It’s been 7 weeks since my psoas injury and my recovery is taking much longer than I had hoped. Running the Princess Half Marathon in the middle of my recovery time probably didn’t help, but it had to be done! No regrets there. I’ve now completed my 10 sessions of physical therapy and feel about 85% back to normal. Unfortunately, I’m still under strict orders from my physical therapist to not run for at least another 2 weeks.
Being in this state of rest has been difficult. It’s gotten even worse since the weather has been so nice. I just want to get out there and run! Plus, my Team Challenge training runs have started and I’m feeling disconnected from the team because I can’t join them. But I know this is important for my overall recovery. Every time I would run during my therapy, I would aggravate the injury and it would just push me a step back. All the work and time I had been putting in to PT was just getting erased. So after the Princess Half and the Sham Rock ‘n’ Roll 5K (more to come on that later), I decided to finally listen to the powers that be and take that rest. That loooooong 3 week rest.
Well naturally my initial reaction was that I would lose all of my endurance that I have worked so hard to build up over the past few months. But my therapist thankfully said I could do biking to keep up with my cardio. Since I don’t belong to a gym, I decided to give Spinning a try again. 
If you’re not familiar with Spinning, it is a high energy, indoor cycling class. The Spinner bikes can be adjusted to multiple resistances to simulate hill climbs, sprinting, etc… The class works every muscle in your legs and gives you a great cardio workout. It’s also really fun as it incorporates music and some studios even include visuals to distract you from the task at hand – something I love! But, I hadn’t taken a Spinning class in over 3 years. Was I going to be able to keep up? Was I going to fall off the bike in exhaustion?
I signed up for my first class at Go Green Fitness last week, and I’m so excited to have a place like this close to my house. It is a dedicated Spinning studio that converts the energy created in the class from cycling into renewable energy. How cool is that?! I survived my first class, but not without some huffing and puffing. I even went back for my second class a few days later. I had forgotten how fun these classes were and how great I feel afterwards. And the great thing about it is that I have no pain in my leg during or after the classes!
So here’s my plan while “resting”: Spinning classes 2 to 3 times per week then upper body and core strength training in between. Fingers crossed this will be enough for me to be able to pick up my training again in 2 weeks and break in those new running shoes!
Have you ever had to take a break from training because of an injury? Did you lose some of your endurance?