Bicycle Adventures

 Well what am I going to call my blog? Nearly 6 months of not running is not very catchy. My knee seems a good bit better, thanks for asking; it looks nearly normal. Somedays it's worse and some days it's better. Steep inclines aren't good. I tried a wee run a few weeks back but it was a no-go - hot and sore inside.

So anyway I've been getting out on my bike, and have had some good adventures. Probably the best was at the end of July. I'd seen a route on Strava that Stewart Whitlie had done, with some stiff looking climbs, and for some reason I wanted to do it. It's a loop starting near Gifford that goes through Garvald and then up into the Lammermuirs, over the moors, on a wee thin strip of tarmac. People call it Redstone Rigg I think but I don't know exactly what part that is. The whole day out, including getting to and returning from Gifford, would be in the region of 66 miles which was a jump up from anything I'd been doing - so this one day I thought I would go and just have a look at the start of it.

I cycled to Gifford and stopped there at the Lantern Rouge for a cup of tea and a scone. It was raining a bit and it was after lunchtime, so I thought it would maybe be empty - but actually all the tables were in use when I went in - but there was just one man sitting at the big table next to the counter so I sat down there.

I was going to have a look at my phone as we do in these modern times but my table mate was in the mood for a chit-chat. He was doing a bit of driving for people on golfing holidays so was at a loose end in the middle part of the day. They give you free coffee top ups in the Lantern Rouge, so you need to watch out. I was drinking tea but my table-mate was drinking coffee and accepted a top up without much thought. He went from telling me the odd tale to giving me a barrage of anecdotes about golfing tours. It was getting later and I needed to get going so I was waiting for a break in the conversation to say so, but it wasn't coming. Eventually I put my hand up and said "Right I have to leave now."  My head was spinning by the time I left. I bet he was awake all night.

I had meant to think about what I was going to do next while I was in the cafe but I hadn't had a moment to think, so now I just went and started the route. The start of it was a commiting downhill into Garvald and although I told myself I could always back out, I think at that point I knew I was going to just go for the whole route. There was a steep, steep climb back up out of Garvald - so steep that I didn't want to use my granny ring as I knew it would be nearly impossible to get going again if I had to stop for a car or anything. Anyway, you don't need to know every detail. It was very steep and then up and down and then at the far end of this road you join another road near Whiteadder Reservoir and head back for Gifford, and that is a longer, but less steep hill. Maybe it's even Redstone Rigg!

I was in my happy place on this second hill. I like a long hill. It focuses the mind. The sun even came out for a while as I neared the summit.

All of this was followed by plummeting descents that you could really get some good speed up on IF you didn't put your brakes on. I put my brakes on though. Accounts of why that is vary according to who you ask. I say I'm just being cautious but Peter says I'm a pussy.

There was a stiffish headwind as I headed home, and, just after East Linton what had been a light shower of rain turned into a deluge and continued like that for over an hour. This actually felt quite helpful. It distracted from tired legs and bum ache and made a big day seem even more epic. I had a good jacket and it was still quite warm, so it wasn't really a problem. I arrived home eventually, very hungry, and delighted to have had an actual adventure instead of going boring cycles in town or going to the swimming pool. Maybe the worst thing about having a knee injury and not being able to run is that I feel so limited. So it was nice to push the limits a bit.

Another day I went up into the Pentlands. I hadn't been there for ages and really enjoyed the scenery, -  if not riding over the horrible chuckies between the Balerno side and the Howe. I have never been brave as far as mountain biking goes but now I am much worse. Ever since I came off my bike on the ice at the beginning of last year and stoved my ribs in AGAIN I'm just - well I'm just really against coming off my bike. If I did it more, maybe I would get better. My current MTB has 29 inch wheels and even though I really like it, I find it harder to handle than my old 26 inch one. I really need to keep my weight over the saddle if the ground is at all treacherous or it goes sideways really easily - and me with it. As  I made my way at a glacial pace over the flipping chuckies I was remembering things I used to know like that you need to choose your line and then commit to it rather than just constantly try to stay out of trouble or see what could go wrong. It might be that that also applies to life.

