Caged animal syndrome.
While I’ve been nursing my sore head, shoulder and knee these past five weeks, I’ve also been scouring Pinterest, Google and social media in general, looking for training tips to help me with my recovery and getting back into the swing of things after my fall and resulting injuries.
I suppose it helped me cope with feeling like a wounded, caged animal, keeping me sane when I was confined to the hospital bed or the house. And, although I gleaned nothing new from the plethora of tips I’ve read (most of them being common sense), I did feel that I was staying in the game mentally at least!
Building fitness and confidence.
Essentially, I’m starting again. I could pluck any ‘Couch Potato to 5K’ plan off the web and follow it, and then up it from there to 10K, to Half and then be back where I was. At least from a fitness perspective. Confidence is another challenge altogether. What is it about getting older that turns us into complete scaredy cats??
It got me thinking. Then I remembered that I’ve got an old iPhone somewhere around the house with ‘Hal Higdon’s half marathon Novice 1′ app on it! It was pricey for an app, and you can find the plan on his website for free if you want to use it on your running watch. But I used it in my pre-watch days and I found it very motivating and reassuring. Exactly what I need right now to rebuild my confidence in my running! In addition to mapping out a proven training plan, good old Hal says encouraging things during each run! I decided to dig it out, dust it off and give it a whirl!
It also got me thinking about putting together another post soon to help any budding trail runners out there – maybe an intro to trail running for mere mortals. What do you think?
Post Op Fitness Recovery Diary: Weeks 1 – 3
Week 1:
Four days after surgery, I went for my first outdoor walk around a local forest park with my hubby and the dog. I felt incredibly weak and vulnerable and had to lean on Ronan’s arm a lot. It was a short walk, maybe two or three kilometres but I was wiped out when I got home. I suppose I was still suffering the effects of anaesthesia and my body was still reeling from the shock of the entire experience.
Week 2:
On Monday I went for a walk with Monty (my dog), around a nearby nature reserve. The loop is 4km. I figured that I could manage that easily. How wrong was I?? After about 1.5km, I began to feel dizzy and light-headed. I did the sensible thing and turned around, taking the shortest route home.
I saw the surgeon on Tuesday. There has been some movement of the bone but not much, which is good. I’ll have a little indentation or dimple there, but I can happily live with that. I’m just glad to have escaped plates and pins! He also said I can return to some gentle yoga and running, but after yesterday’s experience, I think running will take a bit longer!!
After chatting with Liz, my yoga instructor, I decided to go along to Thursday morning’s class where there would be fewer students and she could keep a closer eye on me. We had to modify some movements so I wasn’t face down and I listened to my body, wasn’t so hard on myself. It was an emotionally charged experience for me. I felt my resilience returning and for the first time since my fall, felt that it was really possible to be myself again.
Week 3:
Another Monday walk, and another nature reserve. This time though, I went with a friend. The sea air blew in off the Irish Sea as we slowly walked the trail. Sheelagh was great! She kept me talking and walking, putting one foot in front of the other. It was probably only 5km and it took us an hour and a half, but I didn’t feel dizzy. Just fatigue. I felt pleased with myself. I’m getting stronger.
Yoga again on Thursday, still modifying the movements to avoid being in a head down position. No tears upon completion this time, I was all smiles. I’ll be returning to work next week, so I’ll be going back to my regular ‘Yoga for Runners & Athletes’ class on Thursday evenings.
Four full weeks after my fall resulted in a zygomatic (cheekbone) fracture, and 3 weeks, two days after surgery to close the fracture, I ventured out for a ‘run’. I brought my 9 year old son, Charlie, with me as my pacer.
We made slow, gentle progress around the 5km trail. Stopping often to smell the wild garlic, absorb the view, take photos or simply enjoy a break. We also bumped into a yoga buddy and stopped to chat and pet his dogs. It was probably the longest 5km ever, taking a full hour and five minutes, but Hal’s encouraging comments from the app, meeting friends, enjoying time with Charlie and the feeling of getting better, getting stronger, moving forward also made it a different kind of PB.
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