Weights anybody?

[Dogmama]

Good for you!!

I love instilling respect into twitty little kids. I see teenage boys at the gym, swaggering around with their friends and benching less than I bench (I'm 48). When I start loading up the plates they get real quiet...

[missliz]

Thanks, I'm glad I'm not the only one with the attitude.
I needed the confidence boost that only comes with kicking a little butt. It's hard to start again from scratch. Now I know I'm going to be myself again.

missliz

[MightyMitre]

MissLiz - after hearing all about your fencing skills I'm now very scared of you! Sounds like a sceen of out of a film - must have been cool to be there!

I don't like the sound of all your injuries - must be miserable. I can't even bear it when I get a heavy cold and feel under the weather. I like your attitude though - glad to hear you're out there showing the world who's boss. Give them hell!!

[missliz]

The injuries are awful, but the first couple of doctors were worse (and made me worse). In my mind, sports medicine is now just a euphemism for misogynistic pig. I finally found orthopods at LSU Medical Center who are not only awsomely good, but the knee man was the first to ever actually talk to me and find out that before I wasn't able to walk anymore and got fat and couch potato-ey looking I was a more accomplished athlete than any of the lameo ball players these neurotic sports medicine guys are so worked up over. I think emotionally they're still trying to make the high school football team and be a BMOC. He did a beuatiful job on my knees too. Now I try to ride and the legs are so smooth I go out too hard and fast and catch cold the next day. No training progress this winter at all, though I'm doing well at the gym and maybe I just need more basic conditioning. It's a shock to be in the habit of spinning fast in a big gear range and then suddenly not be able to push the big ring at all! Mentally, one stays eternally 27 or so but the body doesn't always cooperate.

Be VERY careful with orthopedists- a lot of them are brass plated jerks. The good ones are worth the search.

missliz

[MightyMitre]

MissLiz - if you don't mind me asking, how did you come by your injuries. Were they sports related? Sounds like you've had a pretty tough time - coping not only with your injuries but with less than helpful medical people as well.

Very glad to hear you're riding - doctors etc may have a certain amount of skill when it comes to the body ( although from your experience you might not agree! ) but I'm sure they all overlook the power of the mind.

As a 28 year old youngster this is something I'm continually being amazed by. As I train and ride more I'm discovering that even if you have a strong body it's nothing without a strong mind. For me recently this has been working the other way - when I've been on rides with people stronger and fitter than me I've sometimes been amazed at what I can do when I put my mind to it.

Hearing about your recovery and determination, sounds like this is something you already know...!

[missliz]

I had congenital knee alignment problems, femoral patella syndrome, that hurt but went undiagnosed and treated because I come from an era when woman weren't taken seriously as athletes in this country, and sports med was an all boy club just like the sports. I reached a certain age, the cartilage went, I got run off the road by a truck up in there and banged up, the moronic doctor that was supposedly "treating" me sent me to quacks for orthotics and PT (there's a lawsuit pending), the orthotics were so horrendous and incompetantly done they caused biomechanical problems and completely destabilized my feet, my feet just blew apart one day. The plantar fascia in both feet ripped apart, one arch collapsed so completely the Pf separated. I got told all along the way I was doomed to this 'cause I had high arched 'unstable' feet. Lying bastards. Nobody makes it in fencing or skating with uncorrected inherent foot problems.
So my injuries are mostly from medical incompetance. My knees deteriorated to chondromalacia pattella grade 4 and 5 ( no cartilage on the back of the kneecap) because they moved over the sharp bit on the side of the femur instead of sliding along the groove they're supposed tp be in.
This explained why I'm the strongest fastest (was) woman in the area but I could never finish the century- I was fighting my own knees. The surgury to fix this (lateral release of the pattela) has gotten so relativly easy, and this bastard just blew it off. Don't these *******s realize that people need to walk around?
I was at university at the time, and was told this was the football teams doc. Big public universities in the US take football VERY seriously, and this was a good recommendation So I trusted him. He wasn't, they lied. The football teams doc was trained by the guy who finally fixed my knees properly, and he wouldn't have made this mess. I never expected this level of incompetance, you'd think people in health care would understand civil liabilityfor maiming people.
I'm kind of pissed. Fortuneately, the one sport I couldn't live without is cycling- the sport of choice for arthritic knees, and nice stiff shoes to help out my feet. On bad days I wear MT bike shoes to the gym to lift, they give lots of support. And LOTS of attractive men, , a nice carrot to think about when doing those awful leg lift things for PT.
I could rant on, but this is quite enough. I've been off sports for three years, and would have gone totally mad without this board. Thanks, girls.

missliz

and I'm not riding much, I think I have the Fear. And a lot of head colds from thinking I'm still race fit and blowing up.

[MightyMitre]

Phew - that's pretty awful The only thing I can say is that at least you keep fighting. Even if you only ride your bike a bit it's still one in the eye for the b*****ds who wrote you off.

A few years ago there was a story about a British female triathlete who was due to compete in the Worlds Championships, when she got knocked off her bike while out on a training ride. She was left paralysed from the waist down and everyone just pretty much wrote her off.

Well, the Worlds came around only about 8 months after her accident but there she was, competing against the other wheel chair users. I'm afraid I can't remember her result but the story has always stuck in my mind.

[missliz]

Once a warrior, always a warrior. To be an athlete is a particular state of grace which one will always have, like the scars it took to get there.
Besides, it never occured to me that I wouldn't be just fine in a month or two. I only recently figured out how badly I'd been screwed over, and there are steps being taken to deal with the matter.
And that's enough on the subject. I need to figure out how to get my butt out on the bike without overdoing it and getting sick. Constructive stuff. A nice twenty mile ride is the goal- preferably on dirt in the woods. Nice wild flowers all around.

missliz

[MightyMitre]

Hi MissLiz -interesting subject about how not to overdo things. I thought I'd start a new thread ( 'Take It Easy?' ) on the topic to see if anyone else has the secret of how not to overdo it.

[sistinas]

Hi everyone - I've been lurking for a while and thought I'd put in some input about yoga and pilates, both of which I've been doing on and off for a while to supplement my cycling.

Pilates, as someone said in a previous post is awesome for core muscles (and your posture too! my roommate said he thought I looked taller when I came home from a class once). It makes riding on the bike a lot more comfortable.

I like yoga because I'm pretty bad about stretching (I know, I know...), but going to yoga 3-4 times a week ensures that I don't tighten up too much (I used to be a gymnast and since I've starting biking I've lost an insane amount of flexibility, especially in my hamstrings and back). There are several variations of yoga and if you can find an Astanga/power yoga class, it's not quite as slow as you think it might be - it'll actually get your heart rate up a little bit, get every muscle in your body stretched, and even build up some strength from holding the poses.

[kath]

Strength training is great way to not only build muscle but also build endurance. I work in the fitness industry and as far as strength training goes there is so many ways to get the job done.
My favorite is functional exercises where you work in a group setting using non-traditional stuff like stability balls, bells, medicine balls, hurdles etc...
Dr. Edith Heuwes teaches a great class in San Clemente, CA. Lots of outrigger ladies and other types of athletes take her class. She is very intelligent and her program is challenging but effective.