[WhiteGhost]

here!  (finally...)

[Jarric]

On 4/5/2024 at 4:08 PM, Laghail said:

 

Mood. Weddings are a trap, at least in the states. Egregious amounts of money and work for an event you barely get to be present for. I don't have a vote on your life, but if I did, I'd vote you destination wedding somewhere fun and affordable, like Kungsleden. Just don't take any unplanned detours, there was a documentary or something in 2017, it went poorly.

 

 

Well Now I definitely want a holiday there - it sounds beautiful. Bookmarking that for later.

 

On 4/5/2024 at 4:08 PM, Laghail said:

Gotta make sure your sentences don't return N/A#

 

Too true

 

On 4/6/2024 at 2:08 PM, sylph said:

Seems like it!

Hope WW is on the mend.

 

Thanks! She's not quite there yet, but definitely feeling much better.

 

On 4/6/2024 at 4:26 PM, Sovalis said:

Hope WW is feeling better soon and that you are able to resist enough of the chocolate this week to not derail your goals completely.  

 

Thanks! It's hard to entirely derail your plans in 1 week - I ended up eating over 4,000 calories over budget, and gained 0.4lbs, which is fine. Granted I'm trying to lose 1lb per week, so it's actually put me 1.4lbs off track, but that's still not a disaster.

 

21 hours ago, DarK_RaideR said:

If you need any help in speeding up this process, I might be able to help 😂

 

Well you're certainly more expedient than me in this regard

 

49 minutes ago, WhiteGhost said:

here!  (finally...)

 

Welcome! Good to have you mate.

[Jarric]

Friday - W2D5

Friday was a good day. Art was a quick, rough sketch of comedian Lou Sanders in front of the TV ( @Laghail if Lou isn't already on your slayers list she's well worth a look).

 

Kneehab was done at crossfit.

 

Crossfit was squats - 95kg (209#) x 3, 85kg x 5, 77.5kg x 7. Then a workout for time of 30 calories on the air bike, followed by 5 rounds of 10 lunges and 10 wall balls. My legs have yet to recover.

 

Stayed at work late catching up on stuff, then a chilled evening and a very early night before an arse o'clock start on Saturday.

[Jarric]

Saturday - W2D6

Saturday was a good day. Not good for goals though. Art was not done, and kneehab also not done.

 

I was volunteering at a Tough Mudder, so I got up at 4.10am, left home at 5.35, and arrived on site at 6.10 for a 12-hour shift.

 

It was really good fun - I was stationed on Sewer Rat, which involves crawling through a tube and then dropping into a river before wading round and dragging themselves out. Lot's of very funny reactions to the freezing cold water, and also lots of really lively moments where people who were scared to give it a go - usually being either claustrophobic or unable to swim - faced their fears and got stuck in. I actually really enjoyed myself, which hasn't always been the case when marshalling events.

 

At the end of the day I had to pack down course markings, sign out, do a quick sweep of the event village for freebies (ended up with 4 sparkling waters and 8 beers for my trouble), and drive home via Lidl for dinner. I got in exhausted, showered, and just sat and drank beer in front of the TV until bedtime. 

 

According to my watch I burned 4,647kcal,  walked 10.76 miles (17.2km), and reached 255% of my daily activity goal. I also ate a ton of snacks on shift and had 6 little beers in the evening, but it more or less balances out.

[Laghail]

10 hours ago, Jarric said:

Friday was a good day. Art was a quick, rough sketch of comedian Lou Sanders in front of the TV ( @Laghail if Lou isn't already on your slayers list she's well worth a look).

 

I need to see this sketch! Lou Sanders is #36 on my list, sorted by date added.

 

9 hours ago, Jarric said:

I was volunteering at a Tough Mudder, so I got up at 4.10am, left home at 5.35, and arrived on site at 6.10 for a 12-hour shift.

 

Kinda magical to see you facilitating these events that you love so much. 

[Sea-to-sky]

21 hours ago, Jarric said:

was volunteering at a Tough Mudder, so I got up at 4.10am, left home at 5.35, and arrived on site at 6.10 for a 12-hour shift.

