This week was tough as my first week back at training. I started off on the back foot waking up with a sore throat on Monday morning. I decided to ignore it and train anyway. Within 1500m of my swim my elbow started hurting, I felt terrible in the water but I was adamant I was going to finish the session. I had to dig deep. I finished my session and headed to start my working week.
I couldn’t bring myself to put in a double session on my first training day. Tuesday and Wednesday I still had a sore throat and felt pretty tired. My elbow was sore and I wasn’t in the best head space. I opted to skip my swim on Wednesday and just do my strength session. It was a great session thank goodness!
Thursday I got in the pool under the guidance of y doctor to work within my heart rate. It was like going backwards for me. Back to last year when I was only allowed to train according to my heart rate and I couldn’t actually push my body. It sucked and I got out before the end of my scheduled session.
The entire week I had a mental battle between the fear of going back to where I have been far too many times before with injury and health issues and listening to my body and listening to the wisdom that a good friend says comes with age. Wisdom won most of the time. I figured what’s one or two more weeks of waiting before I get stuck in. It is not an easy conclusion to come to and I have not fully committed to waiting for full healing before I try again, but I am being a whole lot more cautious and ‘paranoid’ about how far I do push and allow myself to feel under par.
I knew it was going to be tough to get back in the water and train again, but I did not expect the huge mental battle between fear of past experiences and a repeat of them to be so prevalent in my first week back. I guess I still have a lot to learn and I need to let go and move forward, to trust in the bigger picture and listen more effectively to my body.
I have realised that my job is not conducive to the athletic goals I have. I need to be incredibly diligent in my rest and may have to sacrifice that extra training session for some recovery time instead. Treating hands on 25-30 patients a week as well as running classes and trying to train 1-2 times a day doesn’t work long term, especially when you are over 30! 10 years ago I could have possibly got away with it, but not anymore.
I have realised I need to give myself a bit more slack and grace and learn to trust the process
I have fewer expectations for week 2 of training; it all depends on how my elbow has responded to a dextrose traumeel injection and 48 hours rest before I start the new week. I have realised I need to give myself a bit more slack and grace and learn to trust the process and journey in order to effectively reach my goals.