Tuesday, August 02, 2022

The Decomposing Composers

I can confirm, to no one's surprise, that trying to keep up with Eli 21.0 breaks down by body.

In my defense, 61.3 is considerably different than 21.0. Still, I hang in as long as I can. 

This time, after golf (always walking) Friday/Saturday and tennis Monday/Tuesday, some stuff works better than others. 

However, I discovered something interesting. 

We were warming up yesterday, hitting volleys back and forth, when my upper back just kind of seized up. It's hard to describe, unless it's happened to you, but it's pretty overwhelming. 

Golf might have contributed, since I'd only hit balls once all year and we played (in total) 27 holes on Friday and Saturday. Who knows?

I was able to stretch my back out enough that I could keep playing tennis, and then I noticed a curious thing. "Hey!" I shouted to Eli. "I just realized that the more my back hurts, the less my hamstring hurts."

He started laughing. 

"This is what it's like when you're old," I said. "Pain is a zero-sum game. You wake up every day in pain, but if one part hurts more, another part hurts less." 

As strange as it sounds, it seems to be true. A new injury seems like it takes pain away from an older one.

Today we played tennis again, and both back and hamstring survived. I have to make it through another week and a half without my body blowing up like an overinflated tire. 

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