Returning To Full Health

I got 4.5 hours of outdoor exercise this week. Baby steps …

I came into October strong and I’m leaving it on the upswing, but the three weeks in the middle were rough! After my bike crash on October 7th, I didn’t do anything remotely athletic until the 23rd. Then I resumed walking for fitness. On Friday morning I even picked up a Garmin Connect badge, my first since September 29th.

On Saturday afternoon I got on the bike for the first time since my crash. I would have been content with another walk, but again Garmin Connect provided extra motivation. I needed just 11 more miles to complete the October mileage challenge. But I didn’t feel like doing much more than that: I finished the day with 17 miles, bringing my October total to a modest 162. That’s my lowest monthly total since February. I am not yet fully recovered and as the weather continues to decline I am unlikely to ride outside again this year.

Today there was a third Garmin Connect badge on offer, so I knocked out a 5K walk around the neighborhood. I’m still working on the overall walking challenge for the 4th quarter of 2021, and I’ll probably need all of November and at least some of December to complete it.

One of the worst things about getting hurt was being shut out of the home gym. Because my crash happened at the end of a week-long vacation, I already had missed several training sessions. November begins tomorrow and so does my winter strength program. It may be slow going at first. My left arm and shoulder are still a little tender. Weightlifting, stretching, foam rolling … everything stopped when I got hurt. I’m happy to be moving again, but I will take care not to do too much too soon.