 

It was really good fun - I was stationed on Sewer Rat, which involves crawling through a tube and then dropping into a river before wading round and dragging themselves out. Lot's of very funny reactions to the freezing cold water, and also lots of really lively moments where people who were scared to give it a go - usually being either claustrophobic or unable to swim - faced their fears and got stuck in. I actually really enjoyed myself, which hasn't always been the case when marshalling events.

 

That sounds really awesome dude. I have heard good things about those and they sound like a lot of fun. Different from the perspective of volunteer but defintely very cool thing to do

[Jarric]

12 hours ago, Laghail said:

 

I need to see this sketch! Lou Sanders is #36 on my list, sorted by date added.

 

It's a very rough sketch that doesn't look much like her, and it's also in my tiny pocket sketchbook, but sure:

 

Spoiler

 

Ignore the nonsense at the top of the page - this is what I do when I only have a few spare minutes to hit my art goal.

 

 

 

12 hours ago, Laghail said:

 

Kinda magical to see you facilitating these events that you love so much. 

 

Yeah, it was really nice actually.

 

The free race entry and 8 cans of beer sweetened the deal too

 

 

1 hour ago, Sea-to-sky said:

That sounds really awesome dude. I have heard good things about those and they sound like a lot of fun. Different from the perspective of volunteer but defintely very cool thing to do

 

They're really fun! I'd recommend doing an OCR, though which one depends on what you want to get out of it. Tough Mudder has a lot of cool big-ticket obstacles, but it's also a lot of running and like £150 per ticket (though heavily discounted if you buy months in advance). Some of the smaller local events can be pretty cool (and are always cheaper), and the well organised ones have a really lovely, friendly atmosphere that you don't always get at big races. On the other extreme, Spartan is very much a competitive race first, rather than a fun participation event, and then there's various regional and world championships that take the competitive side even further.

[Mad Hatter]

On 4/8/2024 at 1:59 PM, Jarric said:

Well Now I definitely want a holiday there - it sounds beautiful. Bookmarking that for later.

Just don't go in midge season, apparently it gets disgusting 😬

 

On 4/8/2024 at 3:22 PM, Jarric said:

I was volunteering at a Tough Mudder, so I got up at 4.10am, left home at 5.35, and arrived on site at 6.10 for a 12-hour shift.

 Cool! 

[Jarric]

6 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Just don't go in midge season, apparently it gets disgusting 😬

 

 Cool! 

 

Good to know, thank you. Being bitten to death really puts a downer on a holiday!

[Jarric]

Sunday - W2D7

Sunday was a good day. Art was a quick sketch of a lego minifig.

 

Kneehab was done as a warm-up for an afternoon bike ride.

 

I had  a very chilled day - got up late, went for brunch with WW, and chilled out for a bit before a short bike ride. Went out in the evening for my dad's birthday meal, and had an enormous amount of food. Even though I only had two meals on Sunday I consumed over 4,000kcal, and given that I had nothing in my budget I was 4,000 over target for the week. I only gained 0.4lbs though, so I'll take that.

 

In the evening I watched the lego D&D one-shot that was on recently, and spend a bunch of time sewing Tough Mudder patches onto a Tough Mudder hat. They give you a patch every time you volunteer and I've been meaning to do something with them for years, so I finally bit the bullet and got on with it.

 

Week 2 stats

Art: 6/7 (just missed Saturday with Tough Mudder volunteering taking all my energy)

Kneehab: 6/7 (just missed Saturday with Tough Mudder volunteering taking all my energy)

[Jarric]

Monday W3D1

Monday was a good day. Art was a quick sketch in the small book right before bed, having spent most of my sofa time sewing on more patches.

 

Kneehab was done at Crossfit. Crossfit was a full on leg day - box squats at 90kg (198#) x 3 x 5, then box step ups, hamstring curls, and natural leg extensions.

 

Work was ok, calories were low, and dinner was a delicious sausage and root veg tray bake.

[sarakingdom]

43 minutes ago, Jarric said:

Good to know, thank you. Being bitten to death really puts a downer on a holiday!

 

[Jarric]

Tuesday - W3D1

Yesterday was a good day. Art was some sketches during Pathfinder - one of Tangletop, a brownie who we decided to help get a shiny thing in return for information, and one of Mr Bird, who was the weird, soul-bound construct which was guarding said shiny thing.