Eventualmente I came out the other side and was rewarded by a good long swoop down to Flotterstone on proper tarmac.

In between cycles I have still spent a fair bit of time hanging about in cemeteries in the undergrowth taking pictures of things. It's interesting how these new elements of life from the pandemic have stayed.

One day there was  a strong west wind blowing but I had a free day and wanted to get out on my bike. I'm getting to know East Lothian better but I hate setting off on a cycle or a run or anything with the hardest part later on - so I'd rather run uphill first and then downhill - and if there's to be a headwind, I'd rather cycle into it first and then get blown home than vice-versa. Using this logic I thought I should go West - but where to go?

Well, when I cycled up into the Pentlands the last time I'd gone all the way up the Water of Leith path, which I hadn't done for quite a few years - and in the latter stages noticed that on the cycle path signs it was signposting somewhere called Kirknewton a bit further on from Balerno. I googled it and made up a path from Kirknewton - assuming that it must be an okay route - through what seemed like quieter roads and over to Kirkliston. I seemed to remember that decades ago I'd cycled on a cycle path from South Queensferry to Kirkliston - so I thought that from Kirliston I'd get the cycle path to SQ and use the west wind to blow me home.

All this didn't really go according to plan though. There was a signposted cycle route but it was really confusingly signposted, or else I was just being dim that day. I had back-up things - so I had printed out a google map and I had my phone with me, but quite a few times I couldn't figure out what direction I should be going in. I don't know West Lothian very well, which was part of it, and I have Broxburn and Bathgate and Livingstone all muddled up in my head as cross-country venues somewhere along the A8.

This was in Almondell Country Park which sounds nice but by this time to be honest I hated it. It's a horrible country park. 

I ended up in a ridiculously bad mood. I cycled along the pavement for a good distance on an A road - can't remember which one - the wind was behind me so I was making good time but - well it was on a busy A road. When I did get to Kirkliston I didn't have any sense of where the cycle path was or if I'd actually just dreamed it up, so I took a road for Cramond I'd never been on before. Towards the Cramond end I was recognising things - like the airport - and then noticed that there was a sign for Craigie's Farm cafe up a hill. This seemed like a good idea and I cycled up the hill - but I thought it was going to be quite a small place but actually it was pretty big and there were loads of cars and nowhere to put my bike that I could see and continuing in my bad mood I just cycled off again and went home.

I think it was this cycle that made me think I want one of those proper GPS things for the bike. My phone is £100 phone and it can tell you where you are but it's not great at helping you get where you need to go - and I can download routes on my Garmin, but I have to know the whole route in advance. I wanted something better than that! So I splashed out a bit of cash on a Garmin Edge 1030 plus and then didn't use it for a wee while and wondered if I was a pillock.

It's been a rainy August. I took this while Peter and I were hiding under a tree in the cemetery in a downpour.

Another trip that I did with Peter was a couple of Mondays ago. I just had a bit of work in the morning but then was free for the rest of the day. We decided to go to Big Saltoun Wood as we hadn't been in a while. I think Peter was hoping there would be a new batch of Commas. The weather was a bit iffy to start with and it seemed like maybe it would be a wash-out, but then as we came into West Saltoun off the cycle path we were arrested by a Buddleia bush FULL of butterflies which raised the vibrations wonderfully!

After that we went on to the woods where there was a new emergence of Peacock Butterflies, all pristine and perfect. Then we saw Southern Hawker dragonflies - which PB was excited about, and eventually we cycled home!

The following Monday we returned and this time the Commas had emerged and were out in force, along with lots of Red Admirals.

Okay, nearly time for tea and the last day of the World Champ athletics so I'll make it snappy.

My new GPS thing had sat on my desk for a wee while making me feel guilty but I had not felt inspired to try it. Other things were happening. But the other day I pinched a friend Michael's route off Strava which was part known and part not known routes in East Lothian. I thought this was the best way of getting to know how to work it as I'd never be truly lost and yet I would see if it would take me anywhere good. I had an inauspicious start getting a soaking in the first 10 miles from which I never really dried out - and although I could get the map up on the GPS it kept beeping at me and I didn't know why. I realised 10 miles in that it was warning me I hadn't started recording. I didn't necessarily want to record as I still had my other Garmin on my wrist but once I'd put it on it was happy.

