A miracle? Well, probably not…

So, I did, in fact, wake up this morning and my back felt significantly better. There was still some pain, but I am doubting any trouble with the disc. Truth is, really, I don’t know.

I decided to go ahead and at least walk to get some exercise in. The new shoes felt great and so did my back, so I decided to run. Todays intervals required two repetitions of 90s run/90s walk/3 min. run/3 min. walk — and I DID IT! I actually managed to run for three minutes straight for both intervals.  I was floored.  Maybe it was the fact that most of my course was flat, or that it wasn’t as humid as normal (though we got a nice monsoon storm here in Arizona last night). Regardless, I did it, and I’m quite happy…not to mention I recorded my best pace so far at 14:28.

I cooled down a bit and sat and rested for a while in the living room. After about a half hour, I stood up.

Ouch.

My back hurt again. So, now I’m stymied at how I managed to run without pain.  Was it a good thing? Or should I wait until my back is indeed healed? Either way…I’m taking it slow over the weekend and am going to hopefully get some good pool time!

Weekend of recovery

Hi all.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.  Ours was pretty good…no complaints, other than the fact that I wanted to run, and didn’t.

On several occasions this weekend, I thought my ankles were fine, but then the pain came back. Never once did I think in the previous three weeks that I overdid it, but evidently I did. So, I swallowed my pride and acknowledged that I probably needed to lay off a bit. Thursday, Friday and Saturday all saw plenty of time on the stationary bike, today saw nothing, and tomorrow I’m hitting the road again. It was hard to go several days without what I’ve built into a somewhat normal regimen, but I think it will be worth it in the long run (no pun intended).

So, some of you may recall that I decided to take traineo up on their whole motivators thing (I usually wouldn’t, but figured that this time around it would be worth it). I have chosen three out of the four and am currently trying to search for a fourth. I’ll be sure to profile these guys and gals as soon as I complete the motivator team.

As for shoes, my journey to find the right one continues. I’ll hopefully get to the New Balance store this week, or if not, will visit the Roadrunner Sports store in Tempe, AZ where I’ll be visiting family for the next week or so. I have to take care of these feet! I have a friend willing to give me a discount on Adidas shoes that he sells, which might be the best case scenario. This is the part I hate most about being a graduate student: self-inflicted poverty.

Time to sleep…I’m running tomorrow come hell or high water!

I hurt

Oy. I hurt. I kind of feel like I’ve hit a brick wall…literally.

Wednesday’s run was a short one, but not terrible. I managed to keep a pace under 16:00 still, and what made me even more happy was the fact that I was able to do the 90s run/120s walk intervals without much difficulty. It seems as if the second week repetition was worth it.

That said, I came home, did my usual, and then at night went and played some ball with the boys. I had run in the morning with my cross-trainers and seemed fine afterward. However, after about 20 minutes of basketball, my legs, ankles and feet started to strain. Needless to say, it wasn’t my most productive night of basketball. I came home, and I was tired, and my feet and ankles were killing me. I busted out the Ben-Gay and went to sleep.

So what happened? I have been pretty consistent these past three weeks. I’ve stretched, I’ve hydrated, I’ve eaten well, and for the most part (there have been some exceptions) have gotten a decent amount of sleep. But yesterday, it just seems like my body told me, “Look, pal, I know this is good for me, but I need a break.” Thus far, I have avoided brick walls.  I tend to have Wednesdays be my light run days specifically because I’m going to get another hard workout, but yesterday didn’t hold up.

Anyway, I am going to go ride my trusty stationary bike and work up a sweat and then get a good night’s sleep before a long, slow run tomorrow.

Happy Independence Day weekend to everyone!!  (Or at least my American readers! Happy weekend to the rest of you too! )