Self-care – Cynsspace

Hindsight

As I look back and reflect on my last year of not running, and as I think about the emotions that I went through and the steps that I took to repair and heal my hamstring, I hope that my experiences will help another who might be dealing with the same kind of injury.

First and foremost, you know your body better than anyone else. If something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t. Looking back, I realize that I missed the warning signs. Now, I know that the most prominent signal that something was brewing was the pain that went through my butt every time I sat down. The ischial tuberosity hides under the glutes so, when you sit, the glutes move and you are on your sit bones, or the ischial tuberosities. I always attributed the discomfort that I had while sitting to not having a lot of fat. Similarly, I attributed any tightness or discomfort that I may have had through my hamstrings and butt to finishing a tough run (or race) or to a higher mileage week. Not once did I imagine that my right hamstring was gradually fraying, which resulted in a 50% tear.

Secondly, stay positive. In the past 10 months, I have worked with my family doctor, 2 sports medical doctors, an acupuncturist, a massage therapist, a chiropractor and a few physiotherapists. For the most part, my visits with each of them were positive but there were times when I left feeling down. Some days, anything from a doctor’s silence to a comment such as “That’s unfortunate” or “I hope this will help you” would scare me or send me into tears and leave me wondering “Will I ever be able to run again?” I had to believe that I would heal and that any fitness lost would be regained.

And so I followed my gut. While I knew that my tuberosity would heal, it took months to find the right treatment, primarily because I had to wait almost 4 months for the correct diagnosis. It was my GP, not my sports med doctor, who booked an MRI for me, and that had a 3 month wait. I had just started to run a week before my appointment and thought about cancelling it, but something still seemed off; my gait just didn’t feel right. My son convinced me to follow through with the MRI as it would give me more information about my injury. He was right. The hamstring tear turned out to be deeper than we originally thought. It was the MRI that led to one sports medical doctor’s referral to another who specializes in hips and to a different physiotherapist, one who targeted strengthening the glutes and hamstrings, followed by another who realigned my pelvis. And when the physiotherapists gave me exercises to do, I did them no matter how boring they were or spastic I felt.

During my healing and recovery, I focused on what I could do, not on what I couldn’t. I spent hours each week on my windtrainer so that I could hold onto my cardio; within a 10 month period, I had ridden more than 3000 miles. I worked on my core and upper body while strengthening my hamstrings and glutes by heading to the yoga studio 3-4 times a week (sometimes more). I started swimming again and, by June, I was pool running to start rebuilding the same muscles that I use when I run outside. I set goals that were achievable and I met them almost every single week.

Separating the platelets in the centrifuge.

But it still wasn’t enough. I had done everything that the doctors and physiotherapists had suggested but my right leg just didn’t feel strong whenever I tried to run. So I followed my gut again and went back to the hip specialist, who proceeded with platelet rich plasma (PRP) therapy at the end of June. Ultimately, it was the PRP injection that had the greatest impact on my healing. The doctor had cleared me to run only 3 weeks after the injection, not after the usual 8 week period, and, for the first time in almost a year, my legs felt strong again.

In the past year, the most valuable lesson that I have learned is to listen. I learned how important it is to pay attention to my body, to what feels right and what doesn’t. I listened to my professionals and followed through with their advice. If my gut told me that things still weren’t right, I went back again and again until I found the right form of therapy. I never gave up. Yes, I got frustrated and, yes, sometimes I cried, but I also believed that I would eventually heal and get back to chasing my dreams.

Finding Humour in Self Love

When I first heard the phrase self-care, I thought it referred to things that I do to look after myself: eat properly, get enough sleep, go to the dentist, relax….It wasn’t until recently that I realized that self-care, or self-love, means so much more (see image above). Like you probably are now, I went through the examples under each domain and questioned where I fell in my own self-care. There are many that I do, some fairly regularly and others when I put time aside for them. During the summer months, for example, I commit to “designated service acts.”

One of my annual summer projects is collecting towels and bedding for animal rescues and shelters. Some of the items go to our local humane society; I also collect for a friend who takes things to a farm sanctuary. This summer, another friend of mine was looking for a new home for her old bedding and towels, and I offered to collect them for the farm.

When I went to pick them up, she had not one, but five, garbage bags of linens. I was grateful but, at the same time, I was in a bit of a panic because I didn’t know what to do with them. I was already purging through my own home and had bags of items to go to different organizations; I had no idea where I could put these five. So I texted my farm sanctuary friend.

