One Day at a Time
I woke up this morning in quite a lot of pain. I know it’s because I’m pushing too hard, too fast. Its difficult though.. recovery from back surgery is way slower than I want it to be. Then again, patience has never been my strong suit, especially when it comes to rest and recovery. That’s probably one of the downsides of chasing big, audacious physical performance goals for so long. After years of pushing my limits, my body seems to be going through a minor revolt. That being said, the injury that led to back surgery was an accident and not caused by all the years of pushing boundaries. Then again, things like falling out of trees and landing on my head doesn’t help either. But at 47, I guess I’m not that surprised. I’ve never been one to take it easy.
I have always tried to take care of myself though.. training hard, eating pretty healthy, and doing just enough recovery to keep moving forward. I know I’ve never given rest the attention it deserves though. I always cut it short, the stoke to get back to the grind overwhelming the rational side of me that knows I should be more patient with R&R, especially as I’m getting older. But with this surgery I know I need to take it as a wake up call if I want to keep doing the things I love. I need to be more intentional in my approach and not just always going all-out, all the time.
A primary focus point as I get farther into my recovery is trying and take a smarter approach to training. That likely means less running, more cross-training, and more strength work. To help support that idea, I bought a bike yesterday. The only downside is I couldn’t ride since I’m still pretty restricted in my movements, but having it there waiting for me once I am ready to go feels like a step in the right direction. It’s a reminder that movement for me doesn’t have to look like it always has in the past, and the idea of covering more ground with less impact on my body is probably a good idea in terms of longevity and injury prevention.
I’m also thinking about structuring my training differently and creating a monthly workout calendar to take the guesswork out of what I’ll do day to day. I think it’ll help keep me honest so I don’t end up going out for the same default run day after day. I do like having consistency, but I know I also need more variation. I can ride my bike to the gym a couple of times a week, mix in a weekly long run, add a day of speed work, and then mix in some easy run days to make sure I have a better balance of efforts. I think it’s a logical way forward that will not only keep things interesting, but also work my body through different modalities to help maintain balance and increase my strength more than just running alone. I might even mix in some two-a-days here and there, but with more awareness of when to push and when to ease off.
I know the competitive side of me still wants to chase something big, like shooting for a PR on a big mountain 100 miler as I inch closer to 50. I think I can do it too. And even beyond racing I’m excited about the idea of new adventures in general. Maybe long bike rides on service roads where I can carry more gear and make things a little more comfortable than running with everything on my back. That being said, I still love the idea of some long fastpacking adventures where the focus is covering serious ground on foot with just the essentials needed to get from one point to the other.
But of course, I’m getting ahead of myself like I usually do. I’ve still got another seven weeks of recovery ahead of me before I can even think about ramping things up beyond walks around the block at a slow pace. It hasn’t even been a full week since surgery yet! Right now, my job is to heal. No rushing it and no forcing it faster than it needs to take.
I won’t sugar coat it though, I’m still nervous and hope this surgery finally fixes the constant pain I’ve been living with for over a year. I’ll keep my fingers crossed, continue to take deep breathes, and just trust the process.
No matter what it still boils down to the one fact I can’t change.. I can only focus on one day at a time.
