I was diagnosed and hospitalized with Transverse Myelitis at the beginning of January. It’s basically an infection in the spinal cord and the swelling progressed so much that I lost my ability to walk for a couple of days. What a freaky thing… I go from preparing for the Houston Marathon in mid Jan to not being able to walk! Thank the Lord, I’m now on my way to a full recovery. My walking is just about at 100% again and for the first time last week, I was able to run 1 mile 2x. Those (slow) 1 mile jogs were pretty tough for me and each step was like I was re-learning how to run. I could really tell that I have lost a lot of my strength and coordination.
My situation is this: I have my 1st Ironman in Aug (IMKY) and I know I have a lot of work to do to regain my strength and endurance. I fear that I’ll train too hard to try to catch up to where I should currently be and injure myself in the process thereby setting myself back to a 'recovery mode". Do any of you have any tips, ideas, suggestions on how to get myself back to where I need to be without having some BS injury set me back again.
Write out a plan that seems slow and reasonable.
Stick to it, even if you think you can do more.
Best of luck with your race and recovery.
Sully is right. Put that plan together via a consultation with a coach…even if it costs you money and then have it reviewed by your physician. Then stick to it. It’s the objective standard to follow. You need to be following that recovery plan and if you can make the August race that’s great but if you don’t, you have to be prepared and willing for that to happen.
take it easy on the way back, don’t stress your body into getting another infection.
but remember that your tendons and ligaments and bones are all still tough from your previous training, your mind remembers how to do it, things will come back, you will be faster than ever in no time even if you take it slow.
Firstly, and I know you already know this, be thankful for what you have. It could have been much worse. If you are a prayin’ man, you know what to do. If not, be true to the thngs you know and value the fact that, after not being able to walk, you can go to the bathroom by yourself.
There is a reason to have this awareness. I think after trauma like this you need to re-calibrate mentally. If you hold on to the same emotional measuring tools for your progress than before you could face a little disappointment, and you My Friend, don’t need any more. Every day you go out the door, even if it is to run 1/2 mile, is a victory. Even when it is tough.
There are able bodied people with no health concerns who squander these gifts by not using them, and as you know, they can revoked randomly at any time. So, intially, value the currency of health.
Second, start out good and slow and allow rest. If you feel you are doing too much- you are. There are times to push yourself through fatigue. This is *not *one. The body needs time to recuperate. We’re athletes so we bounce back sooner, but we still need time and we’re still human. The difference for us is that we tend to bounce back.
I had a stroke and heart surgery a while back. One goal of mine was to run the 2+ miles from my store up to the hospital where I had my heart surgery and back. I do that route all the time. The people in the emergency room know me. They are like, “That guy had heart surgery three months ago…” They wave and smile. Running the four miles from the shop up to Oakwood Hospital and back isn;t a big deal in the grand scheme of getting ready for Ironman, but in the scheme of getting back from a medical problem, it’s a huge milestone. I clearly remember looking out the window of that hospital a few months ago wondering if I would survive, be blind, be in a stroke induced coma… I always look up at the window where my room was when I run by there.
Give yourself time to heal and credit for the distance you’ve come- don’t worry about how much distance that is. And most of all, glad to hear you bounced back.
Ok here’s the thing. it’s been what 4-5 weeks since you developed this right, so the weakness you feel is not due to muscle loss but due to loss of nerves or rather damage to the nerves. The muscles are perfectly healthy and well conditioned still to some extent. What you need to do is keep stimulating the muscles to a high degree while your nerves recover.
Normally i would say there are a lot of gimmicky gadgets out there, but here is one instance where those muscle electrical stimulation devices might actually work. You need to stimulate your muscles without the use of your nerves and this sort of device achieves that.
If you are able to preserve muscle mass until your nerves fully recover, you should be able to preserve a decent chunk of your fitness.
It’s kind of sad that we need traumatic events like these to really appreciate the gifts we’ve been given, especially if we’ve been given a second chance. Now, I have even a greater will and determination to work toward my dreams…and I will get there. The trick for me is to keep my determination under control so that I don’t injure myself and am able cross that finishline in Louisville.
Footwerks: interesting thoughts. Didn’t Bruce Lee use one of those machines?
Footwerks: interesting thoughts. Didn’t Bruce Lee use one of those machines?
Theoretically (Sources vary), and if he was, it wasn’t giving the effect he thought it was. It’s not really a muscle building thing.
John
“It’s kind of sad that we need traumatic events like these to really appreciate the gifts we’ve been given”
Absolutely right. I’ve had three very close calls and a few near misses. Three times when I thought I would not survive the issue I was dealing with. Each time I did survive, by the grace of God. I’m not a devote religious fellow, not a bible thumper, don’t go to Church; but when times are tough *and *when times are good I will say a prayer. It makes me feel better.
Remember that Ironman is like eating an elephant, or that fellow who actually ate the car- it is a huge undertaking best prepared for in little chunks over a long time gradually building until you can go the distance. That is part of the value, you really can’t “just wing it”.
I wish you luck in your recovery and in your training.
It’s kind of sad that we need traumatic events like these to really appreciate the gifts we’ve been given, especially if we’ve been given a second chance. Now, I have even a greater will and determination to work toward my dreams…and I will get there.
You said it best yourself.
Take it slow and best of luck.