One day...

This was a great week for me as far as exercise. I posted a while back about the weight training I do, but my routine was never really intense. I did full-body workouts and didn't really exhaust myself on any one exercise. This past week, I split my routine into three parts: legs, chest/back, arms/shoulders. I put a lot effort into these workouts. They were really intense, and I felt really good about myself. Tonight, I did my arms/shoulders workout, and then went to a tennis clinic. I was a little concerned about overdoing it, but I really wanted to get my workout in and definitely wanted to play tennis. An hour into the tennis clinic, I was getting ready to charge forward to chase a ball, and I felt a pop in my left calf muscle. It felt like a tennis ball had hit me, and that's what I thought had happened. I didn't understand how a ball had hit me from behind, but that's exactly how it felt. My next step hurt, and I pulled up. I thought I had a cramp, so I hopped over to the fence, gingerly putting weight on my leg. The pain got worse, and I began to realize that this was something more than a cramp. By now, the rest of the clinic members were coming over to see what the problem was. I found that I couldn't put any pressure on my left leg, and I had to hop to a bench. I had a group of people standing over me, one person ran to get ice, and everyone was offering help. I felt kind of silly, but I appreciated everyone's concern. The ice arrived along with the owner of the club. One of the clinic members is an ER doctor, and the owner had a physical therapist on the phone. Prescription: ice and elevation for 48 hours. Then alternating heat and ice with gentle stretching as possible. Advil for swelling, up to 800mg at a time. No tennis for 6 weeks. Fuck. One day, I'm feeling great, working out, kickin' exercise butt. The next day, I'm an invalid, unable to walk, sitting with my leg on ice. Today I was so looking forward to a weekend of having fun and working on the house. Tonight I think I'm gonna be spending a few days in this chair. Amazing how things change so much in so little time. I didn't see this coming. I guess no one does. The pain in my leg is tolerable. It's the disappointment of not being able to do anything that's crippling. I know there's nothing to do but wait for it to heal. I'll just do the best I can to be patient and let it heal. As for what you can do to help, I'll quote Hawkeye from M*A*S*H, "Out of Sight, Out of Mind," episode 99: "...do whatever you were doing...you know, set your hair, iron your undies, get undressed...." Any takers?