Plan B

So. No marathon October 7 is the obvious. Which leaves a lot of questions. What's plan B? That thought has been bugging me, so I went to one of my top few sources for bugging me questions, my sister. We unraveled this bit by bit. First matter of discussion, my new body. I like the way less muscle feels on me. I like feeling less bulky, frankly, and I like the way that it looks and feels in clothes. I don't really miss that 10 lbs of muscle, and when I look at pictures, even from Memorial Day, I like the way that I look without it. I don't want to bulk up like that again, I have enough natural muscle definition and strength that I need to focus on cardio, flexibility, and lengthening, not necessarily strengthening. Second matter of discussion, my new hip. It still hurts. It is filled with new hardware, and it may or may not be healing properly. Third matter of discussion, my state of mind. In a weird way I have found myself with less anxiety, feeling less rushed and more relaxed this past two weeks. I like being on the fringes of the gym rat race, strange as that sounds. Fourth matter of discussion: my goals. These are:

*To not reinjure myself.
*To exercise 5 times/week, no more and no less.
*To not put back on the bulky muscle that I had created.
*To get in the pool.

With those discussion items on the table, and those goals in mind, we came to the following conclusions. For now, no weight bearing exercises, no impact exercise, and no running for a solid 6 months. NO RUNNING? Yes, no running. I need to be smart now, not greedy, if I want to run right and run well again. Thats just fact. Plan B is officially laid out as follows:

Swim, 60 minutes, 2 times/week
Yoga, 75 minute class, 2 times/week
Spin class, 1 time/week

This is 5 days of non weight bearing a week. Entirely non weight bearing. The mind/body connection is strongly ingrained in our plan, and it keeps me out of the rat race classes that had me running around franticly in my prior gym experience. I have enough natural muscle bulk, I simply don't need to be swinging heavy kettlebells and doing all sorts of weight lifting/plyo/tabata etc. I also have a lot of other goals this fall ~ I have a lot of things that I want to get done around the house, decorating, landscaping, baking, things with friends etc etc etc.....and my plan is simple and not overly time consuming like my workouts were getting to be before I got injured. It is a healthy and balanced amount of time to spend exercising, while allowing me time to spend pursuing other pleasures.

Plan B will go into effect on whatever the Monday of 7 weeks post surgery is (I'm laying in bed without my calendar handy). This assumes that my x-ray of next week (at 6.5 weeks post surgery) shows that I have not mangled by hip AND that the bones appear to be healing properly.  I can tell you that my hip is still pretty painful at times, and I will be scaling back and modifying those classes quite heavily in the beginning. I will also admit that I know that I'm not even at 5 weeks post surgery yet, but I can't quite imagine being entirely off of crutches yet by 6 weeks post surgery. It still hurts too much to walk without one and I limp quite badly when I try. I'm worried that this means that it isn't healing properly. Then I tell myself to shut up and not worry.

I'm committing the next 6 months of my life to this plan. My ultimate goal is still to run a marathon.....but I can't focus on that until I have healed from a broken hip. I can't heal from a broken hip unless I give myself the time and space to do so. I can't do so without a plan. This is my plan. This will be my accountability journal of that plan for the next 6 months. After Christmas will be 6 months from now........a perfect time to assess, evaluate, and make a new plan. Stay tuned!

PS, quick and informal need for help/opinions here: I have an important fairly dressy night out next week. I REALLY am dreading using my crutch with my semi fancy cocktail dress and platform heels and whatnot. I was thinking about using a cane. A friend thought that the crutch might give a better first impression over a cane.......(I'll be at an event where I am meeting a whole bunch of new people for the first time, and I admit that I do want to make a good first impression). Opinions? Cane or crutch? Assuming both are equal from an actual support/helping me walk perspective, which would you use if you were getting dressed up for a night out? Is this a really weird question and who on earth worries about such trivial things? (me). Thanks in advance.