Chomping at the bit

Last Tuesday I skipped my snowboard lesson to give my tailbone one more week to heal. It's still noticably sore, but I am so ready go out again!!! It's actually driving me nuts that there is all this beautiful snow and I feel like I am on the verge of a breakthrough with my abilities and I don't have the time and haven't been able to go.

I wish I felt the same way about running. Week one was competed with six miles Saturday. I had to get all bundled up, bob and weave around snow patches and quick jump in the shower to warm up. Running in the winter is such a hassle. I do know it could be much much worse, but it's tough for me. Oh well it's done and it can only get warmer.....right? (remember the wise uncle who said "Never challange worse"?) I may need to rethink my goal pace. That goal was made from my fastest 5k time which was done when I was at a peak. Not so peak-ish at the moment. The goal pace will stand and we'll see how I do.

The weekend was wrapped up with learning to cross country ski on Sunday. I was so excited to learn another (low risk) winter sport. Foolishly, like so many other things (one would think I would learn) I thought, "How hard can it be?" I knew it was a workout, but I'd at least set eyes on a nordic track and it didn't look that challanging. A little coordination at first sure, but soon I would be gliding in a rythym. Or so I thought. What I didn't expect was that I was going to have to learn how to ski. I can't learn to ski. I chose snowboarding instead and it was (is) a challange. I cannot put my body and mind through another physical challange like that, not at this age. It just seems to risky. Like pushing my luck.

After a brief overview from my boyfriend and him telling me that I would have to snow plow to slow down hills I remembered the South Park episode. Seems I learned everything I would need to know from that show. Pizza, french fry...yeah, yeah, I got it. I didn't have it. As I went careening down a hill followed by a turn that I didn't take I heard my boyfriend yelling "Snow plow, honey! SNOW PLOW". Crash. Which didn't hurt as bad as I thought, but I was shaken up. Ok - so I needed a little more practice on the snow plow. After I listened better to the advice he was giving and practiced at every slight hill, I was able to go down the hills with some bit of confidence. The gliding part got easier too, it just feels awkward still. I suppose I'll get better at it. I was tired. I was also frustrated at some points when I didn't do as well as I thought I should be doing. I somehow have it in my mind that I am athletic and will be able to pick up anything relatively quickly. The only thing athleticism gives me is the physical stamina to keep trying. And you know what? That ain't bad.

After two hours, my shoulder (from a snowboarding fall a year ago) ached, my knee hurt (from my Saturday run) and my butt was starting to hurt again maybe from over use?? I don't know. I was tired and I started to wonder...is this what old is starting to feel like? Well, I suppose so, but that doesn't mean I'm about to give up any of this!

Benched!

Tuesday night was my snowboarding lesson. I was having fun, I liked the kid instructor (he was about 17...maybe 16) l; it was going great. Then with about a 1/2 hour left in the session, faster than I could think, I caught the edge of my board and went down hard on my butt. Hard. Something cracked. I was sure it was the pointy part of my spine breaking completely off. Yowza!! The pain was so intense. It took me a few minutes to regain my composure and make it down the hill. I went back up one more time to see if I could continue or not. Not. I kept thinking that if I fell one more time I would probably shoot to the moon in pain. The thing is, I was really in pain, but didn't want to quit. How can I explain to people that this is serious? I hurt. Then I thought, heck with it. I hurt. I don't care what anyone thinks. I made sure to let them know I would be back next week though.

The lady from the nurses hotline was very comforting. She told me to keep an eye on it (who knows how that is supposed to work), try sitting on some frozen peas (but probably don't want to eat them later) and maybe I should take up swimming. I decided to spare her the details about how after I run a 1/2 marathon in April I fully intended to take up swimming while training for a triathlon in July. I think that this is usually gratuitous information that people besides myself don't really care about. Shocking as it may sound, not everyone cares that I can run. Secretly, I think that some people don't even think it's that cool. Of course I don't know these people, but I suspect they are out there.

Two days later, and I'm not much better. Nothing I can do really; just cope with the pain. Running is on hold, sit-ups are on hold, snowboarding is certainly on hold. I really don't want to miss a session because it's been so fun so I might try this new strategy I thought of. It's simple, it only has one thing to remember; it's called "Don't Fall". If I don't fall, it won't hurt. Yeah. This sounds completely doable.

Plan for the weekend is to take it easy, jog/run as much as I can depending how I feel. When Monday rolls around I want to be healthy and pain free to start this training thing officially!