Blood & Sweat

Today was an exhausting day. If I had more energy, I would think of a better lead.

We had another morning movement prep workout (like Tuesday). Today, we focused on linear speed. The workout was packed with running form drills and core stabilization. The workout wasn't particularly hard, but we were outside (in the shade), so we worked up a good sweat in this 100+ degree heat.

I had a 10:30 am physical therapy appointment scheduled with a therapist named Jeremy. As I found out too late, Jeremy is notorious for inflicting pain on his patients. His technique involved scraping over a previously injured area with a blunt instrument. The idea is that the scar tissue needs to be aligned in such a way as to increase blood flow to the affected area. I can truthfully say that I have never felt more pain than that 30 minutes of hell (including the experience of blowing out my UCL). Jeremy does this to plenty of pro athletes (the pro football player sitting next to me shook his head in empathy as I was being scraped). My arm is red and tender right now, but it was worth it if it speeds up my recovery.

I threw again today, 75 throws from 60 feet. My arm feels OK but I'm still feeling discomfort and a spasmed muscle in my forearm makes occasional throws painful. Therapists here have cleared me to continue throwing and I'm getting plenty of care.

A few more celebrity athletes passed through the doors today as Athletes' Performance welcomed an old friend, NHL goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin. Khabibulin joined aboot a dozen fellow NHLers on elliptical and stationary bikes.

The PM workout included a brief medicine ball warmup followed by a lift. We started the lift with a dumbbell snatch and some dumbbell RDLs (Romanian Deadlift). We alternate these lifts with mobility exercises. Joe remarked that I have much better mobility than strength. I trust that he'll correct the latter.

After the workout, I had another therapy session with a different therapist who doesn't use torture techniques on her patients. I wasn't out of AP until 4:45 pm but I wasn't done. I hit another 150 balls over at ASU's batting cages.

I'm very ... very ... tired.

Thanks for reading,
Ben