Luckily advil and ice calmed the spasm, and I was able to start implementing the tools. Don't catastrophize; this doesn't mean you are never riding your motorcycle again. Slow deep breaths. Stretch. A little more. And more. Good.
I worked a short day, saw a chiropractor for the first time, and spent Friday on the couch, watching Gilmore Girls and blogging. By Saturday, the pain was manageable, though my back was stiff. I stretched and yoga-ed first thing in the morning, and headed to the Torque Wenches meeting.
What I discovered is that I suck at downtime. Time alone I'm good at. Put me on a bike in a helmet alone for hours, and I'm happy. Put me in the woods, actually, with little to do, and I'm happy. Put me on a couch for 10 hours, and I go STIR CRAZY.
People plan this stuff...."I'm going to do laundry and binge watch TV tomorrow." Thank goodness I hadn't blogged our ride yet, or I'd have been out of my mind. Reading wasn't the best option, because holding a book or phone was challenging for my sore upper back. Though now that I think about it, I can read on my laptop with kindle. Noting that for the next time I'm forced to take downtime.
So much of life is about Balance. The night before this happened, I was busy planning every minute of the weekend 15 different ways to run by Nathan to see what he thought. Perhaps the muscle spasm is a sign that I need to slow down a bit. Stop falling off my motorcycles. Stop planning every minute.
The other good part was that I got to hang out with Moto.
She just can't stop being cute.
I'm not sure exactly what life is trying to teach me right now. Perhaps I'm too stubborn to hear the lesson, but somewhere out there, I think there's a message... Next weekend Orygun Run, the weekend after California, the weekend after Camping.... Maybe I needed a quiet weekend and wasn't giving myself the time. It's hard, when the weather is so ideal and the bike is calling my name.
It has made me realize how far outside of my routine I have gotten since coming back from Utah. No yoga, very little home training. I set my alarm for 4:35 for Monday; I was going to go sooner, but the chiropractor recommended waiting a bit. Yoga will start again. I also was able to practice my yoga poses at home, at a slow and gentle pace.
I am on the mend, but I think the lesson that always needs to be relearned is balance. I cannot do to my body the things I do if I am unwilling to participate in daily training. And I also need to look at the possibility that I am overscheduling myself. Being mindful of these two things, I will stretch and ride and move forward, until the next ailment lands me on the couch... hopefully with good balance, that will be postponed for a while.