 

In combat with Mr Bird I rolled a crit to overdrive my bow (as an inventor I can mess with it in combat to make it do extra damage), and then proceeded to miss every damn attack for about 5 rounds. In the end I finally hit, and that hit ended up being the killing blow! We gave the shiny (a spyglass) to Tangletop, got some information about weirdness in the general area and a random key which we hope opens a door in the tower we were trying to explore, and ended the session there. Next session we'll either be going downstairs in the place we're in, or going to a cave with a dragon in it, or to the tower to try the key,

 

Kneehab was done at Crossfit. Crossfit was deadlifts - I didn't write down the weight but think it was 140kg (308#) x 5 - and then some disgusting 1-minute intervals of 6 deadballs to shoulder and max distance air bike. My legs have taken a hammering recently

 

Work was good - it felt unusually productive which was really nice. Working from home helps with that. Calories were low ish, though WW accidently bought me a coke rather than a diet coke at the pub where we play Pathfinder, which was a waste of 133kcal on a drink I don't like as much.

[Jarric]

1 hour ago, sarakingdom said:

 

 

Ok, I guess it depends who's doing the biting...

 

  

[sarakingdom]

1 hour ago, Jarric said:

Ok, I guess it depends who's doing the biting...

  

 

Honestly, excellent choice.

 

[Jarric]

17 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

 

Honestly, excellent choice.

 

 

Glad you approve - I spent way too long choosing a gif to respond with. 

 

 

Now I'm wondering if there's enough Spike gifs or there to theme a whole challenge...

[sarakingdom]

2 hours ago, Jarric said:

Now I'm wondering if there's enough Spike gifs or there to theme a whole challenge...

 

Do it do it do it do it.

 

(I really want to do a rewatch of the series, but I'm not sure my sanity can take confronting the fact that Giles is now way too young instead of way too old.)

 

[Jarric]

Ok, I'm well behind on updates, so:

 

Wednesday - Kneehab done, art not done. Spent a bunch of my morning routing wires and considering a wifi extender or an access point, as I had new internet installed. On the plus side, I now have synchronus up/down 900mb internet. Had physio, which wasn't really helpful, but he's referring me to a consultant for a possible MRI scan.

 

Thursday  - Kneehab done and art done. Art was a rubbish, late night sketch of the cat after a long day on the road (I spent about 6.5 hours driving for a 2 hour client meeting).

 

Friday - Kneehab was done, art was not done. I tried running very slowly, in very short distances, at Crossfit. It didn't hurt, but no idea if it's better to push or not. By the end of the day I was knackered and just stared at my phone until bed time.

 

Saturday  - Yesterday was a good day, but neither kneehab nor art were done. I got up early, went for a short bike ride, went to climbing, drank tea and had a chat instead of actually doing any climbing, then came home and headed into town. In town WW and I met up with some friends and went to a restaurant where you eat in the pitch black, and are served mystery food by blind waiters. It was really brilliant - the food was great and it was just such a cool experience. We had a cocktail beforehand and a beer afterwards, and then headed back. In the evening WW and I caught up on the last 4 episodes of Doctor Who, and ate cheese and biscuits and drank beer. It was a marvelous, high-calorie, non-goal-scoring day.

[Jarric]

I'm speaking to a consultant about my knee on Monday, so I want to get my thoughts in order about it beforehand. Figured I'd share it here whilst I'm writing it up, in case anyone has a brilliant idea. Spoilered for size

 

Spoiler

The injury

I injured my knee 11 weeks ago, on 30th January. I was out on a run, and about 2 miles in I felt some discomfort in the knee. I decided to push on, but by 4 miles in it was too painful to continue and I ended up walking/limping the final 2 miles home. The knee hurt for a couple of days after that.

 

I've tried running every couple of weeks since, to see where I'm at, and every run becomes too painful to continue after 3-4 minutes. Last week (10th April) I tried to run and made it to 5 minutes 20 seconds, which is possibly progress or possibly just a good day.

