Return to Long Cycle: continued progress despite injury

My knee keeps getting better. But its been very slow. Over a month after the dislocation, my knee remains stiff after I sit for more than 15 minutes at a time. Although it keeps getting better, I still look like an old man when I get out of my car after my 30 minute commute.
Despite the injury, I continue to set personal records ("pr's") in the Long Cycle, both for pace and total reps. Last night I had a 5 min 2x24kg set for 45 reps (9 rpm) and tonight, I set my total rep record of 59 reps in 7 minutes (rpms = 9,9,8,9,8,8,8). This is truly significant, in that my previous pr of 55 reps (set June 16) took 8 minutes to acheive with rpms of 7,7,7,7,7,7,6.
I had been wondering what changes I needed to make to continue my progress. Things like OAJ's with a heavier KB, or adding squats or heavy barbell cleans.
Given the success I'm having, despite the knee injury, I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing until it stops working.

Return to Long Cycle: Ups and Downs

As I said in the last post, I returned to training Long Cycle. My knee continues to improve, but its not 100%, and I think it will be a long time before it completely heals and is back to normal.
Despite that, I have set a number of pr's in my LC training since the last post. The chief accomplishment is the increase in my rpm's using the 20kg KB's for LC.
I had hoped to up my rpm's to 9 rpm for 5 minutes, and eventually 10 rpm for ten minutes in the next few months. In just a few workouts, I maintained over 10 rpm (close to 11) for 5-7 minutes. And last week I had a 98 rep 10 minute set, maintaining 10 rpm for eight minutes, and 9 rpm for the final two minutes.
I decided to return to 24kg KB's and had two workouts in which I met or exceeded 8 rpm for 5 minutes (42 reps and 40 reps respectively, both efforts bested my previous pr's from before the injury). I crashed and burned the next workout and only managed 8-9 rpm's with the 20kg bells before calling it quits.I just don't think I'm up to using the 24's every workout yet.
Still, I have progressed very quickly, despite the knee injury, and should be able to reach 69 reps with the 24's by December.
At this point I think its wisest for me to continue using the 20's for most of my workouts. I know KB orthodoxy would call for me to use the 24's for one set, then the 20's for another, and then some OAJ's with a heavier bell. But with my knee injury I think it's best to use lighter KB's to rehab my knee, and to work on pacing and longer sets than I could with the 24's.
I'll let you know how that works out.

Return to Long Cycle

Since injuring my knee (see last post) I spent several workouts working on the snatch and the one-armed long cycle. I slowly re-integrated double KB work, using the 20 KG bells instead of the 24's, and last night did a 10 minute set of long cycle. I averaged over 8 rpm, with a total rep count of 83.
Normally I'd just pick up the 24 KG bells and resume where I left off with long cycle. But my knee is still tender, and it's very stiff every time I sit for more than a few minutes. I look like an old man when I climb out of my car after my 30 minute commute to and from work. Once the knee loosens up I'm fine. But those first minutes after I get out of the car look pitiful. Thankfully, my cautious return to double KB lifting has not hurt the knee or caused any soreness.
Anyway, the knee is getting better but I'm cautious about returning full bore to double 24kg work. So my plan is to work on speed work with the 20kg bells. Tonight I'll try a five minute set at 9 rpm. I'll progressively up the pace and minutes until I can go 100 reps in ten minutes with the 20 KG's. When I reach that point I'll return to the 24's. At least, that is the plan.
My ultimate goal for the year is to make my Level I ranking at the Southeast Regionals in Atlanta on December 5th. That means at least 69 reps of Long Cycle with two 24's in ten minutes.
We'll see how that works out...