April 21, 2010
So after my back injury and the as-yet-not-documented aftershock I had a couple of days of searing pain and quasi-mobility before our first gymnastics competition of the year. At some point early in the weekend I contracted a fairly nasty viral infection that has left me unable to eat, move around or do much of anything for the last six days.
As I said, I also suffered from an aftershock which is what happens when you try to get back to things too quickly. I was fixing a chair at home, thinking I was getting back to my normal self and had an additional, albeit smaller, impingement. So I guess it’s now time to reevaluate. I can’t really say that I can continue on with my program but I think that I need a heavily modified “welcome back” couple of weeks. My mobility is still not great. My back still hurts like hell and the pain of the spasms makes me sweat just sitting however my arms work and so the world of pushups and pullups isn’t theoretically beyond me. As soon as I am able to get up off the floor I will begin and I am hoping that will be this week. I am going to have to put a hold on Shaun T for a while and concentrate on some serious core and body strengthening to get my severely weakened body back in gear. To put it in perspective, for at least 4 days all I had to eat was about 10 spoons of cereal each morning. That massive caloric defecit may have burned some fat but is equally as likely to have cannibalized muscle. My return will have to be both physically and dietetically precise and cautious.
Being a hybrid workout, I can still call my return day 43 and hope that this time the advent of day 90 will herald my return to an appropriate fitness level to attempt a third round. By that time the baby will be here, I won’t be coaching any more and life will be, well, different. That is a guarantee.