 

Presentation of symptoms

Running causes acute pain within a few minutes, on the inside (left side within the joint) of the right knee. Aside from running, and walking immediately after a run, I am able to do everything pain free, including sitting, standing, walking, cycling barbell squats, single-legged squats, and deadlifts. Today (14th April) I went of a long hike to test that out, and found that after just over an hour of hiking (just under 4 miles) the knee started to hurt. I had another 4 miles to walk back, and over that time discovered:

• Prior to the pain occurring, I had been noticing increased fatigue/tightness in my right ankle and right calf
• Walking uphill increases the pain to acute, and downhill decreases the pain to a point where it can sometimes be ignored. Could this imply that moving out of greater ankle flexion is worse, and could the pain be caused by ankle tightness or calf stiffness?
• The pain is constant whilst walking, but if I really slow down it appears to occur on each step at about the point that my right foot leaves the ground.
• If I lock my leg, so that the knee doesn't bend at all, there is no pain.
• Walking backwards downhill reduces pain, despite the increased ankle flexion of doing so.
• 5 minutes of rest from walking granted about 30-60 seconds of pain free walking.

Treatment so far

I spoke to a virtual physio, who said it was likely a cartilage tear, gave me some exercises and said it should heal up in around 6 weeks. After a few weeks of no progress I was referred to an in-person physio, as I wanted to get a closer look, and also ensure that my running form wouldn't cause a reoccurrence of the injury once it had healed up. The second physio said it was likely weakness in my soleus/gastrocnemius causing me to overpronate, and prescribed calf exercises and single leg squats. I have been doing these daily (barring missed days) for 6 weeks.

 

What I want now

Really I want to understand what's going on that running causes pain but nothing else does. If the treatment is a case of not running for 6 months/1 year then so be it, I have running events in June and July but if I have to miss them there's not much that can be done. What I don't want to do is rest for a year and then find at the end of that period I'm no better than where I started - if I'm doing something for a long time I want to make sure it's the right thing. I also want to make sure that other things I'm doing, such as cycling or squats, aren't exacerbating the issue without my knowing. Finally, I want to know that my running form isn't going to re-injure me once I am healed.

 

Background - activity and previous issues

At the time of the injury I was running 3 times per week - two runs of 6-8 miles and one of 10-12 miles. I had actually reduced milage a few months earlier from when I was doing 4 runs per week, in order to focus on speed instead of distance, and that had been feeling really good.

 

2 years ago I had a separate issue with the right knee, but rather than acute pain during exercise this was constant discomfort throughout the day, which seemed to be exacerbated by running and squatting, particularly deep squats. I discovered that was caused by tightness in the right hip flexor, and foam rolling that hip flexor granted immediate relief.

 

I have also in the past suffered from snapping hip syndrome in my left hip (as a teenager, and again in my 20s when I took up running). I'm fairly sure that this is down to lack of activation in my left glute, causing me to instead use my left IT band and right QL. Glute activation exercises before running and heavy lifting seem to deal with this. 

 

[DrFeelgood]

I've had issues with my knees for years, mostly only when I'm required to climb stairs and ladders.  Doctors were all too willing to waste my time and money, so I decided to just live with it for as long as I can.  I sincerely hope you have better luck with yours.

[Mad Hatter]

On 4/11/2024 at 3:24 PM, Jarric said:

 

 

Now I'm wondering if there's enough Spike gifs or there to theme a whole challenge...

Yes please! For no selfish reasons whatsoever. 😉

 

21 hours ago, Jarric said:

In town WW and I met up with some friends and went to a restaurant where you eat in the pitch black, and are served mystery food by blind waiters. It was really brilliant - the food was great and it was just such a cool experience. 

I've done this with a few colleagues, and yeah it was super cool!

 

20 hours ago, Jarric said:

I'm speaking to a consultant about my knee on Monday, so I want to get my thoughts in order about it beforehand. Figured I'd share it here whilst I'm writing it up, in case anyone has a brilliant idea. Spoilered for size

Pinging @Kishi for knee nerdery 🙂

[Kishi]

Man, I'm sorry to hear your knee's hurting!

 

I don't know that I have any brilliant ideas beyond what you've been doing as far as getting seen by a couple of physios who have said that it's likely an issue of the surrounding tissues which need to either be strengthened or mobilized or both. Most of what I've been doing has been influenced by the work of the "Squat University" and "Knees Over Toes Guy" YouTube channels - lots of backwards walking and single-leg work, but really doing a lot to strengthen and lengthen the surrounding tissues. That would mean things like tibial raises in addition to calf raises and L-sit progressions as well as learning to split squat super, super deep. I also added on wall-sits at the end, just because isometrics in the context of the work/exhaustion of other strength modalities seem to be useful and help me feel better.

