Range day: the aftermath

I really understand why the biathlon is an Olympic event. Racing from point A to point B, and then shooting accurately is hard. Of course, I wasn't really racing downrange with my targets and back to the firing line — plodding is more like it — but it certainly was laborious. I really could have used a breather between walking and shooting, but taking too long a rest would have cut into my shooting time.

After yesterday's thoroughly exhausting trip to the range, I had another PT session today.

I woke up today after one of the worst night's sleep I've had in a while, and still felt completely drained by yesterday's activities. It felt like I could barely move... because I really could barely move. I didn't need to be making extra trips up and down the stairs; my legs and hips were sore enough that I decided the cats could wait an hour or so for their breakfast until I was downstairs on my way out the door to PT.

My shoulder is lightly bruised, as well, from the rifles. But that's a good kind of hurt.

Eventually I did manage to get myself dressed and shod, and descended the stairs — quite shakily — fed the furballs, and headed out.

PT was the usual round of exercises — bridges, straight-leg raises, hamstring curls, and so on — followed by the caneless walking routine. This week, though, the therapist had me do something different. Instead of walking as far as I could before taking a rest, he had me do one lap at a time around the facility, with a one-minute rest between laps. Perhaps not surprisingly, on every lap my speed and form were much better than they had been in the past. I think he had me do it that way to let me get used to actually walking quickly; it certainly worked. It also seems to have loosened me up; by the time PT was done, I was moving a lot better than I had been before I left the house.

Of course, I was pretty well pooped by the time PT was done. I'm getting used to that. I barely had it in me to get myself up the stairs when I got home... so I fed the cats again before I came up. No extra trips down and up the stairs for this guy today... but I still will have to go down and feed them their dinner later. They had better appreciate it.

I'll bet anyone a dollar that I'll be barely mobile tomorrow.