WEEK IN RECAP.

Its been 8 weeks now since the accident. I was really thinking I would be ready to start working out hard again. In fact, earlier this week I started back to the gym in the mornings and actually had 3 days of fairly decent workouts, all things considered. But, what started out with a bang, ended with a whimper, and I do mean that literally and figuratively. Thursday I didn't feel particularly motivated to work out. Wednesday had been a harder day so I had planned to take Thursday either off or easy. What I didn't plan to do was take Friday off as well. I just didn't get rolling in the morning early enough, had one of my busiest days since getting back to work so didn't take a break for lunch, and by quitting time I was ready to go home. I had a chiropractic appointment for after work, which initially I didn't think I would get out of work on time to make, but when I knew I would be cutting it close, I decided to go, since my body hurt everywhere, particularly the shoulder and ribs, so I suspected I probably was out of alignment enough to cause all this discomfort.

My chiro worked on me quite a while after I described my complaints and then said something I had completely forgotten about. When I told him my x-rays indicated I was healed, he said (same thing ortho dr. said), but that doesn't mean the soft tissue is healed. That takes quite a bit longer. Hmm, is this the 3 month period the ortho mentioned??

So now I am faced with a balancing act here--finding workouts that fill my need to do something but at the same time do not cause further trauma to my injured areas. Its going to take some rethinking on my part, but I would think I could continue to do workouts but work up to longer periods of time and try not to do the same thing every day. All I can do is try to come up with a workable plan, and if that doesn't work, try something else.

This leads me to believe that I made the right decision to NOT sign up for IMFL for next year. While I believe I am willing to do the workouts required, I have no idea if my body will cooperate and let me get that far. I do not want to stretch this injury out to a second year, so I need to go slower with workout plans. If I can get through this next week without constant pain, I still plan on attempting to do a short run/walk at the 2 month date (Nov. 3) and see how that goes. If I am in constant pain on that date, I will put it off a week.

Today would have been my latest attempt at a half marathon (Grand Rapids Marathon) had I been running, which obviously I was forced to transfer to next year. Don is running the marathon, and hopes to do as well as or better than last year (3:49). The weather yesterday was so windy and cold I'm glad it wasn't race day. He always says he doesn't care what the weather is, but I know better. Who wants to run 26.2 miles in 30+ mph winds and icy cold? I plan to head out to the finish line in time to catch him and others I know running the marathon and half.

And best of luck to all those heading to IMFL or the NYC marathon next weekend!