I recently had a nasty case of bronchitis that laid me up in bed for an entire 5 days. All together I missed an entire week of skating. Ugh! Not fun!
Prior to getting sick, I had been feeling somewhat superior for not having gotten more than a very mild cold for the last few years, thinking that my clean living, exercise, and positive mental outlook kept me immune from the diseases that other people got. Ha!
Apparently all those factors only went so far. When I went down sick, I went down hard. I didn't really have any choice but to let time, rest and antibiotics run their course. There was no way I could exercise--I barely made it out of bed and onto the couch.
Eventually I began to feel better and started itching to go skating, which is a huge step forward in my thinking about exercise. Before last year, I was never one to exercise regularly for any length of time. I would have periods of regular exercise, but whenever life, illness, or injury got in the way, I was easily derailed from my regular routine. Sometimes it would take me months or years to get motivated again!
But now I consider myself an athlete, with exercise a key ingredient to my physical and mental well being. This time there was no doubt in my mind that once I started feeling better, I would get back on track with skating. Now, two weeks post illness, I can happily say that I am back to my pre-illness level of fitness.
Here's what worked for me to get me back on track:
1. Relax and give it time
Give yourself a break. You will get back to your previous level of fitness, your previous accomplishments. It will take time, but don't doubt your resolve to get back on track.
2. Listen to your body's wisdom
As you heal from injury or illness, your body will tell you how to proceed if you pay attention. Respect what it is telling you. If you need to take a day off, take it. If you need to push harder, do it if your body is crying out for that.
3. Start slowly but do start
I found that it was better for me to go out for a very short skate early on in the recovery process just to get my muscles moving and to see how it felt. I only went a short while the first day and added gradually day by day.
4. Trust that with time you will get you back to your previous level of fitness.
Give yourself a break if you aren't progressing as quickly as you had hoped.
5. ICE!
If you are already get how magic ice is, jump down to step 6.
I wasn't too thrilled about icing my groin--even though I am a regular icer on my aches and pains, the thought of nestling a cold pack between my legs was none too appealing! But once I finally started icing my groin injury after I skated, my injury totally cleared up!
So please ice! Especially as you are pushing yourself to get back into exercise.
6. The better shape you're in before you get sick, the faster you will regain your fitness afterwards.
I'm not saying I'm any kind of super athlete, but I do work out regularly and enjoy it immensely. The bonus to keeping myself in shape is that post-illness, it took only about a week to be skating as hard and as far as I did before I got sick. And last Friday and again today, I skated the two longest distances since I started keeping track, over 10 miles apiece.
I think the key is to find something you love to do--running, skating, dancing, ice dancing, hiking--and then your workouts feel more like play and less like work.
Because of getting sick, I'm a bit behind schedule for my "200 Skates in 2013" but not by much. And I know within a couple of weeks, I'll be caught up to where I want to be.
Yee-haa indeed!
Just for fun, here are some bear statues that make me giggle along the Iron Horse trail in Alamo where I skate:
Keep skating (or whatever you like to do)!
Warmly,
Nancie ♥
Nancie Zimmerman
NamiZuni Jewelry Design
Expressing Your Inner Goddess
My last skate:
4/23/13
Skate #61 of 200
11.2 mi
Iron Horse Trail
Iron Horse Trail
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