Long story short - it was great! The route was 60 miles and I was thinking I wouldn't necessarily do the whole thing, but one thing led to another and I did. It really seems like a game changer. I'm sure this isn't news to many people but it is to me.

The end. (Time for tea.)

Five months of not running....

 Ahah, a blog about not running? How very Zen. There are a lot of things I haven't been doing apart from running,  but you have to focus. As Facebook wisdom has it - you can't hug all the cats.

So how's the knee? 

Well, whisper it, but it seems a wee bit better. I don't have to be so careful with it. I still have to think about stairs, steep inclines and declines, and it's still swollen, so I'm not running. I can't be bothered doing the re-injury thing, it takes too much of a toll. I've kind of accepted I'll need to start from scratch whenever and if ever I do get going again.

Which raises a question; what is scratch? How do you start running again? I was 25 last time I started running, and I'm guessing, but I was probably more resilient then than I am now. When I was 25 I was doing a Masters in IT at Stirling Uni because there weren't many jobs and the Scottish Govt was handing out funding, and one of the guys on my course was an ex PE teacher. Calum gave me this advice. "Just keep running for 20 minutes at first and you'll get fitter". He was right. It was terrible at first. The terrible thing was the breathing. I walked a lot and swam kind of regularly and had a bike so it didn't really seem hard on my legs. The breathing was something else. And the public humiliation. There's nothing for blowing your cool like huffing and puffing with a big red face while you run quite slowly. 

Also, it was in the days when it was fine to shout out your van window at a puffing jogger lady, so I got more feedback than I was ever looking for. I have a fine fighting spirit however and THAT shit just made me more determined to run. Although I tried to do it after dark whenever I could.

So what I'm saying is I have no idea how I'll start running again. Maybe I'll do the couch to 5K thing people talk about.

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So how are you doing with physios?

How thoughtful of you to ask. I've got a bit to say about that. So the one I was telling you about 2 months ago who knew about knees and football. I went back to see him and I think it cost me £58 and in the meantime he'd forgotten everything we'd talked about and had to read his notes while I sat there, and then he gave me some rather hasty exercises where I didn't really get what he was asking me to do. He yawned the whole time as well. I'm still doing the first exercises he gave me and they've helped me I think, but I didn't go back. 

You're quite the Diva these days aren't you Yakhunter?

Yes it's my new thing.

I thought I was maybe being a bit stubborn about the anti-inflammatories so I had a google and I found a paper on-line that said ibuprofen gel seemed to be just as effective as oral ibuprofen for reducing swelling and inflammation, but without the side-effects, so I've been using that, and it's hard to know what does what, but my knee's not so swollen - in fact it's much less swollen. I can do a standing quad stretch now which I couldn't do a couple of months ago.

Last thing and then I promise to shut up about my knee.

I got an NHS physio appointment through after...maybe 3 months wait. I didn't really want to go because I'm sick of the whole circus, but I went just in case they would have anything shiny or hopeful for me.

Quite the reverse actually. It's hard for me to say much about it because I appreciate the circumstances any NHS physio is working in - but it just made me feel tired, old and cynical. Obviously they're on a drive to reduce waiting lists because I got an assessment in a room with maybe 10 other people at the same time all saying their thing while I tried to say my thing. I couldn't hardly hear my young physio but I could hear the person adjacent to me who was saying she'd MAXED OUT ON ALL THE PAIN MEDS BUT SHE WAS STILL IN AGONY. He didn't know what was wrong with my knee. His face said he thought I should be happy with how my knee is because it's not too bad. He sent me a pdf of exercises to do the next day, that are less than the ones I'm already doing, and including lunges which I can't do because they hurt my knees. I won't be going back. I need to think of something to say. for cancelling the next appointment. I'll figure something out.

