Dealing with injury

Happy Monday!  I would love to give you a weekend recap, but all of the photos are on Ammon's phone still, so you're just gonna have to wait  until tomorrow to see what birthday shenanigans we were up to.

Today instead, I'm going to tell you about the wild world of injuries.  Yup, wild.  About as wild as the "wacky waterfall" (my favorite line EVER from a commercial.  If we ever hang out, I will quote it at least once).

So, last Wednesday, I started feeling some pain in my left thigh, and I really couldn't tell what it was.  I assumed it was standard muscle soreness.  Except that it didn't go away.  By Thursday evening, it was killing me.  My massage therapist came over to give me a massage, and confirmed that yes, it was a problem with my IT Band, the tendon that runs from your hip to the outside of your knee.  This is not the kind of injury you can play through.  It's the kind that instantly sidelines you until it's happy again.  I made the hard, but correct decision that all lower body workouts are on an indefinite hold until it's healed.

And then Friday happened...  and somehow my right Achilles tendon started tightening at an alarming rate, to the point where it was painful to walk.  If I thought my decision before then had been correct, it was confirmed by that.  So with two leg injuries, I am officially sidelined until further notice.  There is a lot of (very) painful foam-rolling going on right now.  I'm trying to walk as much as possible to help loosen everything up.

I also made the decision, that even though it was time to move forward in the weight lifting program, to not move forward to the heavy lifting portion yet.  Instead, I'm going to lift upper body only three times a week until this is resolved.  Not the most fun option, but it keeps me on track for when I can come back to my normal routine.

Most of all, I am trying to stay positive.  Injuries, when caught early, do not pose a major setback.  It's a period where your body reminds you that it has limitations, and you need to pay attention to them.  I had been ramping up my effort and intensity in my workouts, and I had taken it a little too far, perhaps.  I'm trying to take this as a learning and growth opportunity, not as a stumbling block.

So the good news is, I'm not quitting.  The not so good news is, my journey is delayed by a few weeks.  But I will get there.

I hope that you all are having a wonderful day so far!