Hey team, how’s it going? Apologies that this post is a tiny bit late, you’ll see why as you read on – it’s been crazy over here!
(If you want to catch up on my travels, take a look at the links at the end of this post).
What I’ve been up to
Well, this past week has been a whirlwind! It looked something like this – brace yourselves:
Monday- finishing up in Nicaragua, chilling by the pool and catching up on Game of Thrones
Tuesday – grabbing a bus to the Costa Rican border, doing customs an immigration, then hopping on another 2 buses to my destination: surf haven Tamarindo.
Wednesday – Catching early waves in the morning, followed by an afternoon of chilling, followed by a late afternoon surf, and then a sunset run.
Thursday – 5am start to get to Monteverde, home of Costa Rica´s Cloud Forests (so called becaus they´re shrouded in cloud, making them super fertile and biodiverse). Did an afternoon hike but got completely rained on – rainforest style – and ended up cutting it short!
Friday – Another 5am start to get from Monteverde to second surf destination, Jaco, furher south in Costa Rica. Quick late afternoon surf, which included sustaining an injury. Boohoo! More on that later.
Saturday – Rest day from everything as I was in a lot of pain. I ended up going to a the nicest cafe I could find, however, and writing the application for a Masters Im applying for.
Sunday – Onwards and upwards! After a brief early morning beach session to soak up the last of the rays, I hopped on over to San Jose airport to catch my flight to new adventure destination of Lima, Peru!
Sidebar – Does anyone else feel exhausted by this, or is it just me?
In all honesty, I hadn’t planned on travelling to Costa Rica at all, but when I found a cheap flight to Lima from San Jose, I quickly snapped it up, and decided to do as much as I could with the time allowed. It involved a lot of bus travel and a ton of early mornings, but I think I managed to squeeze the pips out of a short 5 days in paradise!
Exercise
Things were going really well with exercising, as I was running most mornings, then surfing all afternoon. Surfing is a really frustrating but wholly satisfying sport, and I was really gettng the hang of it when *boom* – along came a rib injury, which is apparently very common in new sufers. Who knew?
Long story short, I have moderate to severe pain on the right side of my ribcage, and it hurts to breathe, sit up, and move in certain directions. I’m still undecided as to whether its a hairline fracture (which while rare, isn’t completely unheard of) or if its just a strain of an abdominal or intercostal muscle. Either way, I’m quite limited in what I can do right now, which is definitely getting me down. I’m writing this from Lima which is set up with parks and pathways for running, cycling and even calisthenics workouts. That being said, I know I have to listen to my body (maybe even get an X-ray) and sit it out for now.
Food
Okay, here’s where things get tricky. My appetite has been out of control for no reason – I havent surfed in a few days, and I´ve stopped running altogether. Having a history of orthorexia and binge eating, having an uncontrollable appetite is pretty much my worst nightmare, as I get depressed and anxious over food, which seems to only make me hungrier. Being real for a moment – I’ve on several occasions found myself at the bottom of a whole bag of cereal or a whole packet of cookies. Not a good look when you’re trying to live your best healthy lifestyle.
For now, all I can do is listen to my body as much as possible, and try to fill myself with as many nutrient dense foods as possible, in hopes of crowding out the unhealthier snacks I find myself eating. As much as it sucks right now, I know I’ll get over this little phase.
How do you cope with injury from running (or anything else for that matter)?
Do you have any tips for me for Peru?
Lots of love,
Pìppa
PS. As promised, take a look at the rest of my adventures via the links below!
Pip in Motion 
Bummer! Heal fast!
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Ooof! I have had an injury from skiing which made my motion quite limited for awhile. It wasn’t anything serious, and luckily it went away fairly quick. I hope yours goes away super fast too! How much longer will you be “on the road”? Is there a defined plan or are you just wandering a bit? Your adventures look so fun!
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