On the Couch

That's Jean! I took it with my cell phone so it's sorta crappy but you get the idea. Isn't she cool? I went to the pool yesterday evening and told her about my no exercise situation (more on that in a sec'). She was very disappointed, which I appreciated. She told me how to do the last few things she was planning to teach me - how to hold my head, how to roll my body to breathe, etc - and we talked about where and how to practice until the tri. She also encouraged me to keep swimming, and told me how I have progressed really quickly, "I don't really consider you a beginning swimmer, I consider you an intermediate or an intermediate-advanced swimmer." I didn't even know what to say to that, that's just craziness in my mind. She seems to really believe in my ability, and to have that be something related to my physical ability, and have her be an expert in this area, it's just really crazy. I find myself wanting to do well to live up to that though, which is good.

So I'm home, on the couch, recovering. I had minor outpatient surgery this morning and now I'm popping pain pills and watching movies. Presently I'm in the middle of Pollock. The main character was just whining about how he's broke and not having success as an artist and his buddy tells him, "Just keep it at" and he barks back, "I'm keeping at it! Don't tell me to keep at it! I'm keeping at it." That's kind of how I'm feeling right now. I don't think he meant it to mean, don't encourage me, I think he meant that he will keep going, even if it's painful and not working, even if it's fruitless, he'll keep going. So that's why I related to what he said because darn-it, that's how I feel! I just hope that feeling that way translates into me getting back into it as soon as I'm able.

So the deal is I can't exercise for at least a week, maybe longer, depending on how my recovery goes. I can go for a walk in a few days if I'm feeling up to it but nothing that gets me breathing hard. I am doing my best to keep this in perspective. The main thing is it's something that will heal and be completely over and I am lucky it's not chronic in nature. I am grateful to have my body do all it does for me, that after sitting on my bum for most of my life it's not too terribly unwilling to get up and start moving. I figure it'll take 1-2 weeks to get back to where I was when this happened. I'm not sure what I'll do about the c25k plan, I guess I'll have to figure that out when I go on my first run and see what I can do. The main and most important thing is I have no doubt I can still do the tri. I may walk some or all of the run but I know I will cross that finish line.

That reminds me, I'll have to be more careful with my food during this. I'm accustomed to being able to get by with little extras here and there because of the working out and I know that won't fly. Alright, I'm going back to the movie. Thanks for all the positive comments and support, it really helps.