To the notion that you should just accept it if your knee packs up when you're 56 years old I would like to say this - cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic pain conditions - all associated with obesity - are killing the NHS. It isn't unreasonable to try to be as fit as possible for as long as possible. Exercise improves mental health, reduces blood pressure and the risk of stroke, reduces the chances of getting a host of different cancers, reduces the chances of getting osteoporosis and dementia. Oldies who exercise are doing everyone else a favour. So fuck off.

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So in the meantime I've been swimming and out on my bicycle, and I've been enjoying it. I went yesterday with Buchanan to Woodhall Dean to look for Purple Hairstreaks. (Butterflies). He's been at me to do this for a wee while. It was + or - 33 somewhat hilly miles to get there. The Hairstreaks, apparently, are more active in the late afternoon and early evening. I wasn't so keen for this because I like to be eating my tea and watching the Tour de France Highlights at 7pm - but I eased up on my precious regime for this one day. We found the Hairstreaks, and they were indeed much more active as the day got later. Then we cycled, possibly not a very good route, which was 18 miles and had as many hills as the previous 33, to North Berwick and got a train home from there.

Tea was a carry-out curry at 10.30pm, and I only just managed to get a lesson in on Duolingo to keep my 923 Spanish streak going. Estupendamente!!

Purple Hairstreak.

On the leaf above the yellow shield bug there are a team of shield bug babies. I took the picture but didn't notice the babies until Peter pointed them out later.

Three months of not running.

 Who wants a blog about knees? "WE DO!!!", shouted nobody. Well that's too bad because if there's one thing I've learned it's that quite often in life you don't get what you want. So suffer up. 

Here's a picture of a knee pinched from the inter-web, because another thing I've learned in life is that too much text and no pictures is unbearable.

So anyway, 3 months ago my knee was a bit swollen, just above the kneecap on the right hand-side. It wasn't all that sore and I ran on it for another week but that was making it worse so I stopped. I thought I was being extremely sensible and conservative as in the past I would have just run on it and hoped it would go away until I literally couldn't. (run on it.)

I went to a physio sooner rather than later and she said she didn't know what it was but I was quad dominant and had shocking balance so do these exercises. Increase your booty.  I did all the exercises and in fact still do and now I've got a marvellous booty and I can do (well kind of) arabesque balances. But I've still got a swollen knee.

I went to see my GP and he thought it was maybe bursitis so encouraged me to try more icing and lyiing with my knee up, but that didn't do anything.

Then I went and got the fluid taken off and an injection of hyaluronic acid as it still wasn't clear what the problem was and the hope was that would be enough just to soothe the joint and get it back moving again. It was nice to see my unswollen knee again, albeit briefly, until it filled up again.

Then I was going to go to another physio. The first one had been a bit snippy with me and when I emailed her, which she said I could, to ask if the knee still being swollen after a month was a problem, she didn't get back to me, so I thought fuck off I'd like to work with someone who is actually interested, - but first I went back to my GP and told him where I'd got to. He ordered x-rays to rule out any funny business, or indeed arthritis, and there was no point in going to a physio until I had the results of that. Turns out at the moment it takes a week to get a doctors appointment and then you're supposed to give it 7 days after the x-ray for your GP to get the results. I thought I was being clever by allowing 8 days because things don't always go to plan, but when I got to the GPs the results weren't back yet and then the soonest next appointment I could get was another 10 days. Much as I love the NHS I hate the fucking NHS.

("How can you complain about the NHS when some babies can't get clean water and have flies in their eyes?" I hear you say. My response is this. Fuck off. Stop trying to relativise my pain.)

WAIT, anyway, Hold the bus!! I forgot James the Chinese Medicine guy. Well maybe not medicine but Tui-Na massage (who he?) and acupuncture, moxibustion, man of inspiring words!! He was really nice. He cheered me up immensely, told me my body knows how to heal, that everyone in the western world's hips are far too tight, and right in front of me squatted in a way that defied belief. I burst out laughing - an anxiety reaction - and said "Stop doing that it's ridiculous." Maybe I can find you a picture. Kind of like this.....

