My Journey With Health And Fitness – Recognizing An Injury

That past few days it has really cooled down here in Playa. As a matter of fact it will only get up to about 24 C today. Ok, I know if you aren’t in Mexico you likely think that is still pretty warm but frankly it is not when you aren’t used to it. As a matter of fact, last night it got down into the teens. Fortunately this trip I am a little more prepared as I have some leggings and a couple of long sleeved t-shirts as well as a 2 light hoodies and one heavier one. Bottom line is I can still be comfortable. By the end of the week it is suppose to warm up which is good because we are going to a beach club on Friday.

Last Tuesday I was out walking before doing a 5km run when that bloody coati snuck up on me. He was less than a foot away from me and stupidly I tried to run backwards which did not go well and I ended up flat on my ass taking some of the brunt of the fall with my right arm. Strangely enough the fall scared the coati as much as it did me. It gave me a few seconds to find food to throw at him so I could make my escape (someone contacted me and suggested instead of giving him food I get bear or pepper spray but I haven’t had much success finding either one).

I quickly got myself off the ground and walked away as fast as I could. It wasn’t long before I realized my lower back was starting to hurt. It wasn’t screaming pain but it was certainly enough to recognize there was some sort of injury. I should note my shoulder also hurt but that could have been from jarring it or from my spinal stenosous, hard to tell. Anyways I finished the walk at a slower pace than normal and mentally canceled my run. I also got back to the condo and canceled my online fitness class.

While I was committed to meeting my goals while I am here particularly in terms of the amount of workouts, the reality is I’m better off to let myself heal than push myself and make things work. And so, I medicated with some Advil and prescription anti-inflammatory cream. I told myself there would be not walking/running/online classes until I could go all day without any meds. The 1st day that happened was Saturday but even then I did just an hour walk. Yesterday I got out there for 3-1 hour walks and so far today I have done a 5km run, fitness class, and 5km walk ( I was careful in the fitness class to not do anything that caused pain to my back or shoulder). Depending on how I am feeling later this afternoon I may do another 5km walk.

The important message in this was that I knew I was injured and took measure to allow myself to heal. The fact that I missed my goals last week was not important to me, what was important is giving myself time to heal. And, if on Thursday when I am scheduled to do my next run I am still sore from today’s run, I’ll just do a nice walk. Again, I’d rather not push an injury and make it worse.

The big lesson I have learned? I’m 60 and not 16 so running backwards while being chased is probably not a good thing.