What now?

I decided that I would go for a walk this morning and reassess. I ended up doing about 60 minutes of brisk walking outside this morning. I was pleasantly surprised that it gave me a similar outlet to running in terms of time to think. When i'm at the gym I find that its tough to do that because there is so much going on. Running is usually my outlet for thinking and unwinding, but I don't get the same effect at the gym. Walking definitely helped to alleviate some of that.

I'm still undecided as to whether or not my knee liked it. I think i may still be a bit sore from the biking on Wednesday. I was starting to think that i was going backwards, but now i just think that i'm dealing with a multitude of injuries in the same general area.

To be more specific, when i was biking, the entire ride was pain free. However, when I got off the bike, I immediately felt my left lateral hamstring tighten up and get sore. Technically speaking, my "injury" is in the very front of my knee, under the knee cap. So am I dealing with some coincidental hamstring tendonitis, or is this just part of the overall stress response type of issue. To prove this point further, my knee is still sore from biking, yet stairs still feel pretty decent. This tells me that the stress response/fracture may actually be improving, but i still have some tendonitis type of issue. The hamstring is also what I feel when swimming. Its not the fracture type of pain that i'm used to.

My biggest frustration is that i can never tell which activity is setting the knee off. Today is a great example. Was is the walk or was it the biking from two days ago. My better judgment tells me it was 2 days ago, but it certainly doesn't make me confident to go walking again tomorrow. I'm also finding it hard to eat well when i can't reap the fitness benefits that should go along with it.

I spoke with my friend Michaela who hooked me up with an appointment to see Dr. Michael Hustyn at University Orthopedics. I see Dr. Frank Mirrer myself, but i really lost some confidence in him with regards to this particular injury. I do respect him for being honest though. He said, "Well I really don't even know how to suggest you most forward from this. I would just take the next 3 months to a year off and see what happens." He wasn't trying to be sarcastic or anything like that. He just really doesn't know how to advise me to move forward and get rid of it. I'm hopeful that Dr. Hulstyn can give me a better opinion.

So that is the knee rant of the day. On a totally unrelated note, I am going to Pawtucket tonight to watch Kristen dance in a Halloween cabaret show. As unorthodox as it is, its been really cool to see her get passionate about something other than 14 hour work days and coaches that call our house at 10pm. I figure I should go support her. She really does have a knack for dancing. Ok thats all for now.