“I have a lot of donations for you but our house is already a disaster since I’m doing my summer purging. Do you think I can bring them over now? Dave will kill me if I bring more stuff inside.”

Thankfully, the response was “sure” so I headed over. As I pulled into the parking lot, I started giggling. I was moving 5 heavy garbage bags into her apartment building and, truth be told, I hadn’t even looked inside them yet. Maybe there was more than just the towels and bedding inside. What will her neighbours think? Will rumours start? Will little old ladies talk about “those girls” who quietly snuck in heavy bags with “heaven knows what” inside. My imagination went into overdrive.

Before carrying the bags inside, we cautiously opened one of them – just to make sure that it had sheets and towels. Then, we carried the bags inside, trying not to trying not to draw attention to ourselves as we moved them into her apartment. That’s when it hit me. “Carrying 5 garbage bags inside is nothing. Wait until you have to take them back outside,” I said. “That’s going to look even more suspicious. That’s when your neighbours are really going to talk.” And we quietly laughed again. Well, we may have actually snorted a bit because we really did not want anyone to notice us.

On my way home, I thought back to the examples of self love. “Cleaning out (purging) and acts of service (donation)” are easy (usually) to do and make me feel happy. Sharing that time with a friend makes it even better. Unintentionally, I was speaking self-love.

It doesn’t take much to look after yourself. Take a look at the list again and ask yourself “How do you speak self-love?”

Graduated

It’s been a full year, almost to the date, and it looks like I am finally finished dealing with a torn hamstring.

I had a follow-up visit from the PRP injection with my sports medical doctor yesterday. He typically wants a gradual return to exercise and a visit 8 weeks after the injection. But I needed more information. I was tired of waiting for answers. I didn’t want to play any more guessing games. I needed to know: am I healing as expected or do I need a second injection? Am I doing too much too soon or is my fitness where it is suppose to be ? I need guidance because, let’s face it, I don’t do well on my own. I don’t always recognize the signs of trouble brewing and I certainly do not want to end up back at ground zero. So I asked, maybe begged, and he agreed to see me after the 4 week point.

I truthfully didn’t know what to expect. I was a bit worried that he would want to start to treat the left tuberosity, where there were some minor tears, because I am noticing that side more than my right. So my son drove me to his office – just in case he was wanting to do another PRP injection. Dr. Bentley asked me a few questions and he examined by strength and movement.

“Your hip is jammed up again,” he commented . I felt my shoulders sigh. “You’re going to have to keep up with physio or Chiro care – probably twice a month – to keep your pelvis aligned.” I had already been prepared for that as a life-long need; I know that it has helped and I know that I am going to need regular maintenance.

Then I asked my questions:

(1) Is my left side sore now because my right is stronger and I am just hyper-sensitive to what is going on with my hips? “You’re in tune with your body,
he said. ” You’re quite aware of what is going on so, yes, it’s a bit of both.”

(2) Is this tightness, the achy-ness that I have just part of aging? Dr. Bentley smiled. “You’re getting older. And you’ve have some issues with your hips. But it’s not like your severely arthritic and your hip is waiting to shatter. You’re going to be fine.” So, yes, I need to get use to feeling sore. Fortunately, I am in a line of work that doesn’t let me sit for too long; for me, being busy and active is key.

(3) Do you think I’ll be able to get back to distance running? Dr. Bentley told me that more is better for me, which ties in with the “don’t sit still” approach that I have adopted. “You’ll have to cut back in intensity,” he said. “You can train the same way during each session but not as often.” Basically, I need more non-running days to give my body a break from pounding the pavement. Instead of running 6 days a week, I’ll have to run 4 or 5; double-run days, I’m fairly certain, have become a thing of the past.

“You’ll have to keep up with physio,” he repeated. “But I don’t think I need to see you again. If something changes, just call me and set up an appointment.”

When I got back to the car, I said to my son, “I have graduated. I am all done. He doesn’t need to see me again.”

“You’ve graduated?” he asked.

“Yup. I suffered, I researched, I did everything I was expected to do, and I have passed. I am done with rehab. I have graduated.”

When I got home, I celebrated (of course) with an easy 3-mile run. Last night, I started my plan of training to train and today, I can begin to start chasing my dreams.

