Daily Log
12:30
I woke up at 09:30 after about 8.5 hours, and got up at 10:00. I had woken up a few times during the night with flares of pain, but they subsided enough that I could go back to sleep. When I got up, my energy was better than it has been for the last two days, and my thinking was pretty clear. My lower back was extremely stiff and sore, my feet refused to flex (it was like walking on clubs) and my knee was stiff and sore, but not unstable.
I had a shower, then stretched for 45 minutes to try to get my back to bend. It's more flexible now, but it feels hot and puffy and I can still feel localized aches. I may have to ice it and stretch/manipulate it, in an effort to bust loose a couple of stuck vertebrae.
My stamina feels more reliable now, and I think I'll take advantage of a rare sunny day to take the bike out for a short ride. That will help my inflammation, my knee, and my back, and it shouldn't tank my energy if I take it easy. At the very least I need to get out of my desk chair for a bit.
18:30
I packed the bicycle into the car without much difficulty (I have to remove the wheels and maneuver it for about five minutes) then went off to have the car smogged. That was quite fast, maybe 20 minutes, and I spent most of it sitting and knitting. After that I drove to the Willows, drove around it for about 45 minutes, then pulled the bike out.
I rode on fairly level, paved trails for 40 minutes or so, exploring the trails between Willow Pass and Monument. There were a couple of moderate inclines, and I had to walk my bike across a couple of intersections. My right knee was swollen and sore, so I couldn't really power my way up an incline; once I skidded out on some gravel during a turn, and my emergency stop (put both feet down) jarred it pretty badly. I tried to go gently on it while I was walking the bike.
On the whole, though, I felt better when I was done, with more energy, clearer thinking, and my knee and back were less stiff. I rode around the Willows for another hour or so, meeting up with teammates to stop and talk occasionally. I loaded the bike back into the car around 6 and headed home.
I'm still feeling pretty good, but I'm ravenously hungry. I had a granola bar after my ride, but that clearly wasn't sufficient.
01:15
I had a couple of helpings of dinner, including three baked potatoes... it's mystifying how I could possibly be hungry now, but I am.
I watched TV during dinner, and we finished up around 9. I did a little reconnaissance, and went out to drive around Martinez... that took a couple of hours, but I was in good spirits, and my pain level was reasonably low. My back started to complain about all the sitting in the car after two hours or so, despite the fact that I got out every few stops to walk for five minutes, and at one stop I walked a couple of blocks out and back.
I did a few more rounds in the car and finished up just before 1. I'll have something to eat and wind down... I'm getting pretty tired.
I have an account as Torquill on Dreamwidth, and that's where I posted this. You can sign in with OpenID to comment on the original post, or you can go ahead and comment here; either way works.
I woke up at 09:30 after about 8.5 hours, and got up at 10:00. I had woken up a few times during the night with flares of pain, but they subsided enough that I could go back to sleep. When I got up, my energy was better than it has been for the last two days, and my thinking was pretty clear. My lower back was extremely stiff and sore, my feet refused to flex (it was like walking on clubs) and my knee was stiff and sore, but not unstable.
I had a shower, then stretched for 45 minutes to try to get my back to bend. It's more flexible now, but it feels hot and puffy and I can still feel localized aches. I may have to ice it and stretch/manipulate it, in an effort to bust loose a couple of stuck vertebrae.
My stamina feels more reliable now, and I think I'll take advantage of a rare sunny day to take the bike out for a short ride. That will help my inflammation, my knee, and my back, and it shouldn't tank my energy if I take it easy. At the very least I need to get out of my desk chair for a bit.
18:30
I packed the bicycle into the car without much difficulty (I have to remove the wheels and maneuver it for about five minutes) then went off to have the car smogged. That was quite fast, maybe 20 minutes, and I spent most of it sitting and knitting. After that I drove to the Willows, drove around it for about 45 minutes, then pulled the bike out.
I rode on fairly level, paved trails for 40 minutes or so, exploring the trails between Willow Pass and Monument. There were a couple of moderate inclines, and I had to walk my bike across a couple of intersections. My right knee was swollen and sore, so I couldn't really power my way up an incline; once I skidded out on some gravel during a turn, and my emergency stop (put both feet down) jarred it pretty badly. I tried to go gently on it while I was walking the bike.
On the whole, though, I felt better when I was done, with more energy, clearer thinking, and my knee and back were less stiff. I rode around the Willows for another hour or so, meeting up with teammates to stop and talk occasionally. I loaded the bike back into the car around 6 and headed home.
I'm still feeling pretty good, but I'm ravenously hungry. I had a granola bar after my ride, but that clearly wasn't sufficient.
01:15
I had a couple of helpings of dinner, including three baked potatoes... it's mystifying how I could possibly be hungry now, but I am.
I watched TV during dinner, and we finished up around 9. I did a little reconnaissance, and went out to drive around Martinez... that took a couple of hours, but I was in good spirits, and my pain level was reasonably low. My back started to complain about all the sitting in the car after two hours or so, despite the fact that I got out every few stops to walk for five minutes, and at one stop I walked a couple of blocks out and back.
I did a few more rounds in the car and finished up just before 1. I'll have something to eat and wind down... I'm getting pretty tired.
I have an account as Torquill on Dreamwidth, and that's where I posted this. You can sign in with OpenID to comment on the original post, or you can go ahead and comment here; either way works.