Saturday, July 20, 2013

Back in the Saddle - again

This seems to be the year of the non-running injury for me. On June 20, I fell at work while walking down some stairs. Smacked my lower back pretty hard. All extremities were functional at the time but I knew it would hurt the next day. It hurt a lot within the next hour. The next day added the pain of whiplash to the back pain.

Three weeks of mobility and strength exercises and no endurance training was the prescription. Boo. Meh, I survived it. I went for my first run on July 10. Oh did I ever lose my edge. MAF runs were in the 11-12 minute range. Pain was a 1 or 2 but I pressed through it with limited running and cycling. I even loaded the roadie for a trip to Cleveland to keep me from running too much.

I'm still recovering the fitness but my back is fine. I have to push really hard on my back muscles to find any pain. I don't have to push very hard on my pace to find zone 4. However it's getting better too.

Now I'll enjoy a weekend in Pigeon Forge with the wife and kids. Maybe a few miles of running too.