Did I stick with it?

When we went on our trip to Virginia a few months ago, we proved that it was possible to work out every day on vacation.  We didn't skip a day and I was pretty proud of us.  I knew that I needed to keep up with PT on the trip and we brought my band and balance board so there was no excuse.  When we got to our first hotel, I did PT while watching Sound of Music.  Then next night we were at our second hotel and did my PT and was pretty confident I'd keep it up.

The next night when we got to Vermont, we had to pick up our key and we only had 30 minutes until sunset.  We picked out our tree and took it back to the house (that served as our pathetic 20 minutes of cardio for the day) and then I became a "whirling dervish" as the Mr called me.  It was 4 solid hours of decorating and by the time I was done, I was exhausted.  So no PT that night.  The next night I did my PT like a good girl...and never did it again.

Fail.

We would get up in the morning and not get going until 8am then I made breakfast almost every morning so we might not get out of the house until about 10am.  That doesn't sound bad but if you drive an hour here or half an hour there and then come 3:45pm the sun is starting to hide and by 4:15pm you're in the throes of sundown, man the energy just goes pfffft.  I'd heat dinner and then we'd watch a Christmas movie and it was like open mouth droolies on the couch.

We did get in *some* exercise.  The day we did sledding the walk back up the hill was exhausting and since we went down about 15-20x, we got a nice little kick of cardio with that.  While you wouldn't think building a snowman would be work, it took both the Mr and I every ounce of strength to roll that thing's bulbous ass up to the spot I picked, which of course had to be the top of the hill for all to see.

The next day we snoeshoed the property for about an hour.  The day after that we did a nice snowshoeing trail and there were lots of elevation changes and obstacles so it felt it a lot more than just a walk around our usual trails if we get enough snow at home.  So we got three good days of cardio in and another day of walking around town so I'll count that as like our neighborhood walks.  But on the strength front...nothin'.  The bands were even packed and never came out.  Sigh.

The past three days though, I've gotten right back on the PT train.  I know how easy it could be to get off track but I have a PT appointment today and I was honestly too afraid she'd be able to tell!  Seriously though, the reason I got back to it is because so much of what we did on this trip would not have been possible without it.  In 6 weeks, she was able to build on what the chiro had done and I was able to do more than just walk, which at one point was the goal.  Just to walk, period, without thinking about it.  Instead, you know what happened?

I walked up a 45 degree angle hill repeatedly to sled without thinking about it.  It wasn't until about my 10th trip back up that I stopped to enjoy the fact that my foot had not gone in that position in MONTHS.  Then the same as we shoeshoed to the chapel.

I don't know if you can tell by that picture but that is uphill meaning my heel needed to be stretched in a way that was impossible 2 months ago.  The fact that I didn't have to wonder if it was possible and just did it and then thought about it later is testament to what physical therapy has done and will continue to do for me when I am consistent.

I cannot get in that mindset of "well, I'm better now so I don't have to do it anymore."  That lax attitude has always been my downfall.  The chiro said there will be a time when I don't have to do PT anymore but I have committed to myself that I will do it 2-3x week for the rest of my life regardless of what the anyone says.  Having a sit down job will take that butt/hip strength away faster than I can imagine.  I want to break this cycle of being well for a few months with this leg stuff and then something else pops up.  Both the PT and chiro said they think those weak muscles are the core of my problems and while I love them both, it would make me happy to not have to continue to pay out the boo-tay to see them anymore.  The PT bills have started rolling in and we're at $900 and that's WITH insurance coverage and five more visits we haven't gotten the bills for yet.  So it's in my and our wallet's best interest to keep it up because I don't need to be paying more mortgage payment sized co-pays to fix this shiznit!

Did you keep up your exercise/PT routine over the holidays?

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