Tales of a One-Kidney Fencer

I’ve been told that my recovery has not been typical. The fact that I’m still having pain is, evidently, unusual. However, it is manageable and so I am increasing my training load. However, that increase comes with some limitations.

Fencing:

I’ve come to the conclusion that, for now, I will not be able to fence without significant breaks between sessions. No more back to back days of fencing, or twice a day fencing for a while. I am going to have to spend some significant time engaging in anatomical adaptation to prepare my body for that kind of load, maybe years. The good news, however, is that I have been able to increase my training load within those limitations. I have gone from fencing one day a week, to lessons and light bouting 3 days a week. Its a start.

Gym:

I actually tried lifting light weights for a brief workout. I’m not ready for that. In fact, the stress of that took days for my body to recover. However, I can do cardio and HIIT. So, next week, I will be back at the gym for that a few days a week. I think it will be several months before I am ready to start lifting again. I’ll try at 4 months recovery, and then 6 if that doesn’t work out.

Running:

I’m definitely not ready to run yet. I use running for HIIT training. Even the idea of those pain areas bouncing around makes me cringe. I’ll plan on trying that at the 4 month mark as well.

PT:

I’ve had a history of back problems and tendonitis. I think I can start addressing those issues again. The PT exercises rarely exceed 10 lbs. So, rather than heavy weights, I’ll work on adding PT a few days a week to get that anatomical adaptation started.

So, I think I have a plan going forward. I probably pushed a bit too much this week to test my body’s recovery. I’ll have to pull back on a bunch of things, but am comfortable adding other things. There should be plenty of net progress to be had at this stage.