Tuesday, April 3, 2012

April might be the end of ski season

So I might have some more time to be here! When gone one work day out of every 10 for a few months (and three "real" days out of every 14), things get backed up. But I am doing well. I am consistently 15 pounds or more less than I was last ski season and it makes a real difference in my ability, I think.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a ski accident. I was coming in slowly at the bottom of the hill after only a couple of runs. It was one of the first real "powder days" of the season (California has had a winter drought this year = not the ton of snow we usually get in the mountains) so the mountain was crowded (which I dislike...and I am spoiled because it rarely gets this way). There were two snowboarders stopped right past the "gate" (where you radically slow to get into the lift lines) and there was a ton of space between them so I went to ski between them to get to the lift line. Just as I was ON TOP of them, one scooted toward the other, completely closing off my route. I could not stop and crashed into them. Twisted my left ankle badly and my left ski popped off...

At first I was just very mad at them (you MUST be aware of yourself no matter where you are on the hill...even stopped at the bottom...you can't move without looking/being aware of people around you). DB was right behind me and helped me up. The idiot snowboarders asked if I was ok and I said I didn't know. I didn't. DB encouraged me to walk around a bit before going back up to ski. As I did, I realized that my ankle REALLY hurt. So we headed to ski patrol...

When we got my boot off, it didn't look too bad. Definitely did not look broken so I just laid down on one of their cots for 1/2 hour and iced it and took some ibuprofen. At that point, I felt like the ankle was just bruised from impact with the interior of the ski boot (thank goodness they are so stiff...I am convinced I would have broken my ankle if they weren't). So I headed back up the beginner run to see how it felt. Not good...I was done for the day.

I sat and waited for DB to finish a few more runs, then we headed to our hotel. After I took the ski boot off, my ankle really began to swell. I laid down on the bed with my leg elevated and with ice. DB went out in the (by this time) blizzard to get some ibuprofen (he had to hike across a parking lot and take a gondola to get some for me!). By dinner time, I could hardly walk downstairs for dinner. Not good.

The next day I realized I couldn't ski. I stayed in bed with ice and elevation and a movie (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close...excellent). When DB was finished skiing, I hobbled to the car and we went to the pharmacy to get an ankle brace. With that and my stiff snow boot at least I could walk. But no more skiing for me that weekend.

When we got home, I knew I couldn't go to yoga for at least a week...the ankle was dark purple all over and still hurt. I knew I had to be very careful with food and I was. I was off all formal exercise (including no morning beach walks) for a week. Then I started walking again. This last weekend, I skied and, with a little pain, was ok. Today I went back to yoga and had a similar result. I am looking at yoga as physical therapy to finish my healing.

I didn't gain weight during the non-exercise time. I was very careful with food. In fact, I weighed slightly less when we went away for skiing last weekend than I did two weeks prior before the accident.

Our ski weekend last weekend was a ball because we went with PD2 and our 4 granddaughters! Two had never skied before and we put them all in lessons on Saturday. They were the only ones that got to ski that day because wind gusts were up to 75 MPH so all the grown-up lifts were shut down. It was an adventure! Sunday the weather was beautiful and we all had a ball skiing.

So, moral of the story: you can survive enforced non-exercise if you are very very careful with food. But it sure feels great to be back at it! :-)

3 comments:

Vickie said...

Felt like I wanted to SMACK the snowboarder.

good for you in becoming more focused.

think how many commentors creep out of the woodwork when many bloggers have an illness or injury to tell them to take a break from their d-i-e-t-s (hate that word) and just not to worry about it when they are injured or sick.

And think how that (break) compounds EVERY SINGLE THING both physically and mentally.

The feeling of getting back on ones feet and having been a real help/asset/friend to oneself is a mountaintop type experience.

I had that happen with surgery early in my process (2005) and it was one of the most empowering things that could have happened to me.

I always think of your writing about 'what's the worst thing that could happen?' and then visualizing yourself NOT over eating/eating the wrong stuff over it.

How close are you now to where you want to maintain? As I think I have said before - I think it is good to take where you want to be and then go down a few more pounds so you can hug the floor (rather than the ceiling).

Helen said...

Yeah, I wanted to smack them too...and I still feel that way! ;-)

I too hate the D word...somehow it implies that there is an end to the process and, as we both know, there isn't. This is a life-long thing...which is why it is so important, to me, to have a program that I can live with every day indefinitely.

I need to lose 10 pounds (probably) to fit into the wedding gown for the July wedding, but I'd like to lose 15 to be safe. To do this, I'm going to have to change things up because I have been maintaining in the same range now since the last wedding in August. I know what to do and will start after ski season (and its attendant temptations) is over.

Vickie said...

I have a whole pile of email addresses, which people sent me for going private, that the system will not load from what I can tell. Yours is one of them. I used the one you sent me (I found it in pile).

when you go to view my blog, will it let you?

is the email you sent me the one you use to log on to blogger?