Day 11: It's Not Always Wine And Roses; Sometimes It's Prune Juice And Dandelions!

I love today's title. My grandmother used to say it in Sicilian to me when things didn't always turn out the way I thought they would.  


Speaking of things not turning out as expected, that would be me today. I may have overdone it at the Y yesterday. I felt good and thought I would try to push myself a little; riding the stationary bike a little longer at a higher tension and walking an extra half mile at a higher speed on the treadmill. I also did two sets of 12 instead of one set on the leg lift and leg push machines. And now I am paying for it. 


I should have come home yesterday and iced my knee, but I had other things going on and I just ignored it. This morning I awoke to a very swollen and painful muscle around the knee.  Also hot to the touch which doesn't seem to me a good thing.


So what to do? I took some ibuprofin, iced it and elevated it while I watched an episode of The West Wing (IMHO, the BEST show ever made for television). I couldn't decide if I should go to the Y and push on or rest my leg for a day. Then the skies opened up and it poured cats and dogs, thus giving me another reason to stay put. 


But what about my promise to exercise every day for the next 365 days? I can't wimp out after just 11 days, can I? No way! I turned on the television and looked through all the fitness shows On Demand. I was taken with name "Cardioke," so I checked it out. How much fun is that? I sat in a chair so as not to hurt my still swollen knee, and I just followed along with the upper body workout. Whew! I worked up as much sweat as a full workout! 


So, even though life gave me prune juice and dandelions today, I was still able to keep on keeping on by improvising a little. And it was a nice change. And I can still count today as an exercise day. Some days you just gotta get creative.