What a difference a week makes

Actually, make that two hours. As I promised myself in last Sunday's post, I had an appointment with BJ, my new Muscle Activation Therapist (MAT). Or, as I call him, bestower-of-hope and worker-of-magic.

More on that in a minute. First, the weekly totals.

Total time = 12:10
Total mileage = 95.70
Swim = 3:05, 4.70
Bike = 4:50, 77.00
Run = 2:15, 14.00
Other = 2:00

Second, highlights from the week. As you can see above, I returned to running. I had two solid runs this week, a 6-miler with my dear friend Ali (whom all of you know if you read the comments to my posts :-) and an 8-miler this weekend which turned out to be one of my best runs in recent memory. yahoo!!

And I reached a milestone in the pool: not only did I log the most swim mileage yet for a week, two of my three swims were 3000 meters each (nearly 1.9 miles), which is 3/4 of the Ironman distance (4000 meters). I'm feeling stronger than ever in the water.

I also am happy with having completed all of my workouts despite another (warning: you're about to hear a broken record) busy week at work. This meant awaking before 5am every morning and crashing the moment I get home. Poor Steve did not get my best this week.

Okay, now about my appointment with BJ. Forgive my gushing. I was, in a word, F-L-O-O-R-E-D at what I learned about my body. I learned that my left leg--the hip and knee that gives me the most grief--is, in fact, NOT my problem child. Rather, it has been the workhorse for far too long. And it's finally protesting. 

I learned I've been stretching the wrong way for 40 years. I learned how to reactivate my muscles to work for me and support my joints like they're supposed to, rather than giving them the day off and asking my hips and knees to bear the brunt of the abuse I give my body. (sorry) I learned that reactivating said muscles takes mere seconds and is something I can do while lying in bed. I re-learned what it feels like to have my muscles working properly in simple activities like walking. I learned that my hip joints don't have to click and pop when I go up and down stairs. And I learned how to tap into my body's natural healing ability.

All of this and more in two hours.

I'm not finished with MAT, of course. I have several more appointments with BJ and I have twice-daily homework: 5 minutes of simple isometric exercises designed to reteach my brain and muscles to communicate with each other.

And the best part? The part that made me want to cry in relief and screech with delight at once? For the first time, I heard someone tell me that the goal is to help me live the lifestyle I want. There was not a single mention of rest or time off. Why shouldn't you be able to do the things you love and feel good doing them? was BJ's rhetorial question. You should, was BJ's very real answer. I just need to relearn how to do them properly.

Despite the progress from yesterday's session, my knee was not terribly happy during the last half of today's 60-mile bike ride. It will take time for the current inflammation to subside. Fair enough. I now can be patient instead of upset with my overstressed joint. And if I'm to demand that it perform for 140 miles of constant movement in June, is this not the least I can do?