Pants are looser

Hmm.. last week's physical workouts have a fairly immediate effect.

On this first working day of April 7th, I feel that my pants are looser. That is good news, all the conditioning exercises in the morning are being to slowly kick in. All the abdominals crunches, push-ups, work on the biggest piece of muscle (the butt!) is having a noticeable effect. The feeling is great. But there is something that worries me.. the knees, I really hope that this current bout of running will not result in a future where knee replacement surgery is that way to go.

There has been conflicting reports on the use/ abuse of knee cartilege. NYT published an article citing some studies which appears to pooh-pooh the whole concept of knee cartilege as the one and only set of tires that we have and would wear out prematurely with rapid use, aka running! Honestly, I hope that that is not true! If there is anything out there that can replace, supplement, reinforce the cartileges, you can be sure I will be the first in line. I like to run, but at the same time, I have petrified as h*ll of busting them. I have many more years to go, and would not want to be wear them out even before I retire!

The pain in the left knee can be felt, a dull low ache on the inside. The last time (2007) which I saw the sports doctor at Changi General Hospital was that the doc confirmed that my knees showed signs of thining, possibly due to my running. Will have to re-start my knee muscle strengthening exercises as taught by the physiotherapist at CGH, to beef up the connecting muscles holding the knee cap to the shin and thigh bone. That means lots of half-squats in the mornings

So, I am resting my knee today, no running.. a break from the runs over the weekends.