 

Maybe some of this would help you too? But, you know, take it all with a huge ol' grain of salt. I'm just a stranger on the internet, surfing the algorithmic waves and living out my biases. I hope the consult is productive and that they give you something tailored to your situation which will help you get back to running.

[Jarric]

On 4/15/2024 at 3:06 AM, DrFeelgood said:

I've had issues with my knees for years, mostly only when I'm required to climb stairs and ladders.  Doctors were all too willing to waste my time and money, so I decided to just live with it for as long as I can.  I sincerely hope you have better luck with yours.

 

Sorry to hear that mate - it's definitely difficult finding good people to help you. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I end up with someone good!

 

22 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Yes please! For no selfish reasons whatsoever. 😉

 

 

22 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

I've done this with a few colleagues, and yeah it was super cool!

 

I wish it was a more common thing - definitely think more people should try it.

 

22 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Pinging @Kishi for knee nerdery 🙂

 

17 hours ago, Kishi said:

Man, I'm sorry to hear your knee's hurting!

 

I don't know that I have any brilliant ideas beyond what you've been doing as far as getting seen by a couple of physios who have said that it's likely an issue of the surrounding tissues which need to either be strengthened or mobilized or both. Most of what I've been doing has been influenced by the work of the "Squat University" and "Knees Over Toes Guy" YouTube channels - lots of backwards walking and single-leg work, but really doing a lot to strengthen and lengthen the surrounding tissues. That would mean things like tibial raises in addition to calf raises and L-sit progressions as well as learning to split squat super, super deep. I also added on wall-sits at the end, just because isometrics in the context of the work/exhaustion of other strength modalities seem to be useful and help me feel better.

 

Maybe some of this would help you too? But, you know, take it all with a huge ol' grain of salt. I'm just a stranger on the internet, surfing the algorithmic waves and living out my biases. I hope the consult is productive and that they give you something tailored to your situation which will help you get back to running.

 

Thanks for the advice! I've heard good things about Knees Over Toes Guy, don't think I've come across Squat University before, but I'll check them both out. Wall sits are one of those things that I hate, but also think it would be cool if I were good at them

 

I think all of it would be helpful. The main thing I can never work out is how to prioritise things so that I'm getting what it is I need without spending 3 hours every day doing every ankle/knee/hip/glute exercise under the sun. Not to mention the eye exercises that my gym coach has recommended for posture  . I'm hoping that an MRI might give me a better idea of what to target, but if you've got any idea how to work it out other than that I'd appreciate the help.

[Mad Hatter]

2 hours ago, Jarric said:

I wish it was a more common thing - definitely think more people should try it.

I've also done a blind simulation and that was really, ummm, eye-opening. At first it was fun when we had to for example touch random sculptures and figure out what they were. And then it turned horrible when we had to cross a street. Of course it was all fake, we were inside and there were no real cars, but it was still terrifying and overwhelming.

 

2 hours ago, Jarric said:

I'm hoping that an MRI might give me a better idea of what to target, but if you've got any idea how to work it out other than that I'd appreciate the help.

I wouldn't get your hopes up toooo much. 😕It's so often that MRIs show problems but the person is perfectly pain free and functional and vice versa. Unless it's something super obvious like there's no cartilage left or an acute injury. I do also hope it shows something useful but I also would take it with a pinch of salt.

[Kishi]

4 hours ago, Jarric said:

I think all of it would be helpful. The main thing I can never work out is how to prioritise things so that I'm getting what it is I need without spending 3 hours every day doing every ankle/knee/hip/glute exercise under the sun. Not to mention the eye exercises that my gym coach has recommended for posture  . I'm hoping that an MRI might give me a better idea of what to target, but if you've got any idea how to work it out other than that I'd appreciate the help.

 

Hey, I'm right there with you. I want to do all the things all the time, and it's hard.

 

I would be loathe to advise counter to what the physios and doctors and imaging are going to tell you - again, I can't stress enough, I'm just a guy on the internet with impaired information - but in terms of practical/practicable advice I'd probably want to know what it is you're doing before I try to advise you. Maybe if I know what all you're doing, I can give you something useful in terms of cramming it all in or making it more efficient, or maybe even advising around what might not be so necessary.

 

If you want!