July: Summer Goals

As a parent and a teacher, I am constantly telling the kids around me that, if they want to improve in anything, they need to set goals, real goals, tangible goals, something that is achievable. In essence, we need to have SMART goals.

At the beginning of June, I made a wish and I set a few goals for the summer. My wish is to be running again and I have every confidence that I will be able to soon. Ironically, my almost year off running has left me feeling stronger and fitter than ever (an insane amount of cross-training will do that). I am hopeful that my PRP injection will give my hamstring the extra strength that it needs so that I can confidently start to run and race again. So my first goal is based on this wish: pool-running 4 to 5 times a week. This should build and strengthen those same muscles and will allow me, I hope, to resume to running with a bit of a base.

I also have 3 other fitness goals:

Test run on my mountain bike. I’m ready!

1) Cycling. If you are following me on Instagram, you already know that I have spent many hours on my wind trainer this winter, leaving me with an average of 375 miles a month since the beginning of November. Cycling is one sport that hasn’t bothered me because the ischial tuberosity doesn’t touch my bike seat. But, since I have been healing, I haven’t been able to push myself with intervals either. I am feeling ready. My summer goal is to get back to cycling outdoors. Dave and I are planning my first “test ride” later this week and I am pretty excited about it.

2) Swimming. I have had an on-again/off-again relationship with the pool all winter. I was quite proud of myself when I finally got back in the water after being away from swimming for the past 20ish years. But family schedules and work hours have made it difficult for me to stick with it. And, let’s face it, swimming scares me. It’s hard and I have to work at it. If swimming were my only form of fitness, I would be more committed to it but it’s an add-on. I am also on my own almost every single time. So my summer goal is to be consistent, to work at it at least 3 times a week. I am really looking forward to seeing my distance in the water increase as the summer progresses.

3) Yoga – keep it up. Yoga has been my saving grace through the winter. It’s made me stronger and helped me to come out of my comfort zone and challenge myself. It’s also let me sweat when I wasn’t able to any other way. As strange as it may sound, psychologically, more than anything else, I just needed to be able to sweat. Getting stronger has been an extra benefit. As I spend more time in the pool, my time in the studio will likely decrease and I’ll adapt as I need to. Right now, my goal is to hit the studio at least 3 times a week and that is doable.

Along with these is my goal to write more. When I started blogging a few years ago, it seemed that everyone was doing it. But as Instagram became more popular, blogging became “less of a thing.” I have loved keeping this blog as it gives me the chance to be creative, to express myself and verbalize my thoughts. Most of my writing is fitness-related, but I really enjoy writing the occasional, more opinionated piece too. I like being able to share my story or information that can motivate, educate or impact others.

So how am I doing with these goals so far? Since July 1st, I have ridden 37 miles (2 rides) on my wind-trainer, swam, ran in the pool and written this post. In an hour, I am heading to yoga as I have just been cleared to go back. All in all, I’m off to a good start.

Chasing my dreams……

Platelet-Rich Plasma Therapy

Warning: If you can not handle the sight of blood, you probably won’t want to read this because, yes, you will see some blood.

I really wasn’t sure what to expect when I went to the clinic for my PRP injection. How long will it take? Will it hurt? How long will my recovery be? Will this be my only injection? And, most importantly: will it work?

The “blood-sucker” introduced herself, took me into a room and proceeded to withdraw 30 cc of blood from my arm. “Whoa! That’s a big syringe!” I said when I saw it, and I didn’t look at it again until after she had finished taking my blood. “Wow! That’s really purple!” I had forgotten that blood can look purple too,

One Platelet-Rich Plasma Cocktail in the making.

Dr. Bentley, then, put my blood into the centrifuge to spin it around. It only took seconds to see the blood start to separate into its layers: red blood cells on the bottom, then white bloods cells, and the platelets on top. After a minute, the 30 cc that I had given him had been reduced to much less. After that, I really didn’t see much more as I was getting ready for the injection. I caught of glimpse of what I think was a very long needle (the length of a pencil) as Dr. Bentley filled a syringe with my platelets to inject into my hamstring tendon. I lay on the table, face-down and in a quasi-prone position, trying to relax.

Dr. Bentley poked with his finger at my upper hamstring to find the location of the tear before he started using the ultrasound. I wasn’t able to feel any discomfort at first and that made me nervous. “What if there really isn’t a problem?” I thought, only to be followed by my verbalizing, “That’s where it is.” Dr. Bentley started to use the ultrasound and I heard him say to his student “That’s the tear, right there.” I suddenly felt a bit of assurance.

