Kelly the Culinarian: Training Tuesday: Hollow Bones Edition

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Training Tuesday: Hollow Bones Edition

My post-transplant BFFs
There's a tear down/rehab project of epic proportions going on inside my body. Picture a 2-liter bottle of soda. I donated 3/4 of that during my bone marrow transplant less than a week ago. And I've got a marathon on the books in a month. This is almost as complicated as common core math, but the sum of all of these parts is I'm not quite sure if I'll be physically able to run a marathon on April 2.

In spite of undergoing an incredibly invasive procedure, I've never felt any pain and I basically feel like the same old me. I wake up with a headache every morning, but I think that's dehydration from the loss of fluids and my body working to rebuild. To that end, I tried to workout yesterday. It was abysmal. Just more than a week ago, I ran 20 miles on a treadmill for more than three hours. This week, walking at 3.4 MPH for 45 minutes was just about all I could handle. Nothing hurt, but the back of my legs felt sore and I guess the best way to describe myself was rickety. It's clear to me that my bones have been through a lot.




The closest I feel to an Ironman right now
I was told to avoid rigorous activity for a week or two to prevent the clots in my body from breaking up. But, because I'm young, healthy and active, I should listen to my body and exercise to my level of comfort. I was told not to swim until the incisions were scabbed over, which they are, but I've avoided the gym for almost a month so I didn't pick up some germ that would delay the transplant. Also, I'm damn tired and getting myself to the gym sounds daunting when I nearly passed out from the rigors of taking a shower a few days ago.

Another thing to consider is that my pelvis is hollow right now. My bones are particularly fragile because they were poked repeatedly during this procedure. While I feel great, my bones may not agree with the assessment.

I have until March 26 to decide if I can make it 26 one-mile loops at Circular Logic. I want to be able to do this race so bad, but I recognize there will always be another race. And Ironman Wisconsin is less than six months away, so I should take my rest while I can.

Choices, choices.

I ran 20 miles right before surgery because I knew it I wanted to do this race, I had to get one 20-miler in. So I know I have it in me. But what if that was the part of me that was removed in the transplant?


4 comments:

Amanda said...

Give yourself a break and a chance to recover. Don't push too hard. Wait this whole week (maybe just a few small walks). See how you feel. And if you try to get back into it...go slow. Can you do the marathon? I think you can. It might not be the prettiest but you could do it. If you want to. Just don't push too hard right now. your body needs to recover!

And I think you are amazing!

Maggie W said...

Your body already has enough work to do with your recovery ... so let it. Keep resting and hydrating and fueling the recovery. If your body is telling you it's not up for it now, don't push it. There will always be an opportunity to do a marathon later.

Unknown said...

Keep those spirits up! I'm sure your body is super tired right now and is probably working like triple overtime to replenish that bone marrow! But I think when you make the return to working out your fitness will come back quickly! Hang in there!

Unknown said...

You already saved a life this month ... give yourself a break and allow your body to heal completely. Then you will be able to do future competitions to your utmost ability.