I mentioned last week that I was going to take some time off from The 30-Day Shred, because my knees were swollen and achy. So I took a week off, but I worked out with the Wii Fit almost every day, because I didn’t want to undo all of the good that I had done. Yesterday, I decided that my knees were feeling fine, so I did The Shred during Catie’s nap. And it was great. It totally kicked my butt, but I enjoyed it and felt good afterward.
Then last night, I went to sit on the couch, and I folded my left leg underneath me, which is how I usually sit. And I felt a sudden pain in my left knee that took my breath away. I don’t know how to describe it, except that I imagine it’s what it feel like to be stabbed. It really, really hurt, is what I’m saying.
My knee is still pretty painful today. It hurts every time I bend my leg to sit down on the floor, which stinks because that makes up a pretty big portion of my day. How do you play with a two year-old, if not on the floor? So this is not good, and I’m really hoping that I don’t end up needing to go to a doctor about it.
Hopefully I’ll bounce back quickly. I don’t want to give up on The Shred because I like it a lot, but it seems pretty likely that I might need to find a lower-impact form of exercise that doesn’t make my joints go all explode-y.
Luckily, the weather’s been really lovely lately, and Catie and I have been going for walks on our neighborhood greenway. And walking is about as low-impact as you can get.
No, I don’t take my kid out for walks in a crash helmet. She always wants to bring her tricycle along on our walks, even though she’ll only ride it for a few minutes here and there, she mostly wants to run alongside it while I push it. (Thank heavens for that parent-height steering handlebar.) She wears the helmet because I enforce the “we wear helmets anytime we ride anything with wheels” rule. I think it’s better to establish the habit sooner than later.
Also, as long as I’m posting some of the pictures I took yesterday, can someone explain to me how something as simple as a ponytail can make a toddler go straight from “baby” to full-on “little girl”?
It kills me how grown-up she looks with her hair up. I sort of love it, and it sort of breaks my heart just a tiny bit at the same time.
I’m so sorry to hear about your knee troubles. With knee injuries, you really need to give them plenty of time to heal. I’d avoid shredding for a couple of months in favor of lower impact exercise. For a few days, if you use RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) to treat it, that should keep you from having to visit the doctor.