I have to admit that my recovery has been going well, although a little slower than I expected. Well, let me rephrase that; it’s going slower than I planned for. As for what I really expected? Well, I didn’t expect anything. I hoped and assumed, but didn’t necessarily have any expectations.
When I was in that six-week period of no exercise, I found myself getting upset more easily, feeling grouchy, feeling out of sorts, and feeling myself get pudgy and soft. I watched my arms get thinner, and my legs getting more tired after mundane activities; all things that I worked hard to fight against. Mentally, it was tough (and I posted about that aspect here quite often, as it was a struggle I had to deal with). Once I was given the green light to resume exercise, I was elated. But, my doctor was quick to point out that I needed to take it slow and easy.
I initially set out a rather aggressive reintroduction to exercise that I believed was going to be a gradual progression back to where I was. What I failed to take into consideration, however, was that I needed to listen to my body and take it from there. Any plans I made had to be flexible.
What ended up happening was that I have been running far less than I initially planned for. What was supposed to be a run day/rest day cycle turned out to be 1 run day followed by 3 rest days. Then, a run day followed by 2 rest days. Another run, and then another 2 days of rest. So, in the past 10 days, I only ran three times. While that sounds really bad, in actuality, it’s been necessary. I felt so much pain after that first run that I needed those 3 days to let my muscles feel better. Then, the following two runs had 2 day rest periods which turned out to not only be necessary, but actually helped me make increases in both speed and stamina. The last run I had (yesterday) felt amazing, went well, and I increased my pace and the distance ran.
My next run is scheduled for this weekend. I don’t know whether it’ll be Friday or Saturday, but I’m not pushing it. Well, not yet. I know that the time is quickly coming for me to start really pushing myself toward being able to take the ACFT again (for the third time), but for now, it’s all about getting back to a base level of fitness that will be the foundation upon which I can build. That also means I’ll start my weightlifting next week which is a week later than I had planned for. At first, I felt bad about that, but now, I’ve accepted and understand the importance of listening to my body. I wasn’t ready this week, and you know, maybe on Monday, my body will tell me to take it easy, but then again, it might say, “Let’s do this!” in which case, I’ll be ready.
Recovery is tricky as it’s different for everyone. I know people who have had the same procedure I had and they were back to exercising three weeks after their surgery. They’re also much younger than me and they may not have had the same amount of work done internally as I had. But for me, recovery has been a long process that I understand can’t be cheated, shorted, or quickened. It has to be ridden out, and it has to be respected. I’ve hurt myself in the past trying to do too much too soon. I won’t make that mistake again.
Paleo Marine 