My dip in performance had become painfully clear over the previous
week. I had run (slowly), I had skated
(wobbly), I had gone to spinning (panting like a dog), I had worked out (stiff
and sore) and I had horseback rode (legs numb). I was experiencing a general
feeling of fatigue and what was more bothersome was that last Tuesday I had
started to seize up.
“Have you been stretching after all these things you are
doing?” Matt, my trainer, asked me in the way he does when I am about to get in
trouble.
“No,” I replied,
trying not to make eye contact. “I don’t
have time and most of the time I am too tired when I am done.”
“Look at me Mary. It’s very simple,” he said with emphasis. “Stretch
or stop doing what you are doing. You are doing too much. You aren’t strong enough to keep this pace. We can’t work out today in the shape you are
in. We’ll stretch together and then you
go home and rest.”
I had been told.
I have never been one that takes direct orders well, but in
this instance, as I squirmed in pain while I applied the acupressure ball to my
triceps, quads and calves and winced and swore while I used the foam roller
on my glutes and hamstrings, I could see that Matt might have a point.
Saturday morning, as I iced and stretched while watching
TV, I decided that much as it pained me to admit it, I was out of balance and I
need to get a new strategy. What’s more,
if I was going to carry on with the 43 Project, I was going to have to let
something drop. It seems I hadn't quite
been true to the spirit of the project which was to try new things and move
on. While I had been letting some things go, I had been collecting other things and adding them into my regular routine. I
needed to let something drop, at least temporarily, and include some more time for
stretching and resting.
After a great deal of soul searching, I decided that all I
really want to, do as core activities, is to ride horses and my bike.
Since I need to train to get the muscle to support those things I know I
need to keep working with Matt. I could,
however, do without the constant trips to the chiropractor with aches and pains
related to running. Although it felt a
bit like giving up, I decided that, at least for the moment, I was going to have to do something kind for my body and stretch it out by trading running for yoga.
The next day, I grabbed my mat and headed for the gym. This was not my first yoga session. But I was my first in about a year. As I we started cross-legged at the beginning of class, I remembered what it was like two years earlier when I returned to the gym after a 10 year hiatus from exercise and chose yoga as my first activity. I remember my first downward dog. I couldn't hold it for more than three seconds. Now, I could move through the sun salutation without stopping. As we went through the poses, I noticed, that somewhat ironically, with all the core work I had been doing, my balance was better. For the first time, I think I began to realize how far I had really come in such a short period. It was a good session. I mean really, anything that ends with five minutes of lying on the floor thinking about nothing is a pretty good deal….but it in so many ways it was just what the doctor ordered. As I walked back to my place I felt that strange yoga paradox of energized and relaxed. The morning rain had stopped and there was a fog a rising off the sidewalks and the street. The temperature was starting to drop and I could see that we were headed back into winter. I started again to think about new challenges and as I rounded the corner at the top of the hill, I smiled to myself as heard my heart say....Game on.
Never quit,
Mary
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