Road to Boston | Facing Setbacks

Road to Boston | Facing Setbacks

It’s likely that, at some point of your fitness goal, you will encounter a setback. A setback is anything that delays or reverses your progress; in some cases, it can cause a temporary defeat. Setbacks come in many forms: it can be life stress, job related or an injury. In my case, it was the flu during an important phase of my Boston Marathon training. A setback has a way of exposing our true motivation for training. Is it purely for self-care or bragging rights? More importantly, it will test your ability to display good judgment.

 

For example, I was feeling awful that first day my little one brought home the flu from kindergarten. At that point, we quickly got on medication and quarantined. After a few days, I really wanted to run, although I knew I wasn’t up to it. I decided to use good judgment and not train. My mantra was, “sit back, rest and fully recover.” More importantly, I wanted to wait until I was no longer a threat to spreading the virus.

 

Being enthusiastic for fitness is great, but we should never let it cloud our judgment. Going to the gym while unwell puts you at risk of injury and prolonged sickness, and places others at risk of contracting what you have.

 

Here the stages that I go through when I have a setback, such as an illness, which happened to me just a few weeks ago:

 

1 – I listen to my body, take the proper medication and see a physician when I have a fever.

2 – I rest and follow the physician’s instructions to make sure that I recover and do no further damage to my body.

3 – I decide, on purpose, to enjoy the time of rest: sleeping in, relaxing and visualizing my goals for an upcoming race.

 

As I continue to embark on this journey, I realize that the Boston Marathon may be canceled or postponed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. During this time, it is important that we remain vigilant; let’s listen to our bodies and, if feeling unwell, make good judgment calls to recover and ensure others do not get sick.

 

If the Boston Marathon is postponed, like any other setback, I’ll bounce back. On the brighter side, perhaps I’ll have more time to train and rest, so that I can exceed my goals.

 

Tidbits| As soon as I was well enough to train, I eased my way back with a pilates class. After illness, it’s always good to ease back into your fitness routine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Just-an-FYI Disclaimer: Thank you for reading the Road to Boston blog series. My goal is to share my experiences, provoke thought and provide encouragement to the reader. I am neither a medical doctor, certified coach, nutritionist nor do I have any formal education in health and fitness; as such, my intent is not to treat or diagnose through my posts. 🙂