Yeah you definitely don’t want to run with the pack on - the impact of running on your joints is roughly three times your body weight, so add a pack on top of that and you’re putting a crap ton of stress on your knees and ankles. Do not want!
Fast walking is where it’s at.
And very sorry to hear about the ACL, Last Stand - good you have a decent doctor, even if you have a while to wait.
Cal - Thanks, that’s a good little piece of info.
Saturday’s training:
Squats
10@45
5@95
5@115
3@125
3@135
3@135
Front Squats
10@45
8@65
6@75
4@85
Leg extensions
10@25
10@35
10@45
8@70
Calf raises
10@95
12@95
Stretching
My legs are yelling at me today and I’m sure they will continue to do so through the rest of the week.
Damn! That 90 MP looked easy girl! good work! And thanks for the vid. Awesome!
Nice moonlit ruck there! Rucking does sound like a lot of work. lol! Probably why I haven’t joined that bandwagon yet.
Oh no! Sorry to hear about the ACL - but you sound positive about everything, so that’s cool! So with an ACL tear you can train and stuff? I didn’t know that. Not too bad! So wait, what was you’re recurring “injury” that kept sending you to the PT? Was it knee pain?
Nice squatting lady! Great work!
[quote]Mascherano wrote:
So wait, what was you’re recurring “injury” that kept sending you to the PT? Was it knee pain?
[/quote]
With the ACL tear I can still weight train, but I do avoid certain exercises. Lunges and split squats tend to feel horribly unstable, so I have been sticking to bilateral movements to strengthen things up.
I’m lucky because apparently I had a fairly clean tear and didn’t do any meniscus or cartilage damage so I have no knee pain. I can fully kneel with my butt on my heels and squat fairly deep. My knee is just horribly unstable during twisting and deep lateral stepping motions. It is a rather unnerving feeling, so I don’t do those movements.
It was the instability from the ACL tear that kept me going back to PT. But I was just told that it would get better with time and that my brace should help. I wasted months waiting for things to “get better” before I got another opinion.
That is an excellent piece of news that your tear is clean and no damage to the cartilage… all thanks to you listening to your body. You knew that the instability was occurring for some reason. Honestly, it sounds like your strong legs and common sense are what saved your knee from further damage. Pat yourself on the back.
Squatting with an ACL tear? I didn’t know that was possible. I tore my MCL in October and haven’t been able to sit on my heels since then. Consider yourself very lucky! I’ll be checking up on your log for motivation 
Good luck with the PT and healing up.
Veggie - Thanks! It’s hard to have to stop and listen to my body, but it is worth it in the end. Live to play another day!
Dani - Yeah since the ACL stabilizes the knee during rotational movements, the straight up and down motions of squatting seem to be fine. I’m not going to be pushing for squat PRs though.
Sunday training
2.5 km ruck w\ 35lbs
37 min
It took me about 7 minutes longer to finish my little loop. We got a few inches of snow and about 50% of the walks weren’t shoveled yet. This made it MUCH more challenging!
When I got back home I put a batch of mango vanilla ice cream into the ice cream maker. It was a nice little treat to finish the weekend off. Nom!
Super nom! Home made mango ice cream sounds great!
Glad to hear about the ACL - listening to your body is key! I’ll keep that in mind for myself.
a man that icecream sounds nom!
Monday Training - deadlifts 5/3/1 style
5 min bike
Deadlift
Warm-ups
5@85, 5@105, 3@125
Working
5@135
5@155
5@175
Eccentric wrist curls - for my stubborn tennis elbow
10@8lbs x 3
RDL
10@105 x 3
Trap bar DL
3@135 x 3
I found that these worked my quads more than I wanted so I only did a few sets. My quads are pretty fatigued tonight.
Hamstring curl
10@25
8@35
6@45
Hamstring curls are not pleasant with intense quad DOMS. It is like hamstring culrs and foam rolling all at once. I swore at the bench when I was done - made me feel much better!
Time for a PWO shake and some Dragon Age now!
Wednesday - More squatting!
5 min bike
Squats
10@45
5@95
5@95
5@115 x 3
Front Squats
10@50
8@70
6@80
4@90
Leg extension
10@45 x 5
Stretching and rolling
Good for you on hitting those legs hard, but safely.
LS - Your rucking is strangely appealing. Must try at home. Sorry to hear about your ACL tear. Amazed at the work you can do while injured.
Kimba - Thanks, that’s the plan!
Powerpuff - I agree, it is strangely appealing. I like it because I can throw it in on any day and get a little extra work in with out beating my body up too much. I’m surprised at what I can do without an ACL too which is kinda why I ended up waiting so long to get an MRI.
I was planning on deadlifting today, but a stupid cold has got me down. I’ve been on the couch all day.
sniffle But on the bright side, my tummy is full of a yummy beef stew.
Ugh, hope you kick the cold soon. I had one last month and it lasted for two weeks. I didn’t care for that.
What sort of rucksack do you use for your rucking?
sorry to hear about your cold and your ACL tear. good on you for finding stuff to do around it. i reckon injuries can really make us stronger as we figure out other stuff to do. yum, stew. and now i’m hungry…
Feel better soon LS!
just checkin in on you…sucks about the MRI…but this time next year, you should be good as new!(hopefully, right?)
What kind of pack are you using? I found my camelbak to work really well…
Thanks everyone - I was an achy, sniffly mess yesterday, but feeling much better today. I’ll probably still have a sit on my butt kinda day today and get back at it tomorrow.
I spent the morning with a sports physician with quite the resume. She was awesome, very thorough. It’s very cool to be talking with a doctor that exclusively treats athletes and has worked with many national level athletes. She further confirmed that what I’m doing for training is fine up until surgery.
I’m on a waiting list to see a surgeon now - looks like about a 2 month wait.
Cal & MiM - I just use my hiking backpack. It has good support straps. I throw a 35 lb plate in and tighten the straps around it so it is very snug and doesn’t shift around. I haven’t tried anything else, but this seems to work well enough. My Camelbak is so minimal I could barely fit a 5lb plate in it!
Alexus - I agree with you on getting stronger. If I didn’t get injured, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have taken up weight training like I have now.
[quote]LastStand wrote:
If I didn’t get injured, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have taken up weight training like I have now. [/quote]
Funny that you say this. But I likely would never have walked into a gym, much less hit the weights, if my husband hadn’t broken his ankle hiking close to three years ago. The only thing he could do was the seated weight machines at the local Y, so that’s why we joined up. Once I started lifting, I immediately loved it and…well, here I am.
Out of lemons, there can come lemonade. The squeezing still sucks, though.
LS, I’m happy you found a doctor that you like and in whom you have confidence.