Ever feel like your life has just been
picked up and thrown around a bit, to the extent you’ve lost a certain amount
of control? That’s been me for about the last 2 weeks. I had best intentions of
posting a weekly round-up for this challenge, but life had other ideas! So,
how’s the challenge going?
Week Two
After the shaky start in Week 1, I was
really happy with the progress made in Week 2. My body recovered well when I
put my calorie intake back up and cut out some of the meat proteins. On the
Sunday I had 2 hours of derby training and felt fantastic, bouncing straight
back afterwards, with little soreness the next day. Every day that week, I rode
my bike for at least 30 minutes, on one day for around 90 minutes. (House-hunting
is fantastic for this!). I did push-ups and sit-ups every second day, giving my
abdominals a chance to recover in between, since I know I have a history of
over-working them. Due to some knee and ankle issues that have flared up, I
didn’t do much leg work outside what my physio gave me, but at the end of the
week, I was pretty happy with where I was. According to my food diary, I was
still about 300 calories short a day, but I was probably operating a touch
under my calculation values, so I wasn’t too stressed.
I didn’t have too many major challenges
during Week 2. I didn’t want to push myself too hard after how my body had
reacted in Week 1, but I was still happy with my increased activity levels and
my food choices.
Week Three
Week 3 started quite well. Fresh Meat
training on Sunday was great, though I started to get a niggle in my ankle
while doing some stopping drills. Monday afternoon I had an appointment with my
physio, who diagnosed acute tendonitis and some lower-leg muscle weakness. A
quick refresher in support taping, and an adjustment to my exercise regime, and
I was out the door again. More push-ups and crunches on the Tuesday, and I was
feeling good! Then, Wednesday. I had a rather epic day of riding around to
house inspections, only to get clipped by a car while on my bike on my way to
the last house on my list. Thankfully, no major injuries were sustained, but I
was rather shaken, sporting a few bruises, and had some doozey road rash. Took
Thursday and Friday fairly easy, not wanting to do more damage to already
bruised muscles.
On the Saturday, I was somewhat
unexpectedly called to play a game of baseball, something I haven’t done in
about 3 years. I played a season as an undergrad, then shifted clubs as a
scorer, and eventually left the game behind, before taking up softball for a
season in my final year of undergrad, and giving it away again when I started
my research career. 4 hours of running around the outfield in sweltering heat made
for a super-sore body that night. My quadriceps were a lot tighter than normal,
but I attributed that to lack of use, and figured it would mend with some
stretching. Sunday, I was still sore, but roller derby awaited! We spent a
whole 2 hours working on our knee slides and falls (Ok, well maybe half an hour
was spent learning sticky-skating). By the end of it, my quads were screaming
at me, and I ached pretty much everywhere. Not to worry, nothing some
stretching and ice wouldn’t fix. That night, at a BBQ (Meat and salad, yay! A
ginger beer, oops. In my defense, still came in right on my calorie intake for
the day!), one of my friend’s fell through a section of roof, and I ended up
heading to hospital with him after holding a tourniquet on his arm until the
medicos arrived. Thankfully, when I finally got to see him in the ER after
getting checked out, he hadn’t done any serious damage. He had a bruised butt,
a bit of a bump on the head, and a lovely deep laceration that laid the muscles
on his arm bare, but thankfully hadn’t severed anything vital. Once he had
settled in for the night, I met up with some friends at the pub, and being the
good girl I am, didn’t have a drink. Didn’t do much else either, still being
rather sore from all that sport. Still, nothing stretching, ice and rest
wouldn’t fix, right?
Oh how wrong I was. When by Tuesday I still
couldn’t move properly, I should have given my physio a call. My gut told me
something was wrong, but I convinced myself that if I kept up with my normal
recovery routine, I’d be fine. I shifted from ice to heat, stretched out my
legs every chance I got. I cut out everything that wasn’t prescribed by my
physio. I took a ridiculously long, hot bath and THEN stretched. Friday
morning, I was starting to feel better, but was still tight. Needless to say,
called the baseball girls and put in my apologies for the rest of the season,
and eternity.
So what went wrong? Find out in Part 2!
Neysa xo
P.S. Friend is fine. After a nice 3 day hospital stay, he had surgery to reattach all his skin, and is now recovering at home. He's vowed never to climb on a roof again.
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