The Importance of Being Lauren

When I first started working at the university I worked out in the staff gym. There was a super cute guy who was always there after work. I thought he was super attractive and insanely strong. However, I do not talk to random strangers at the gym. Okay, let's be honest, I am not one to approach any strangers ever. I am totally fine chatting with people if they approach me first, but I am apprehensive to start conversations in public.  Anyway, once winter hit I stopped working out altogether. Then in February the knee injury occurred, so it's been many months since I last saw the hot guy. I saw him at graduation back in May when all the offices came out to clap for the graduates. Seeing him with his coworkers made me think that he worked in the Business School. I did some university page digging and quickly found him. Y'all, if this higher education thing does work out for me, I might have a future in investigating.  Anyway, my light stalking   research revealed that ...

I saw a different Physical Therapist this morning and he was amazing! I left the session feeling strong and competent. He was so engaging and we chatted throughout the session. It was nice to be able to chat without feeling like I am overstepping by asking about my PT's personal life. My regular PT is not really a chatty person, so usually I am left to talk to other patients or insert myself if conversations going on around me. Today my exercises included biking with a high resistance, squat walks with the resistance band, steps ups with a 10 pound kettlebell, calf press one-legged at 115 pounds, bulgarian split squats, then lying down hamstring workout with the exercise ball, and finally backward and lateral walking on the treadmill. This other PT was awesome about praising my progress and told me multiple times throughout the session that I was doing very well. I have never been a verbal words of affirmation girlie, but I think I may be become one. As we chatted we realized that ...

I think I am mentally exhausted from having to do physical therapy three times a day. It has been so hard to force myself complete the last two sets in the evening, and I have been skipping more often. I always do the 27 minute work out in the morning, but I'm starting to get a little burnt out. I begged my PT on Friday to add different exercises to my app, because I am getting bored. He said he would, but spoiler alert, he forgot again . Today I did the bike on a high resistance level, then box steps (lateral and forward), squats, leg curls, Bulgarian squats, walking squats with a resistance band above my knees, balance ball squats (I was terrified to get on the ball), and finally resistance band lunges. Let me tell you something, I was almost in tears when he told me to get on the balance ball. I was like "please, please, please don't make me do this. I don't feel ready. What if I fall over and break something again." He rolled his eyes and said, "First of ...

I was disappointed that I had 10-days between PT appointments, but I was finally back in the office on Friday. I started the session with biking with the difficulty set to 10, then I went right into the supine heel pull. Last week I struggled to get to 115, but this week I got to 120 degrees with very little pushing. My good knee is at 125 degrees extension, so I'm really close to getting full extension! Yay! My PT said that I need to start working on pulling my knee to my butt for flexion (I think). So I have added it to my daily exercises. Working on flexion requires laying on my stomach, putting my foot in a strap, and then pulling the strap over my shoulder to pull my foot close to my butt.  It felt like personal training for the rest of the session. We worked on double and single leg squats, hamstring pulls, lateral and straight step-ups with a weight, balance, and walking (straight, backwards, and laterally) on the treadmill. I was able walk backwards on a steep incline witho...

I was apprehensive about returning to the office after week 6. I have a long walk from my parking spot to the office, and I worried about keeping my leg comfortable. BUT my house doesn't have AC and I knew that I would not survive the summer temperatures that were on the way. Despite my apprehensions, I returned to the office last Wednesday (06/28). I had to ice my knee for a few hours after the walk from the parking garage, but it was mostly fine. I have a cute little set up to elevate my leg for a few hours each day, it's a blanket sitting on top of my trash can. What can I say? I'm fancy AF.  Upon my return I was greeted by my man, Creepy Carl, in this provocative state.  Registrar's Office Mascot: Creepy Carl My return to the office was very eventful. My coworkers kept stopping by my desk to chat, so I probably only worked for 6 hours instead of 8. I loved catching up on the chisme and discussing the exciting lives of my coworkers. After being trapped in the house f...