quickly agreed. After all, I had studied Taoist Tai Chi years ago and loved it. Plus, it has deep, strong roots in my family. Two of my brothers and my oldest nephew are also martial artists. Cool!
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| View from the elliptical. |
But...could I do it given the damage in my knee? I was just getting back into shape, and I did have two pins in my knee. Plus, I was 37 at the time. What would happen? I started out very gently, easing myself into classes, until they became routine. And I enjoyed them, too. This was really the first thing I had ever done solely for myself, to benefit just me and no one else, or so I thought. It felt very selfish, but then I learned that the healthier I became, the better it would be for those around me. It's a lesson I struggle with daily.
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| Starting over, this time BJJ. |
Then, I stepped my routine up another notch, daring to enroll at the same world-renowned BJJ school as my Irish Twin. It was a huge honor for me to be at the same school as him, because he is much more advanced than I am. As he stood over me in the dojo office, where I signed my contract, I felt more doubts. Can I really do this? I looked up at him, and he placed his hand on my shoulder. I made my decision. Well, I can do anything for a year. Right? Wrong! I made it 11 months, with a competition under my belt, realizing that over the course of those months, I had sustained two separate injuries, during different training sessions. My leg started giving way after training for a few hours, and I knew that something was wrong, but I told myself if I just made it to that first tournament, I would get the MRI. And so I did.
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| No-gi BJJ tournament. |
The news was serious, but I already knew it was: meniscus tear, torn ACL, ligament, bone and tendon bruising in my weaker leg. Strange thing is, my injuries really don't hurt all that much, except during bad weather, which is like arthritis, I'm told. When I did the ACL tear, my training partners were so scared, because they told me they heard a "POP!", that dreaded sound we all fear. The room became very quiet, because they realized it before I did. "Oh?", I questioned the purple belt who was supervising me and my partner, "You heard a pop?" They asked me what I wanted to do, so I took a moment, shook my leg out laughing, and said "Ahh, I'll play it through. I wanna finish the class."
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| Early a.m. Just me and the bag. |
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| Do what you do. |
At first, I wore a DonJoy brace made for ACL injuries, setting the elliptical machine to its lowest resistance settings. Gradually, I gained more muscle, which helps secure the damaged area. I started bag training again, then swimming, and finally some classes, which told me a lot about how far I've come on this path. Now I'm 42, and I'll always have a bad knee, but I won't give up, and neither should you. Keep fighting!
