If That Was a Demon...I Guess This is an Exorcism

Wikipedia (I know, I know) defines "exorcism" as "the practice of evicting demons or other spiritual entities from a person or an area they are believed to have possessed."  My last post was about the particular "demon" I've been dealing with lately while recovering from my hamstring surgery...and now I'm happy to say that, as of Friday, I have officially evicted the Demon of Supreme Crankiness that had been possessing me.

All it took was a workout and a car.

I knew I was really missing working out, of course, so I was very excited when, on Friday, I got to do my first official workout in 45 days.  Coach Jason at SISU wrote up a nice hammy-avoidant upper body workout for me, and between that and the numerous glute-strengthening exercises my physical therapist has given me (he's my old speedskating coach's brother, so he understands the value of functional glutes and wants me to strengthen them before I really start working on strengthening the hammies themselves), I had a good 45 minutes of work to do.  Despite needing to lift really light weights--at least I didn't have to go back to the 15-pound bar, though--it was a lot of fun.  The only thing missing was cardio; I can't run or row or use a regular spinning bike yet.  Coach Jason suggested I (gasp!) join LifeTime Fitness or something similar and try swimming, the elliptical machine, recumbent biking, and anything else they might have that might allow me to get out of breath without using my hamstring.  So, never being one to spend too long pondering these things, I stopped in at LifeTime on the way home and signed up.  


So by Friday afternoon, the workout drought had ended and I was mildly ecstatic as a result.  I had expected the return to working out to make my happy, though...what I hadn't expected was the secondary mood-elevator that piggybacked on the workout endorphins:  driving.  I have to drive to get to where I workout, you know...and it turns out that driving is a big source of fun for me.

I knew I liked driving, of course.  I guess I just hadn't realized how much I like it.  Part of the enjoyment  is just having the freedom to jump in the car any time and go anywhere.  Forgot an item on your last trip to the store?  Need to go to PT?  Suddenly decide you need a Monster Energy Drink realize that you're out of kale for that protein smoothie?  No problem...just grab the keys and go.

So freedom is nice, of course, but it turns out that there's another reason I love driving--singing.  I like to sing.  Unfortunately, no one else likes me to sing (understandably!), so I limit it to when I'm alone in the car, usually on my way to workouts when I'm playing my "pre-workout" playlist.  I guess I hadn't realized the mood-elevating properties of bellowing along to my favorite songs, but as soon as I hit that first (undoubtedly wrong) note, the Happy Meter was pegged.

So between the lifting and the singing, life is good.  Of course, the enjoyment doesn't come without a couple negatives; I'm a little sore from the working out, and driving is actually the most painful thing I currently do.  Part of the pain is just from having to sit normally on a seat, rather than being able to perch on the edge to avoid the unhappy incision site and hamstring attachment site.  Braking is also painful because of the movement required of the hamstring.  Race-car-driver-and-general-gearhead Jim suggests "left foot braking," but I remind him that I'm "whole body uncoordinated" and so that just doesn't sound like a good idea to me.  So I pay a bit of a pain penalty for my freedom and song, and usually end up parking in the recliner for a nice comfortable rest as soon as I get home.  Which could be a problem, of course, because I go back to work tomorrow and there is no recliner in my classroom.

Oh, well...a little pain is a small price to pay for exorcising the Demon of Crankiness.