“Get ready for a poke,” he said and that was all I really felt. At one point, I felt like I was in a dentist’s chair as he asked how I was doing a few times. I was fine. “I’m just telling myself that this isn’t going to hurt that much because my legs are so muscular – ha!” There was no real sensation of pain; it was more of a tightening. I later described it to Dr. Bentley as an elastic tightening around your arm until you have a constant throbbing. He replied that the blood being injected into a tendon has no where else to go so it would create that same kind of feeling. As we finished up, he told me that it would feel like I was sitting on a golf ball for a few days.

On the way home, I was glad that Dave drove me to my appointment. Moving my foot from the pedal to the brake and back to the pedal would have been difficult. We hadn’t even left Hamilton when I said to him “I feel like my leg is having a baby.” Painful, but not terrible, and knowing that it would end with something good.

A few hours later, I was able to drive. I took my 13 year old to referee a soccer game and I happily stood for an hour to watch. Walking was difficult and sitting was impossible, so standing had become the position of choice. I could tell that it was going to be for the few days but I had a feeling that it would be worth it.

Stress Test

Last week, after 15 months of heart tests, I was finally given a thumbs-up. Everything is fine.

The fact that doctors thought there was something wrong with my heart was an enigma. In November 2017, days before I was running Nationals cross-country, an 8k distance, I was scheduled for a routine asthma test at the hospital. During one of the baseline tests, the respirologist stopped the test. “We can’t do it,” she said. “Your heart rate isn’t normal.”

I was completely dumbfounded. How was that even possible? At that point in 2017, I had logged almost 2000 miles for the year and I was racing fast enough to call myself a competitive runner.

How could I possibly have something wrong with my heart? But during the baseline test, my heart rate dropped (spiked down, as she said) so that it was dangerous to proceed with the test. After answering what felt like a gazillion questions (Do you smoke? Do you drink? Do you workout? What do you do for exercise? and so on) and meeting with a cardiologist, they decided that it was safe for me to continue the asthma test. “It’s okay. There is a cardiologist next door if something goes wrong.”

Over the next 6 months, I had bloodwork, an echocardiogram, and an ultrasound of my heart. In simplest words, results showed that my outtake valve is thinner than my intake valve; the valves, by the way, are only 1mm thick, which I find absolutely remarkable. So running is good for me, but it meant that I needed to be monitored.

This past fall, at another asthma appointment with my respirologist, she asked whether I had been showing any symptoms? “Of what?” I asked. “I really don’t know what I am looking for.” My waking up and gasping for air in the middle of the night could be asthma-related, or it could be a symptom of a heart problem. So could the dizziness that I sometimes have during the day (which is likely attributed to a low heart rate). My doctor wanted to “cross the t’s and dot the i’s) so she referred me to a cardiologist. Continue reading “Stress Test”

One Day At A Time

A few weeks ago, I finally picked up a training journal. I had just started to run again and I wanted to get back to tracking my running on pen and paper. Five days after buying it, before I had even opened it, I was pulled from running and was told that it will probably be 3-6 months until I can run again. Since my MRI was at the beginning of January, this week marks the end of my first month.

At my physio appointment on Friday, Tammy’s power and flexibility were good; I am feeling much stronger in general. The only indicator that I am not ready to run is my butt aches when I sit down. Looking back, though, I realize that it has been sore when sitting for the past two or three years, maybe longer, which indicates that my hamstring issue may have been brewing for a long time and I just didn’t recognize it as a problem; instead, I attributed my sore sitbones to a skinnier tush.

These days, I am encouraged by the almost normal feeling that I have. “Does it really take 3 to 6 months for a hamstring to heal?” I asked my physiotherapist. “No” was the fast reply. “It takes 6-8 weeks.” I laughed. “Then, by the time I have my PRP injection, I should practically be healed.”

In mid-January, Dr. Elliott submitted the referral for me to see the hip specialist but I don’t even have an appoinment yet. “They’re probably still getting over the backlog from the holidays” was suggested as a reason, which is fine, but I really want to know when I am going to see the doctor. Will it be a consultation with a second appointment for the actual treatment, or will it all be done at once? How many treatments does he think I’ll need? And what about the labrum? Do I need to worry about surgical repairs?

