Saturday 29 September 2012

I Played Football

Just a day before my 48th birthday and a mere 7 and a half months after the operation I walked out of the front door with a football under my arm and my five-a-side trainers on my feet.

I jogged right out of the door, turned right at the end of the street and just a minute later I was in the park. I carried on jogging through the park until I had reached my destination; a concreted area with a wall at one end, high fences on the other three sides and a small five a side goal at either end.

It was 8.45am and the area was deserted. Not another soul was at the pitch. No, I wasn't ridiculously early, and no I had not been stood up by my footballing chums. This empty pitch was exactly what I had come for.

I dropped the ball in front of me and slowly, tentatively, gave it a little shove with my foot. I started to jog after it and did it again. This felt good. Before long I had reached the end where the wall was, I braced myself and gave the ball a proper kick. It flew away, crashed against the wall and came back almost straight to me. I tapped it forward, and then hit it again at the wall and started jogging along. This carried on for a few minutes, me just dribbling round the pitch and occasionally hitting against the wall.

I was playing football. Bliss.

Having been round the pitch a few times as a warm up I then did some shuttle runs, back and forth to different points on the edge of the semi-circular area from the middle of the goal. Just testing the push-off strength and change of direction ability of the knee.

Next came some zig-zag running between the two lines in the middle of the pitch which mark the edge of the two basketball  courts which are painted across the football area. I rolled the ball down the middle, then zig-zagged after it as quick as possible trying to catch it up. This was followed by a new form of zig-zag running which I invented myself. Running along a straight line at pace with my left foot landing on the right of the line and my right foot landing on the left.

Over thirty or so minutes I came up with many variations of these and other exercises. When I had finished I ran home with a smile smeared across my sweaty face. I was soaked through and knackered. I hadn't noticed how much running I had done, at no point had I felt the need to force myself to keep going. This is the difference between playing football and running on a treadmill. Katie always takes a tennis ball with us on walks. If I get tired, she throws it and I chase it. I maybe dumb, but she's not.

The next morning as I walked to the gym I noticed that my legs felt tired in a way they had not done for ages. I thought about it and realised that it was because I had exercised them in a way I hadn't done for ages. I decided that the end of the road to recovery was well in sight.

The day after my birthday I went to the gym and as I took my wrist band from the receptionist she piped up.

"Oh, sorry, I was going to say this yesterday. Happy belated birthday."

I'm a pedant, even when someone is being nice.

"I think you mean belated happy birthday." I said it with a smile but I knew before the sound waves had even hit her ears that it was cruel.

"What do you mean?"

Well I'd started, so I had to see if through.."It's your greeting that is late, not my birthday, so you need to be saying a belated happy birthday."

"Whatever." She looked at her nails.

"Thanks anyway though."

"              ", she replied. It was the loudest silence you'll ever not hear.

My knee may be almost better but I'm still and idiot.




Friday 14 September 2012

Is it a Zig Zag or a Zag Zig

With less than two months to go until my target date for playing football again, but a month till my next Clodagh appointment I took matters into my own hands, or feet, and moved on to the next level of recuperation.

There's a great wikepedia page all about recovering from an ACL operation and because wikepedia is where I do all my research I took it on trust.

I've mentioned these two exercises before but never tried them. The first is the Illinois Agility Test. You can see it here: http://www.topendsports.com/testing/tests/illinois.htm

At the gym there is, for want of another word, a gym. A cavernous space which is rarely used apart from the occasional game of five a side, the weekly mosque takeover and, whisper it, some basketball. After yesterday's running session I approached reception about using it. I had already seen it was empty.

"Hi. Is it okay if I use the gym for a few minutes?"

"Have you booked it?"

"No."

"When do you want to use it?"

"Now. Just for a few minutes. It's empty." I turned and pointed to it, you can see it through the double doors from reception. "See empty." I turned round to see that the receptionist was not following my finger but was instead studying his bookings' book.

