Hi @michelito I’m sorry to hear about your illness and that it is getting you down.
I am in a similar, though less severe, position at the moment. Things were going great guns with a training plan running from the start of January and a strong nuclear ToS in the middle. Just as my 12 week plan ended I got an injury. It only took a week or so to get over but then I caught a cold and I’ve barely trained for several weeks.
I have also, though, been much deeper. In 2019 I was training for a Marathon (training was on target for sub 3:30) and a middle distance triathlon. I was fit and ready to go.
An achilles problem scuppered these (I skipped the marathon, walked 75% of the tri run leg). Then I picked up a chest infection which developed to pneumonia. Only after many doctor and hospital visits did I feel well enough to even walk outside. At one point it took me 20 minutes to walk the 400 yards to the doctor’s. I put on 14kg over this period.
Needless to say I was low. I had been the fittest I’d been for a while, with some solid and achievable goals and was only looking to the future. Then it all disappeared.
I’m sure most if not everyone here has stories of when they’ve been ill or injured, lost fitness or motivation. But of course the real motivation comes from within, and that is the most key thing for you to find, because that can be a positive thing even whilst you are still feeling ill. It is that which will get you primed and ready to hit it again once you’re feeling ready.
Different people find it in different ways, whether it is some yoga to keep active, putting some pro races on tv to get your head in the game or just getting outside because fresh air and greenery is what you need.
And remember, all the work you did has absolutely NOT gone to waste. Your body is better off for it. Sure, you may feel rough right now, but think how you’d be if you hadn’t got to the level that you did. Think how much harder it would be to get there again if you hadn’t done the work before.
Very few things in life are a straight line upwards, there are set backs and volatility on the way. This is one of those things, and if it hadn’t happened now it would have happened at some point. But equally these times generally pass, and underneath it all is a fit and healthy you ready to go.
I say all this as the world’s word patient and someone who is virtually intolerable when injured. Illness and injury get me down. Very down. But it’s not something to apologise for, it’s a base to move up from.
Let your body get well (because if it isn’t, then you will only do yourself more harm). Then use that as starting point to chase a better you. Not just getting back to where you were, exceeding where you were. I find having that as a target is very powerful mentally. You’ve seen where you got to before, now have it as a goal that you’re going to catch that former you, crush him and leave him for dust. Because the next version of you is unstoppable.
After my illness in 2019 I bought my Kickr Core in March 2020 (a fortunate panic buy as global lockdown hit!). I rediscovered SUF having used some of the videos years ago. Almost all of my added weight has gone. I’m getting top 10s in local Strava segments, average speed of outdoor rides is way over what it has ever been, and I’m as fit as I can remember for a long time. A few weeks ago I extended a run in my training plan up to a half-marathon distance because I was enjoying it and because I could. (This is all before the recent issues! They will pass).
Things do get better.
IWBMAT To Kick my previous self’s Tomorrow
L