As the days pass, I get more and more frustrated that I haven’t had my PRP injection, nor any kind of communication from the doctor’s office. But I am starting to believe that I may be back on the road in the spring as my hamstring seems to healing on its own and the injection will only strengthen it.

Fingers crossed, hopeful thoughts, and dreaming of running again….Believe.

Feeling Like a Rock Star

Every now and then, out of the blue, someone makes me feel special. I end up carrying those feelings with me for days or weeks, maybe even longer, and they end up driving my energy.

On Thursday, as a group of Grade 7’s was leaving my Math class, one of the boys stopped, looked at me in the eye and said, “Thanks, Mrs. O’H.” I was caught off guard because he doesn’t usually talk to me at all. But what came next was even more of a surprise. “You’re a good Math teacher. Ya. So thanks.” And off he went.

I really don’t know where that comment came from. He isn’t a top student and he never comes in for extra help but he works hard. I guess Math is starting to click for him. Regardless, he made me feel great and, let’s face it, I’ve been feeling down in the dumps since I got my MRI results back so I needed this “feel good” moment.

My second rockstar moment came on Saturday when I went for my ultrasound. The technician looked at my history before she started so that she knew exactly what images she needed. “How did you tear your tuberosity?” she asked. “It’s a running related injury,” I answered, only to find out that she had the a similar injury and is just starting to run again after being off for a year. So, of course, during the ultrasound, she spoke about her running, cross-training, and rebuilding – and she suddenly stopped. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “I should be focussing on you. I mean, you’re here for your ultrasound and I’m busy talking about me.” I insisted that I didn’t mind; I love to talk about running. Besides, it took my mind off the whole procedure. But she continued anyway. “You look really fit and fast. How far were you running each week?” I could only laugh.

We chatted some more, mostly about the Chilly Half Marathon and Around the Bay. We both really want to run Around the Bay this year because it’s the 125th anniversary, but her mileage isn’t high enough yet and I’m just not running. I asked if she thought about walking the 30 kilometres instead and her face lit up. “I never even thought about that! I can do that! I’m sure I can!” I suggested that she try walking the Chilly Half Marathon in Burlington at the beginning of March and, if it went well, then she would still have time to register to walk Around the Bay at the end of the month.

As we were finishing up, the technician asked, “Should I know you? I mean, are you famous?” I just laughed. “Only in my dreams,” I replied. “Well, you are so motivational. I am so happy to have met you today. I really hope that you are going to be running soon.” And that was that. We parted without exchanging digits or handles, but as two runners who found a commonality and connected.

Meeting this technician was a gentle reminder of how supportive the running community is and how much I need to be a part of it. It’s made me realize that, despite everything, I still need to get involved with the running scene either as a volunteer or a coach (or both) as I work my way back to being a healthy runner.

Until that happens, though, I am going to continue to bask in magical moments like these that leave me feeling like a rockstar.

When the Wind Changes Direction

Don’t you love that feeling when you are out for a run and, after fighting the wind for miles, you turn around and let the wind blow you back home? Other times, we aren’t quite so lucky and turn around to find that the wind that we thought we were running into was the tailwind, which means that running back is going to be that much harder.

Emotions can be like that too. Almost anyone who lives with a teen has experienced the noise which can follow them home from school, similar to the sounds of an explosion after a 747 has crash landed in your living room. As adults, we are better at controlling our emotions. We can run with the feeling of the wind being on our back for months or years on end until, without any warning, a plane crashes into our home and leaves us feeling broken.

Last night, I got my results from the MRI of my hip. This was requested months ago, at the end of October, and I finally had imaging done at the beginning for January. Since I had started running again, I thought about cancelling it, but my husband and son both said, “Why not? It’s only going to give you more information.” So I went ahead with it, hoping that I would find out exactly why it still hurts when I run.

I got what I wanted – and more. First, I learned something new; there is a tear in the labrum. The doctor says I don’t need to worry about that because it isn’t an area that is bothering me. Secondly, I got more information about my old friend, Izzy. While I thought that Izzy had moved out, she is lying low and creating havoc. There is inflammation between the gluteal insertion at the tuberosity, which is diagnosed as enthescopathy. This seems to be caused by osteo-arthritis, which is starting to show in the hip, and by overuse from running. And, even though I thought I was getting better, the tendon at the ischial tuberosity is still partially torn. It involves less than 50% of the tendon which, to me, sound like it is between 25-50%, or the results would read “less than 25%.” So, in a nutshell, my hip is a bit of a mess.

