Worries

My biggest worry right now isn't that I'll reinjure my knee, though I do think about that. (The photo at left is my knee 11 days after the ACL operation, which was four months ago.) My biggest fear is that I won't be able to kneel on my left knee--which would be a serious problem in grappling, which often requires you to get on one or both knees. It hurts to kneel on my left knee now, because of the incision and the removal of the middle third of my patellar tendon. My doctor has said that the knee might always be tender post operation.

I'm determined to get that black belt. At the moment I have to hope that as the knee continues to heel I'll be able to kneel.

I talked with "Hulk," one of my buddies in martial arts, about the new sensei at our school, whom I haven't met. Hulk (I call him that not only because of his incredible musculature at age 56, but also his tendency occasionally to get angry and gain superhuman strength) likes the discipline and focus of the new sensei, who's a champ at Muay Thai kickboxing. I wonder how the new sensei will react to my return, and my initial inability to do everything. Hulk thinks he'll be fine.

Yesterday I got in 30 minutes of cardio at the gym--10 minutes on the rowing maching, 20 minutes on the ellipitcal--and I tried crunches on one of those big bouncy Swiss balls. My plantar fasciitis--pain in the "fascae" tissue at the bottom of the foot--afterwards was fairly light (it usually takes impact work like jogging to make it hurt a lot).