Week 13 & 14 - DISASTER

My apologies for the delay between posts. Here's the details:

During a hockey game last week, I made an aggressive move to the net. In theory, this play should have resulted in a beautiful goal, followed by cheers and accolades from my teammates. But instead of sweeping the puck around the goaltender, I didn't bring the stick across my body fast enough. The stick blade lodged under his leg pad, plunging the butt-end of my stick into my lower chest and sending me airborne. Winded and seeing stars, a laid there for a moment, but decided to finish out the game since it was nearly complete. I did score twice during the game, but the hot topic in the locker room afterward was my acrobatic routine. With the amount of swelling that had already appeared, I figured I had missed my ribs entirely. During the remainder of the week, the area was sore, but not too sharp. I attempted a few runs in the days following, but it was difficult to maintain proper breathing at even a slow pace. Each impact of my feet would aggravate the area too much for me to continue. Four days after, I was back on the ice, this time for a practice. The swelling had reduced by this point, and after the practice, it felt worse than it had all week. The next day I went for an examination to see what I had done to myself.

The X-rays came back negative for any organ trauma, but positive for a rib fracture. The doctor recommended a week of bed rest, accompanied by 4-6 weeks of little to no physical activity. By this point, taking a shallow breath was a difficult task, and even going from a sitting position to standing involved quite a bit of discomfort. Since there's no way to set a break like this, the only prescription is to "just deal with it until it gets better". But here are the real disasters. The second "weight-loss competition" is scheduled to end this weekend, and I've since been unable to properly train and finish strong, eliminating me from contention. Also, the first 1/2 marathon that I've been preparing for is just 6 weeks away. It is highly unlikely that I'll be able to continue to condition for a race of that length with this injury.

While the pain in my ribs is ever present, I'm more frustrated with the fact that I may have to forfeit the chance to achieve one of my primary goals for the year. I've put a lot of effort into my training up to this point, and now I have to put it aside. I know I'll be able to start again in preparation for this summer's big run, but any setbacks, especially when I'm already motivated and fully committed, are a huge blow to an already damaged psyche.

Needless to say, my weight loss hasn't exactly been stellar. It seems that no matter what I eat, the exercise is the most important factor for me. I've reduced my calorie intake to reflect my "forced sedentary lifestyle", but even still it's not enough to keep the pounds coming off. I'm in a state of suspension, hovering around the 230's but not able to breach the threshold and stay in the 220's. I never thought I'd see the day that I wouldn't embrace the chance to be lazy and inactive. Now that the opportunity is here, all I want to do is get out of bed and run.