Don't Look Down!

Today, I took X-man to the Y. It's the first time since school started where he's been in the big kid playroom. He was excited to go though because it had been forever. The last time we were there, he tripped and fell off the climber and got a small scrape/bruise in the middle of his back. They texted me during my work out (of course, I was in the pool sans phone). But they gave him ice and cuddles until I was there 10 minutes later (we got lucky on the timing).

I signed him in and he went in to play with a bunch of kids I knew from MMO. When I've been there to walk the track, do some PT exercises and focus on some core items over the last month, I've seen a lot of MMO parents coming in for Body Pump and Body Attack.

I ran into our neighbors today, and their daughter was excited about seeing X-man in the playroom. Then I went upstairs and got on an upright bike. I tried to do my pre-surgery workout of doing a hill setting on level 10. It was fine, until I got to the 5 bars of "peak" performance. Then the pedals got so heavy that my recovering foot couldn't handle it. I took the bike back to a manual setting and did a 15-minute workout. Then I got off, cleaned it off and went into the track to do a 30-minute walk.

As I made my way around the track, I noticed a bunch of people working out like mad. The YMCA has started a Crossfit group, and this looked to be the more experienced group. I knew two of the ladies from MMO. They were awesome. Strong, fit, healthy. Seriously, sweaty and beautiful.

I sighed and remembered when I, too, used to do crazy things with kettle balls and jump ropes. It was a huge dose of self-pity, so I vowed not to look down when I walked around for the next 30 minutes. I was doing what I could do. They were doing what they can do. (Lord knows, I couldn't do the pull ups, even with the stirrup bands.) The plan to look away worked maybe 1 out of 3 times. But in the end, I felt pretty good about my 45 minutes of cardio. And, I start working out with Kari on Thursday at 11 a.m. One step at a time, right?

I walked over to the weight training area and did some arm and shoulder work. I ran into Special K. Then I did some walking lunges and some stretching and ran off to get X-man, who had managed to fall down again. He said that his back hurt a lot, but he wouldn't let me look under his shirt either there or at home. The Child Watch people said they looked at it but couldn't see any kind of bruising. They said he was mostly surprised that he'd fallen.

But it was a successful workout. I felt pretty comfortable. Three weeks ago, my PT had me do a two-legged calf lift, transfer weight to my sore foot and then lower down. I couldn't do it. Now I can do it -- on a 1/2 of a foam roller, and I can pick up my foot. We're probably around 60% back to where I was before the injury. If we can get me to extra weight baring for things like pushing the heavy bike pedals and jumping at a volleyball net and jogging, I'll be ever so happy.