Last Physical Therapy Session

It's official, I am cleared to continue my life of exercising wtihout physical therapy. I was already getting to that point, but I needed one last time to make it...well official (is there a better word? Formal?) Jeff and I discussed that I can do some of these workouts on my own and the fact that I'm running a mile already, there is really no need. However, he did say that he could order more physical theraphy time if necessary.

I started out with the 2 wooden plank balancing things: first to the side and then to the front/back. Afterwards, I got on that BOSU thing again with it turned upside down. It's easier now, but I wanted to add a degree of difficulty. Yup, that's right, I closed my eyes to see if it was much harder to balance on one leg like what I learned at Dahn Yoga yesterday. It was indeed much much harder. I had to grab the railings just to hold myself. That's when Jeff asked if I was okay and I told him what I was trying to do with this exercise. Then, Jeff said, "It's your last time on the maze machine. Your favorite." I just kindof shrugged at him. And guess what, I got a personal best and a record of 61% accuracy in 1 minute, 13 seconds (it took 2 times). I didn't restart the maze so that I could gloat to Jeff and he was impressed (he said that). He said that we probably need to get a leader board and I would certainly be on it. YAY!

So, I am smiling ear to ear when I noticed that he was leading me to the net thing where I throw a 2 lb ball at the net and then catch the ball, while I stand on one leg...on a spongy thing. This didn't hurt as bad, maybe do the adrenaline of my awesome maze percentage. But afterward about 10 minutes, my foot and ankle started to hurt. I worked on basketball shooting form, while hitting the same target and tightening up my core muscles. And even though my ankle hurt, I thought that I could have gone for a bigger medicine ball. Jeff then led me back to the BOSU, but this time, it was upright and my job was to march on it. I was able to actually jog march within a couple of minutes and to the beat of the music. And that marked my last exercise of physical therapy. He didn't even want me to do compression therapy (which made me sad) and instead, put me on an ice pack.

Jeff and I talked about how I was worried that it would always stay like this and he reassured me that it won't. I have to keep on with the pressure and keep doing my runs, while still taking it easy. I shook his hand and said goodbye. Then, he said that if he ever wanted to skydive out of perfectly good airplane, he would call me. I told him that there is no such thing as a perfectly good airplane. I'm going to miss my torturer and soccer loving friend. I will have to remember the things I learned and keep it up to get this stupid ankle 100%.

On a side note, this morning, I did 50 crunches, 30 side crunches (just turning my torso) each, 20 situps, and 30 squats. I slacked all week, but I'm slowly getting it back. I plan to run at least Saturday and Sunday. I may or may not run this evening after work, but it's hard to run after a grueling physical therapy session.