March was a pretty poor month from both a fitness and outdoor activity perspective. During the first week, I injured my back and experienced an aborted road trip. The rest of the month I focused on beginning workouts again and healing. Not exactly the most fun. Hopefully this post will help you avoid the mistakes I made along with the resulting injuries.
A Bad Start
It seemed like March was going to be a great month. I had a two-week road trip planned including a visit to see my son at Camp Horno. The trip included stops at Capitol Creek, Zion, Joshua Tree, and Saguaro National Parks. Tucson was on the docket for the return trip to visit friends and family. I even planned some late season skiing after my return. That’s not what happened.
The week before I left, I experienced a nosebleed while skiing at Copper Mountain. Not a big deal in Colorado, home of persistent low humidity, so I didn’t think much about it. As I got ready to head out Sunday, I tweaked my back. I can’t even remember what I did to injure it. For those of you with chronic back injuries, you know it is some random, simple thing that triggers a back spasm (like opening a glove compartment – Rob in 2002). Despite this, I headed out Sunday, 2/28.
Abort, Abort!!
The drive to Capitol Reef was actually pretty nice. I was able to rest my back and enjoy the drive. Anytime I stopped to get out, my back was really stiff. I remained hopeful I’d be able to work it out during a hike.
The plan was to stay at Cathedral Valley primitive campground. I only made it about half-way to the campground before getting stuck in snow on a remote Forest Service road. Once freed, I decided to camp at Fruita instead. Digging out the Jeep may not have been a good move for my back. Going to Fruita, however, was a lucky decision.
Fixing dinner at camp, I got another nosebleed. Thankfully the bathroom at Fruita had running water and was heated. Despite my best efforts with packing, I couldn’t get the bleeding to stop for any more than a half-hour. I eventually headed to the hospital at 1:00AM. After a 2-hour ER stop, I decided to abort and head home with the dreaded balloon catheter in my nose (it makes a great visual, right?). It was a long drive home. The positive is I did get a few good pictures while at camp. 🙂
Physical and mental recovery
Recovery for a nosebleed is pretty easy, visit the ENT and cauterization, so that part was addressed within a week. The back was a little different. It really flared up on my return and was some of the worst back pain I’ve had in over 15 years. The stiffness started to settle down after a few weeks of rest. It would have taken longer but Tanya was helpful reminding me to avoid making it worse by pretending it was fine.
In some ways, my back injury was more harmful to my mental than physical health. It was frustrating and humbling to have a trip aborted due to physical issues. Yes, it’s a first-world problem, but it can still hit you pretty hard. Even when I was able to start running, it was really quite horrible.
I remember one run that literally made me cry from frustration. In hindsight, there was nothing unexpected about the run given I was recovering. I could only go about 2 miles before needing to walk, and then mix running and walking together for a few more miles. Given the lack of physical activity, I should expect this. It was the voice in my head telling me how weak I was and how my aging body would never be active again that drove me to the edge. That edge leads to a road that goes down steep and fast. Those inner voices know the worst words and excel at exploiting our fears. Clearly I still have a lot of personal improvement work ahead of me to age gracefully. Any tips are appreciated!!
Back to basics
The next month will focus on the basics of core, stretching and conditioning. These days I’m trying to do core at least 4 times per week. The core exercises are simple; planks, bridges, core-engaged push ups, and eventually, a few sets of sit-ups. It’s a quick set of exercises that I can complete in about 30 minutes. My revised conditioning routine is running and soon, biking. Right now, my limit is a 5 mile run with a break. Hiking will also play a role to build up muscles that running doesn’t help strengthen. Hopefully I’ll get back up to running 9 miles within 30-45 days. If not, it will be what it will be.
My second vaccine shot is 4/19 allowing me to return to the gym in May. The big lesson from March is that strengthening cannot take a back seat. I’ve joked about skipping core workouts in previous fitness posts, and paid the price. The next few months will involve a renewed focus on planks, step ups leading to box jumps, low rows, light-weight squats or dead lifts along with upper body strengthening. Of course, stretching will remain critical.
As always, keeping active will continue to improve my mental health. That nasty voice isn’t real and only has the power I let it have. Exercise, mindfulness and spending time with family and friends always silences it.
Key Lessons
In my heart, I believe getting older doesn’t have to be that big of a deal. I have plenty of friends who have proven this to be true. Yes, the activities have to adapt as our bodies change and new limits crop up. Most importantly, though, we need to be diligent about our body’s care. My casual attitude about certain exercises clearly had bigger repercussions than I expected. We need to remember the weak spots in our bodies and address them through a focused fitness regimen. It’s a lesson I keep learning. No, core and stretching aren’t fun for me but they beat the heck out of back pain and the mental roller coaster after an injury.
Like Tanya’s friend Dave said, “do the damn exercises”. Keeping active though my remaining 50’s, the 60’s, 70’s and beyond will require a continued focus on taking care of my body. Maybe it was good March happened and reminded me of these facts. Don’t make the same mistakes I did!
I’m still standing – Elton John
Be kind to yourself – Tanya
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