Flunking P.E.

When I was growing up, if there was one subject we loved in school throughout my entire education in Mexico, from elementary all the way up to high school, no matter the teacher, no matter the year, no matter the class mates, that subject was Physical Education.

No, it wasn't because this subject taught us the importance of living a healthy lifestyle nor did it provide us with great lessons on teamwork, or developing a competitive spirit or any other of those rather valuable lessons in life.

Nope. The reason me and my fellow classmates loved P.E. was because it was almost always an hour were nobody taught us anything and instead our teachers would throw a ball at us and tell us to "go play", which would basically mean the boys would split up in teams, set goal posts with old soda cans and break out a "cascarita" (spontaneous soccer game) while us girls would sit on the sidelines giggling and whispering, until the bell rang for next period. It was great!! A free period that came with a good grade (you had to be a real moron to flunk P.E.)! Plus, two days a week we got to wear sweat pants to school -instead of our boring old uniform-.

I've never really thought about all those wasted hours until quite recently. Sure, occasionally I'd be watching an American TV show and let out a dreamy sigh when the characters would come on screen decked out in cute cheer leading uniforms and school basketball jerseys, somewhat regretting that that sort of thing would never happen in my school. And yeah, I'd sometimes wonder what it would feel like to have an actual home-team to root for, complete with cute marketing paraphernalia like sports jackets and windbreakers with the school's "colors", or what fun it would probably be to have a "school's jock" or a "captain of the (insert sport) team" or a mascot.

But to be honest, I never really felt that I was actually missing out on real education during those P.E. hours, like real, actual stuff to be learned.

You might find this appalling and even somewhat pathetic. And yes, I'm hoping that perhaps things have changed in Mexico since then (when I got to college, we did have actual basket ball, soccer and soft ball teams, although, quite understandably, they all sucked big time), but the fact of the matter is that back then, I guess good sports education was probably way down on the list of priorities of the Secretaria de Educacion Publica (the Mexican equivalent of the Public Education Ministry).

And we didn't mind one bit.


But I do now.



Other than the fact that I had to learn the hard way (read: by watching my health go south and my weight go north) how important it is to regularly practice a physical activity, what I realize now is that I lacked even the very basics on how to take care of my body.

The extent of my knowledge in the great vast world of sports consisted of knowing that you don't go swimming until after two hours have passed since your last meal.

I didn't know that good hydration is important before, during and after any sport activity.

I hadn't a clue of what a "warm-up" consisted of, much less a "cool down" and how come these are important.

I had no idea that running could hurt your knees if you don't wear proper tennis shoes.


I had to learn this and much more from scratch when I first began working out, and most of this I had to learn on my own (by googling, reading blogs and signing up in forums) because asking the gym guy what a "rep" is felt pretty damn stupid. Even to me.

So little by little I started to learn the very basics of what probably should have been in my P.E. courses back in the sixth grade; and as my workouts increased so did my education.

Did you know that the "side stich" can almost always be avoided by drinking at least 500ml of water before working out? I didn't. I learned this after getting sick of that damn pain interrupting me in the middle of my workout and I finally posted a question on an online forum. Someone was nice enough to reply back.

Or did you know that blue toe nails are actually common in runners and often come from running down steep hills? I didn't. The first time I took off my socks and noticed my big toes had turned an awful shade of black and blue I freaked out and thought I had contracted gangrene. For weeks I thought my toes were going to fall off until I read in last month's "Runners" magazine that blue toes are actually considered "runner's trophies"!!


This week's lesson: sprain vs strain. This one was a toughie. First of all, when my hip starting giving me trouble a few days ago I shrugged it off (I was still working on the previous week's lesson: the power of the brain over pain). But it kept bothering me and this morning I'd barely run 20 mins when I really had to quit. I hadn't even broken out a sweat.

So I came home and googled "Hip pain" (I find keeping it simple gives the best results). This pulled up a whole new list of interesting vocab: piriformis, iliopsoas, groin pull, bursitis, hip replacement.... Fortunately for me, a little digging further and zooming in on my symptoms lead to the very easy diagnosis: a strain. Basically, I stretched a muscle too far. Not to be confused with a sprain which is stretching a ligament too far (bonus points for learning this). From my symptoms I suspect I have a Grade I type of hip sprain - since it only hurts if I move it in a repetitive way (as in while working out).

By the time I came along the proper treatment for a Grade I Hip Strain I felt I was totally acing this baby. Orthopedics.about.com says that these type of injuries are quite common ("no, you're not going to die" I was relieved to learn) and basically require the RICE treatment: Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevate.

Research grade: A-

So I decided to give my hip a rest, took out the icepack from the freezer, compressed it against my bare skin for 15mins and elevated my leg.

And then I took a hot shower.


And that's how I gave myself a nasty case of frostbite.


Homework grade: flunked.



Whoever said P.E. was an easy subject?


Fned.