Now that I’ve been home for almost three weeks, I have an idea of what recovery is going to be like.

I have a nice little routine. I get up in the morning, drive Joel to school, and go into my office to take care of any pressing needs of the business. Then…it’s time for fun. I mean, exercise. Because being able to work out is totally fun.

I was told that recovery can be long and slow. So I tried to prepare for that. But it’s not working out. The first morning, I walked two miles. By the weekend, I walked a 5K trail race, complete with a couple of good hills.  I feel really good while walking.

On Tuesday I had an appointment in the ITA. Lenny said I could do anything but bungee jump, so I went for a little run when we got back into town.  If you can call it that.  I mean, there were periods of time when both feet were off the ground at the same time. That’s the definition of running in the dictionary. It’s not my definition. According to me, I wasn’t really running yet. I had to walk a little. My legs felt like cement. I felt like I could barely breathe. Howard was with me. He ran backwards part of the time.  I still had trouble keeping up. It was about a 15 minute mile. (My happy pace is about 6 minutes faster.)   It was horrible.  And wonderful.  I loved every miserable second of it.

 

I decided to scale back and try short quarter miles jogs every two or three days. The magic has started to happen. I don’t feel quite as bad while running now. I can run a whole tenth(!) of a mile at a 9:30 pace and today I tried another mile. It was better. About a 12 minute mile. I have surprised myself with how patient I am being with myself. Positive affirmations R Me! I know I am so lucky to be doing anything. I’m not going to beat myself up. I’ve got a long way to go. I don’t think I’m going to get there by being mean.

Last week I decided it was time to take my bike in for a tune up. For the first time in a year, I’m riding my “Bluey” on the road instead of a trainer. I was concerned for about a minute about riding. But you know what they say about riding a bike…it’s just like riding a bike! Today, I did 23 miles.

Yeh, I have something up my sleeve. I have a reputation to keep up.

So the recovery thing… I’m not good at it.  I guess I don’t know how to do it right.  But I’m OK with that.