Adjusting to the Wind

Have you ever gone for a walk, run, or bike ride or out sailing or kayaking and you have an easy breezy trip away from where you started, but then you turn around and discover that the wind was helping you along and you didn’t even know it? And as you start for home, the wind pushes back, and all you can do is think, “Well, crap.” There’s nothing to be done about it. You just have to spend the entire journey back struggling, fighting, cursing in your head, and adjusting to the wind.

I have. Quite a few times. I remember one long run back in the early 2010s (when I had dreams of being a long-distance runner that eventually, rightly, disintegrated into a pile of blisters and tears) that was a real doozy. I was running an out-and-back route in the afternoon on a weekday (I worked strange hours at Starbucks in those days) on a local trail. I was feeling good, or so I thought, so I ran a little extra that day, probably 4.5 miles out.

Then I turned around. The wind felt gale-force level and I had to stop for a moment. This was going to be rough. All two of my friends were at work, so I couldn’t call for a lift. I tried to adjust my mentality – “Slow and steady, you got this.” I started “running” again. A local turtle outstripped me and went home to tell his family how amazing he was. I was the Little Engine that could, just slowly chug-chugging my way back to my car.

I made it eventually, but gosh it was not fun. I spent the entire 4.5 miles back adjusting to the wind, and honestly never did fully adjust. It was so unexpectedly difficult that my brain struggled to deal with the change.

Although I don’t run long distances anymore (at the age of 35 I’m proud to say I have moved past that particular foolishness, at least until someone I really like asks me to train with them for a marathon, then all bets are off) I still find myself adjusting to the wind a lot in life. Last week, I was having a good day (the World Cup is happening right now, y’all!) and feeling good and lifting at the gym, and my lower back suddenly decided it was done playing. Short but intense pain hit hard, hard enough that I dropped the barbell and fell to my knees.

I hadn’t been doing anything stupid. I’d warmed up appropriately and wasn’t lifting anywhere near my max. It just happened, as it has occasionally over the years. And for the last week or so, I’ve been adjusting to the wind: limiting my lifting and sitting, stretching extra, and seeing the best chiropractor in the world (shoutout to TheFixRx.)

I’m doing the right things. I’m chugging along. It will heal as it has before. But it’s still difficult. Those wind changes can really throw you, you know?

So, I write all this to ask you: What do you do when you find yourself adjusting to the wind? What helps you get through? I’d love to know.