I told him "yeah  but I can't do that". "Yes you can", he said "your body is amazing."

I was just about to say "Thanks very  much." when I realised he didn't mean me per se....anyhoo (I'm lolling.)

So yeah he was really encouraging and he did some wild massage on my legs with cupping which in case, like me, you didn't know, is putting glass jars that have been heated on the inside, on your skin, which creates a vacuum and draws - I don't know what - sucks at your skin and it's good for you. Feels great in a "Jesus are you sure" kind of way. I went to see him twice and each time my legs felt great afterwards, but my flipping swelling persisted. He gave me a lot of advice about attending to the joints and about mobilising my hips so I can do that crazy squatting thing, which I'm a little ashamed to say I have let drop. But there are so many threads to it.

So, at last the x-rays were back and I had a phonecall appointment with my GP and he said, nothing funny on the x-rays, they're normal, so that was good in itself. It meant whatever was going on was soft-tissue. I've got a mind that can easily create a catastrophic scenario so I was reassured even though my GP was unimpressed. The other thing he tried to get me to do was take anti-inflammatories. I'd said no the first time and now I felt like, well that's what you're supposed to do so I better take them and I got the prescription filled and took them for a day, but I don't know, changing your whole system just to alter one small part of you doesn't make any sense to me - and then I read all the warnings about ulcers and gastric bleeds and even cardiovascular problems and I stopped taking them. I had a dig around to see what I could maybe take instead that wouldn't kill my digestive system, or indeed my heart and found a chapter in a book by Neal Barnard called 'Foods that fight pain' that talks about the control of different types of prostaglandins and how you can do it with Flax-seed oil, borage oil and vitamin E, so I've been taking them. I think they have helped a bit.

"Why are you even worried about your knee being swollen if it's not that sore?". I hear you ask. Well that's a good question. There's quite a lot on-line about it. It seems that if your knee is swollen for too long it tends to break down the tissues and the bone - so things that you didn't have a problem with will develop a problem. "But why is your knee pissing out fluid from God knows where if it's not even good for it?" you say. Another good question. A really good question. I struggle to see my knee as some kind of mad gangster that is holding a gun to my head for no good reason. I think the answer is it's distressed, that's why.

Anyway, off to another physio with me. This guy specialises in knees and looks after a football team. When he sees how bad my knee is after 3 months of relative rest and this and that and I can't even straighten my leg properly he says he's best spending both our time writing a referral back to the GP to say I need an MRI scan and specialist intervention because it's clearly not healing. He looks gloomy and depressed. He sticks some medical acupuncture needles in my leg while he's typing - very odd - he puts electricity through it. He doesn't stint himself either - he uses really a lot of needles, which I have no objection to, because if there's any upside to this it's that I quite like a new experience and this is a new experience for me. I lie there while he huffs over the wording of his letter and really what preoccupies my mind is how I'm going to gently handle my GP so that I can convey the message in a palatable way. - will he take umbrage at me being in touch again with letters from people asking for things? Or will it be fine? I don't know if I have to make another appointment and wait 10 days to deliver the news in person or if it would be alright just to email it all in. I've just come to the conclusion that I'll phone up and ask the receptionsists who are always pretty nice - they'll know how this needs to be handled, when my new physio is satisfied with his writing and comes back to me. He takes out the needles and gets me to do a  few things and he seems to be deep in thought. He gets me to do a wall squat and hold it for bloody ages and after a while he has more of a twinkle about him. He gets me to do leg extensions  and lots of them. He says this nice thing "because you're bloody strong aren't you?". It's the best thing I've heard about myself in a while. I tell him I've been avoiding using my quads because of the whole idea that if you're quad dominant your quads pull your kneecap up hard against the bone and that causes a problem. He lets out a big explosive sigh. "Uh well, it's professional opinion isn't it?" he says "80% of the population are quad dominant. 80% of my football team are quad dominant. They can't change it either. And their knees are fine. Fair enough strengthening your glutes if your glutes are weak, but the first thing I'd do with someone with a knee problem is strengthen the knee. Why wouldn't you?"

