The goals are the same, the discouragement is new.

I have a pretty serious case of tendonitis in my right foot. I had xray on Friday upon arriving in California to visit my family. A stress fracture cannot be ruled out without another xray in ten days or so.

I likely won’t be able to run for 2 weeks. Which means I probably wasted $200 on the Boston Bound program (but hopefully not!). The doctor said to try running when I am pain free for most of the day. He advised me to go back to training at 50% then build by 10% each week. That’s the golden rule for training anyway, so I get that. Any activity that hurts, don’t do. Pretty common sense. Makes me wonder why I bothered to go to a doctor at all.

I was so upset about the injury that I didn’t bother working out at all, and arrived home feeling out of shape, beaten up, and fairly self-pittying. My plan for today was to wake up with that behind me and my focus back on my goals and each step that I need to complete to get there.

Step one for today was to workout for 2 hours. After 30 minutes on the bike, and 2 sets of a lower body circuit my thoughts were focused on the list of things I need to have done for school, how messy my apartment is, and from there it was like a flood-gate of all the things that are a source of anxiety right now.

I managed to finish a third circuit then felt so on the verge of screaming that I stopped. In my experience if I begin to feel angry whilst working out, I will likely get injury. Some people get a great workout if they are angry and need stress relief, not me, I totally fall apart.

The next thing that happens to me when stress snowballs is that I become paralyzed. This usually means that nothing will get done and I slip further from my goals, which in turn creates more stress.

I feel fairly confident in stating that many people experience either this cycle or one very similar. Here is what I do. I stop, take a breath and make a list. Yes, it’s a to-do list, and it is in order of priority. However, I rarely complete them in the order listed, and sometimes I do two things at once (or toggle back and forth). The important thing is that it makes the cascade of stressors smaller and manageable. Each time I cross a task off the list, I get to take a break or some other reinforcer of choice (often the reward I chose is to do something on the “if there is extra time” list).

1. Thesis Edits
2. Check and update client charts and graphs
3. Finish reading for tonight class (only 1 article to go)
4. Email remote clients to check and update self-monitoring and accountability programs
5. Finalize training appointments for the rest of the week
6. Meet with classmate to do final prep. for our presentation tonight
7. Upload articles for translational class (I present in 2 weeks on ABA in fitness!!!)
8. Finish new playlist for tomorrows 6am Spin class

If there is any time left:

• sweep floors
• do a load of laundry
• sew 2 quilt squares
• work out for another 45-60 minutes
• groom the dogs

This Saturday the Boston Bound group is doing a 17-miler in Barrington (hills!). I have been really looking forward to it, and these training runs are the reason I signed up, I really doubt I will be able to run even a mile by then. My foot hurts just sitting here, but, I will keep stretching, icing, and compressing and hope for a (very) quick recovery.

I hope you’re having a successful week!

-AB

 

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