(Temporarily) Unstoppable
“With an unmanned, half-mile-long freight train barreling toward a city, a veteran engineer and a young conductor race against the clock to prevent a catastrophe.”
When Unstoppable came out in 2010, I wondered how anyone could squeeze an hour and a half out of a story about a runaway train. I skipped the movie and promptly forgot it.
Until this week. It seems to be cable’s movie-of-the-week and I can’t get away from it. Believe me, I’ve tried. It finally caught up with me one brain-dead night, and I decided to give it a shot.
Half an hour was all I could stand. And that’s 30 minutes of my life I will never get back.
Still, this week seems to be a fitting time for Unstoppable. My training has derailed.
No swimming or weight training until further notice. Doctor’s orders. Which is fine, considering my shoulder doesn’t want to move too much anyway.
I didn’t bother to ask him about biking or running. I figured I’d do it anyway, so why ask?
The thing is, I just don’t feel like doing it.
Between healing and then coming down with some kind of virus, it’s been 10 days since I’ve done much more than walk my dogs. Although I’ve walked them a lot (one now hides at the sight of her leash), my energy level won’t move into overdrive.
Ever have those days when your head really wants you to be out there doing something, but your body refuses? Each morning, I set my alarm, planning to get up and run. Each morning, I shut it completely off thinking maybe I’ll bike later (I don’t) or run tomorrow (I haven’t).
I catch myself instead staring wistfully at my training log as I mark another X through an unachievable workout, distraught by the momentum of nothingness that seems to be building.
I am hoping this lag in training is not unstoppable. I’m not quite sure what to do to get back on the right track. If I know my body, it will start one morning on its own, without telling me.
(Sort of like the jack-in-the-box you had when you were a kid, and you kept cranking and cranking and thought you were getting nowhere and then Pop! goes the weasel, and you jumped about a mile out of your skin. Stupid toy, scaring kids to death like that.)
I just hope it doesn’t take catastrophic explosions, the destruction of small towns, or Denzel Washington to get me re-railed.
Well, maybe Denzel Washington.
Any suggestions?
More Than Running... 
Our new motto for the Bike Club is to “Get up. Get out. Get riding.” Most of that language is intended to non-cyclists, to get them involved, but sometimes we have to use it to motivate those of us who are cyclists too. From the mouth of Jens Voigt, “Shut up Legs!” can also be applied to your shoulder (provided you exert safely). When I started to get in shape, I got outside first and then I told myself how it was going to be. I’m going to ride 30 miles today. Period. End of story. And I made sure I didn’t come home, or even close to home until I had 30 miles in. I’ve also come to love that it doesn’t get any easier. You just get the opportunity to ride harder, faster, better. That works for running too though. Run hard!
If you have issues with healing and health, then set a realistic goal. And then do that goal. The planning for, and wanting to do, and setting the alarms the night before are all great, but you just have to get outside first. Get your clothes on, don’t worry about whether you just took a shower or not, you can do that part all over again. Get your clothes on, pick up some dirt, rub it on your face so you know it’s alright to get a little dirty if you have too, and even if you fall face first, you won’t be doing anything worse to yourself than you already did. Get going. Harder. Faster. Better. <>
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strawberryphantom
May 3, 2013
Setting a realistic goal until I can breathe enough to run fast and hard seems to be where I am right now. Tomorrow’s goal: Forget the alarm; rub dirt on my face. 🙂
Thanks for the pep talk!
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MinkaM
May 3, 2013