I waited as he ran is finger up and down a dated and timed column. He started humming. the humming went on a long time. I could have done what I needed in this time but I waited patiently. He carried on humming.

"Do you know you're humming?"

He looked up. "What?"

"While you are running your finger around the page, you seem to be humming in time with it."

He ignored me and went back to the book and his humming.  Eventually he looked up.

"It's free now. How long do you want to book it for?"

"I don't want to book it. I just want to use it, whilst it's empty."

"You can't do that. You have to book it, so it's in the book, so we know it's in use." He looked at me as though the logic of this was beyond doubt. I tried to keep calm.

"You'll know it's in use because if you look up you'll see me in there."

"Yes, but what if there's an accident? We need the booking for health and safety. Come on mate, don't my life difficult. Just make a booking."

"Ok." I played along. "I would very much like to book your splendid gym for ten minutes, starting at.. [I looked at my watch]..9.17, today, now."

"The minimum booking is thirty minutes."

I walked away, went to the toilet and pretended to do a wee. I flushed, of course. When I returned I noticed that he was playing on his phone. I snuck into the gym and proceeded to do the Illinois Agility Test.

I didn't have any cones so I imagined them. It went well. I was worried, initially, that on each turn my knee would give way, but it didn't. I repeated the test, pushing harder. It was good, I felt good. The world record is 10.84 seconds, I was nowhere near that but I felt pleased with life and so moved on to the Zig-Zag Agility test. http://www.brianmac.co.uk/zigzag.htm

It is not dissimilar to the Illinois test but wikepedia has them both as requirements and who am I to argue. I did it, and again it felt good. I left the gym with a smile on my face. As I walked past the reception, he shouted after me..

"Do you still want to book the gym?"

I hummed a bit too loud and ignored him.

Tuesday 4 September 2012

A Statistical Review

Short Distance Running Progress - Treadmill unless stated.

1510 metres - 15 mins at a speed of 6km/h - 15th May. (First Post-Op Run)

2030 metres - 15 mins at 8.12 km/h - 26th May

3040 metres - 20 mins at 9.12 km/h - 1st June

1950 metres - 10 mins at 11.7 km/h - 13th June

2880 metres - 17 mins 20 sec at 10.02 km/h - 24th June. (First Street Run)

5.06 k - 30 mins at 10.12 km/h - 1st July (First 5k for many years)

2.05 k - 10 mins at 12.30 km/h - 3rd July

5.54 k - 30 mins at 11.08 km/h - 27th July

1.5 k - 6 mins 50 secs at 13.17 km/h - 18th Aug

6 k - 30 mins at 12 km/h - 2nd Sep

So yesterday I ran 6 kilometres at a speed twice as quick as I managed to run 1500 metres when I first started running again. The distance, the speed and the length of time running are all important because it is a combination of the three that gives me an indication of the build up of strength. This is all very good and I like it because it is totally quantifiable.

What is harder to judge is the solidity of the knee. I've started doing all the exercises that Clodagh suggested and have also looked ahead to see what comes next. You can see all this and more on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anterior_cruciate_ligament_reconstruction but here are the highlights...

The Zig Zag Test - Doing some high speed zig zag runs in a small area.
The Illinois Agility Test - A zig zag test from Illinois. Similar to Zig Zag but more changes of direction.
The Heiden Hop Test - A hop test from Heiden. Hop from uninjured leg to injured leg (is that not called a step?) and try to nail the landing.
Isokinetic Testing - Various tests which isolate very specific muscles and/or joints.

I have to pass all these test, or rather do well at them, before the lush grass of the world's football pitches are re-opened to me.

One thing that I have not really touched on in these updates is the fact that whilst all my energies are focused on my knee it is easy to forget how I have to keep the rest of me going. I'm 47 and bits start to drop off. I was reminded of this after today's run when I noticed a blister on my foot. The whole recovery process could grind to a halt if this gets worse. You can see now why people are so enthusiastic to push the concept of holistic medicine. I have a message for Mr Blister - Eff Off. I will not let a blister make me move back my 10th of November return.