Back to Training…finally!

I got back from my orthopedic doctor yesterday and finally was able to breath a sigh of relief!  He took me out of my splint and said I should be fine to start strengthening my hand & wrist and most importantly, I can start my weapons training again!

It has been several months since I was able to really wield a weapon of any kind.  I have De Quervain’s Tenosynovitis in both hands.  This occurs when the tendons around the base of the thumb become inflamed.  I had the right thumb tendon sheaths cut a few years ago, before I started competing internationally.  It was now time to have the left done.  I have always had issues with both my hands, I’ve had carpal tunnel surgery on both as well.  Hopefully, other than the expected arthritis, I should be in the clear for awhile.

On top of the issues with my hand/wrist, I was also recovering from my IT Band tear that happened during my half marathon in October.  It has mended itself to the point I can now run again, albeit slower than normal, but my range of motion is no longer affected so I am working back up to more normal speeds and distances, slowly.

The biggest issues I have come across so far is making sure I don’t do too much, too soon. Last night, after the go ahead from my doc, I did some pole axe work.  Stance movements, weapons lifts & holds and just getting familiar with the weight again.  That was enough, and I knew it.  Yet as soon as I was winding down my Interval Sprints on the treadmill my brain said…”Let’s Lift ALL THE WEIGHTS”.  I literally had to stop myself from picking up heavy things all night long.

It’s amazing the changes my body has gone through the past 3 years since I started actively training for my fighting.  As I have stated before, I can tell a marked difference in how my body reacts & recovers now, to how it did so when I was even a mere 3 years younger.  Age is a vicious bitch and she will make you pay one way or another lol.

I also have to constantly remind myself that I have to fight my own fight.  I can not train the same way 25 year old Russian women train for this sport.  My body can not take it any longer.  It does not mean they are better than I am, it simply means I have to train smarter than they do.  Youth has exuberance, raw energy and frankly a lot of stupidity powering your body.  You don’t really think about the long term repercussions certain moves make, you just push through it, all out, balls to the wall.  I have been like that ALL my life, in almost every aspect of my world.  Yet I have come to understand the old adage “Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance”.  Granted, that may not always be true, especially in my sport, but it does lend some defining moments to the slide show of steel fighting in my mind.

Today I pre-plan my workouts, I contemplate what they will do to my body and I mentally prepare.  I also take rest days VERY seriously.  Recovery does not happen as quickly without rest.  Period.  I will be the first to admit that I never listened to the more experienced, older fighters in the beginning.  I thought I can do this, I can make my body bend to my will.  Yet here I am, preaching the same things they have been for years; slow steady progress is so much better than over doing it and blowing your body up.

Here I am, on the raggedy edge of my fighting years, knowing that my body is not going to last forever.

Yet, I am still filled with hopes, dreams and goals to conquer…and conquer them I will!

There just might be a lot of pain remedies involved…and the scent of Bengay wafting over the winners podium =)

Never Give Up – Never Give In!!!