It isn’t the hip results, though, that are weighing on me. I also got some unexpected results. A round structure was found in an organ. I’m not ready to talk about it yet, other than to say a more detailed ultrasound is in the near future.

Dr. Elliott and I looked at a treatment plan for my hip. First, I am off running, and he thinks it will be another 3 to 6 months before I will be able to again. We decided to go ahead with Platelet-Rich Plasma Therapy to strengthen the hamstrings so he sent in a referral to the specialist at McMaster Hospital. Hopefully, I can get an appointment soon.

This was a lot of information to digest. In some ways, I am not surprised by the hip results. I feel better knowing why running has been hurting, why it doesn’t feel right, and why I have been so hesitant to push myself. It’s not because my muscles are waking up; it’s because there are some structural weaknesses. I’m glad that I followed through with the MRI as now I have a concrete plan to correct the aches and pains that we know about and, I hope, eliminate the other concern.

Last night was the first night that I crawled into bed before 10:00 in a long time. I needed a quiet spot, a place to rest, a place to think. Like the plane before it crashes, I felt myself start to shake while fighting to maintain control. And then I cried. By the time I got out of bed this morning, I was over it. For now, I will salvage what I can and do what I am able.

This is a new day, filled with questions and hope and I am reminded of the words “Focus on the things you can control, not on what you can’t.” Today, I will focus on me, my thoughts and my actions. I will focus on finding inner strength and moving forward – one day at a time.

Gratitude

Yesterday morning, I was visiting my chiropractor and the topic of mental health came up. “When I have competitive athletes,” Sandy said, “I have to watch their mental health. If they stop running me and they aren’t doing anything else, I worry because that is when they can fall into depression.”

I have seen it. Years ago, a close friend of mine was injured and flat out refused to go for a walk, come to yoga, start swimming with me (and if I am willing to get back into the pool, you know that I am trying everything to get him active again)….All he wanted to do was run and depression took over.

Ironically, Kelly-Lynne and I were talking about how runners deal with injuries just before Tammy the Hamstring started to complain. “I’m pretty sure that I would find something else to do,” she said. I was sure of my reaction. “I know I would. After watching my friend suffer….I don’t want to go through that.”

As much as I miss running, I have accepted whatever injury I have and that I need the time off. When my forced break began, I could barely walk without being in pain, but I looked for things that I could do – or try to do – and, week by week, I find that I can keep adding something else to my list of can’s. This week, I feel especially grateful for the things that are a part of my healing.

I am grateful to be able to do:

a. Yoga. For weeks, this was my only outlet. At the beginning of October, I could not get into a Warrior One pose; now I can. Two weeks ago, I still couldn’t move into a Crescent Moon, but I did a few on Friday for the first time; I had to work to hold it, but I got into the position and that is progress. Yoga sets a bar for me and I get excited when I find that I can suddenly do something that I couldn’t in the class before. I am committed to going three times a week, which I will continue once I am back in my running shoes.

Lunges: 6 x 60 various types of lunges twice a week.

b. Lunges. Three weeks ago, when the temperature dropped, I didn’t want to do my lunge drill outside because it was too cold; I worried that the cold could be detrimental and I could end up doing more damage to the same muscle group that I have been trying to rehabilitate. So I turned indoors. Twice a week, after dropping off my son, I head to school before almost everyone else and stretch and strengthen through the hallways before my work day begins.

c. Planking. This started off as a bar to measure my strength but it has evolved into a personal challenge. Two minutes, every day, and anywhere: no problem. We’ll see how high that number can climb.

d. Indoor Cycling. I use to ride a lot: I commuted through Toronto by bike; somedays, I felt like I lived on a lifecycle at the gym; Dave and I covered a lot of miles on our rode bikes. But that was before kids and when the roads were less busy and less dangerous. Somehow in the past few years, cycling of any kind has become a part of my past. But my windtrainer is still in the basement. I walk past it every time I have to hang up laundry and, every time, I tell myself that I need to start spinning the wheels again. Three weeks ago, as soon as my leg was strong enough, I got back into the saddle. For now, it is my only form of cardio and it can be as boring as heck, but I am glad to have it.

Boring, yes, but it is saving my cardio.

And I have more options to look forward to: weights, rowing, swimming….As soon as I know exactly what I am dealing with, I can introduce other ways to build and maintain as I transition back to running. I can’t worry about what I can’t control, but I can focus on the things I can.