I am certainly not going to argue. Do you know what? I just want my knee back working so I can run again. I'm missing it badly. He tells me to go away and do a rake of exercises (but don't do anything tha makes my knee feel worse) and come back in a few weeks and we'll see where we are.

So I've been doing them and my knee does seem better, at least sometimes. I go through hope cycles and gloom cycles so it depends what day you get me on. In the meantime I happened upon a couple of things. One is a program for knee rehab by a Feldenkrais instructor and physical therapist Marek Wyszynski who has taken a deep dive into understanding knee health, initially through his own experience of tearing a ligament playing basketball and since then through client work. Feldenkrais is all about increasing your awareness of what you are actually doing with your body - the felt sense - and hence finding comfortable efficient movement patterns and dropping bad habits. That's actually an inadequate summary but it'll do for now. Moshe Feldenkrais who originally developed it started with a knee injury the docs couldn't fix and fixed it himself. The thrust of the program is to create optimal conditions for your knee to heal - focusing more on keeping your knee as comfortable and non-inflamed as possible while doing gentle exercise rather than a more component focused approach. For example - current thinking about my knee by those who have bothered to think about it at all, is that I've got a meniscus tear - which can take you down a certain road. The meniscus apparently gets a very poor supply of blood and tissues need blood to heal because that's where the goodies come from - so I think medical wisdom is that if you have a tear of a certain severity, the only answer can be surgery because it can't fix itself. Even if I could get surgery, though, then it's a long rehab, and oftentimes what they do is take away a bit of the meniscus, which doesn't necessarily re-grow and I think I'm right in saying that people who have meniscus surgery get arthritis sooner than average. So not a happy picture really. Even if it was just great, with the current state of our NHS and wait lists or what not, if that was what was prescribed for me it wouldn't happen any time soon. But that view is not the only view.

I was watching a talk by an orthopaedic surgeon, Scott F Dye this morning who is escoriatingly critical of a gung-ho surgical approach. It makes him so angry it's actually enjoyable to listen to, if a bit niche. It's here. His view is in accord with Marek's that you need to concentrate on allowing the knee to heal, which he says it can if you don't over-tax it. And you have to be patient. 

So that's where I am. Doing exercises. Trying not to overdo. Trying to be patient.

I'll see my football physio guy in a bit over a week and I'm hoping that he thinks I'm making progress and doesn't get that look about him again - the depressed look. 

See you in a while.

Two months of not running and counting...

 Am I an injured runner who is just swimming a lot at the moment or am I a swimmer who used to run? Only time will tell. I have not run at all since February. My puffy knee is still puffy, in fact, if anything, it feels a bit worse.

Strava doesn't think much of my fitness. Strava can go f*+k it self though, because I'm doing my best. I've been cycling, indoors and out, doing my rehab exercises, going for walks around the graveyard.

I've even ordered an indoor rower. No of course we don't have room for it, and I can't afford it, but I don't care. I need something that's going to make me or keep me strong.

I've been to see....a physio at Fasics and got a program of exercises to correct my quad dominance and bad balance. Then,  a guy who does acupuncture and massage. (He was my favourite) I've had an injection of hyaluronic acid in my knee at a clinic in Falkirk. I've been to see my GP. I had an x-ray. I'm going to see the GP again this Friday. I think he's going to refer me to knee specialists, but we'll see. The physio in Falkirk who did my injection says, based on clinical experience, he thinks it's a meniscus injury because they can be really stubborn. He says to get physio for meniscus rehab - which I'll probably do, but I'm just waiting to see what the GP says. Maybe they'll do an MRI. Maybe they'll even offer me some treatment. I'm just assuming there will be an 8 year wait to see anyone, but maybe that's not true.

It's good I had a lot of practise being injured last year because I'm handling it fairly well I think.

I can walk fairly well except for downstairs and my knee swells up more if I'm on my feet for too long - but by which I mean like 3 hours, so it's not like I'm fragile.

I'm wondering if the whole quad dominance thing is really true. I'll persist with assuming it is for now.

So that's where we are. This runner's world has shrunk a fair bit.