Well there we have it, one month down and one to go of the Ernie’s Fitness Challenge.

For the most part the four weeks have been great. For the first three weeks I hit the gym at least three times a week, coached volleyball another three days a week, ate healthy, cut out beer (mostly) and even on my Cheat Day would choose something like a grilled chicken burger without cheese to ease a guilty conscious.

This past week, however, was a different story, almost a nightmare.

It’s not because I cheated or fell off the wagon or anything like that; it’s because two incidences beyond my control rocked me physically and threw my momentum for a loop.

First of all I threw my back out coaching volleyball. I have a chronically bad back due to a past work injury, and last week we were short of girls at practice and I had to step in and play with them to make our drills run smoothly.

Big mistake. Basically I undid a lot of the work my chiro and massage therapists have been doing (mostly due to past volleyball injuries) and the result was I was out of commission for two days with crippling back spasms. I couldn’t even sit up on the couch that day.

Three days later when I was pain-free, I hit the gym and did some cardio and light weights, not wanting to over-do it and upset my back again, all the while experiencing some rather annoying tickles in my throat.

Of course, I woke up the next day with a terrible head cold that put me out of commission (once again) for the rest of the week.

Eating wasn’t a problem, as I was even more conscious of what I was consuming during the week I couldn’t really burn any of it off.

I don’t know why I’m beating myself up so badly about this. Both reasons for not making my fitness goals were beyond my control, but all the same, it’s constantly nagging me, like a big black cloud hanging over my head. I’m angry at myself, and I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because after all my hard work I feel like someone shoved two sticks in the spokes of my fitness bike and threw me to the ground.

All I can do to get back on track is push myself at the gym even harder over the next month, going perhaps four times a week and increasing my weights even more.

I can’t do anything about my bad back except what I’m already doing – seeing a chiropractor and massage therapists and trying to do my stretches. People with healthy backs don’t realize how lucky they are. Hurting my back in 2011 is one of the worst things I’ve been through, mostly because it won’t go away. It rears its ugly head all the time, not to mention it costs a lot to take care of.

It also changed the way I work out. I can’t do certain exercises or lift particular weights like I used to, I can’t participate in volleyball practice like I should and if it does start to flare up, I have to ease off at the gym, which as I’ve discussed, just leaves me feeling terribly guilty.

It’s an unfortunate predicament, but there it is, and finding a healthy balance is all I can do.

I’m halfway there, done 30 days of the Fitness Challenge and I’m doing well, but I could be doing better. And I will be.