Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Slow September

After knocking out Esprit, I pulled up a little in my hip/lower back. This was a bit of a niggle which had been around since the previous weekend and I figured it was simply due to sleeping awkwardly on a crappy futon, or in the car. Nevertheless, the Monday following Esprit I went on my routine 60 minute run and midway I was really struggling. Pain was pretty bad and my gait had turned to crap to compensate. I limped home and went to bed.
The next few days were awful. A lot of pain walking and I struggled to put any weight on my right leg without feeling really uncomfortable. I decided to rest up and see what happened. After a week with little improvement, I was getting pretty stressed (read: depressed from lack of exercise and having grave fears about how bad it could be) and images of Paula Findlay at the Games were running through my mind.
The pain subsided - for the most part - after 8 or 9 days of no biking or running. I went to see a doctor on the Thursday in the second week (at which point there was almost no pain) and he said I likely strained a muscle in my lower back, and eliminated any hip problem (Paula, at this point, ran out of my mind).
''No exercise whilst it hurts', was the good doctors advice, 'it could take two to four weeks''. ARRGH! A month without running would be awful. Considering that prior to this hip/back thing, the longest period without running in the previous year, was 3 days - after not even two weeks I was already going pretty mental!
In the end, I heeded his advice and attempted a 25 minute easy run/walk on the treadmill at a slight incline exactly two weeks later (after having no pain for 4-5 days). It went really well - no pain! I was back! I ended up doing a 55km week of running that week and it all went by without any pain. Problem was, I had gotten a shitty old cough-cold which was going around the office. Uhhkk.
The end result of everything, was a pretty lame month of training. On the positive side, it was rest for the mind. In hindsight, I did enjoy coming home and just cooking or resting up.

October is here and I'm settling into a good routine. Swim volume is up and bike volume is down, as a consequence of the seasons and the daylight and things are rolling along well!
Best,
Steve


3 comments:

  1. Keep it up man! Everyone is dealt a crappy hand every once in a while. Those who succeed are the ones who listen to their bodies and take the adequate rest. (IE: not pushing through the pain!)

    Whatever fitness was lost will be mitigated by added psychological drive and determination. Besides, I'm not sure you LOSE that much in 2-3 weeks off. If anything, your legs will be well rested and ready to take more abuse!

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  2. Thanks mate. Can't complain too much. It was my first real forced lay-off ever, and the timing was pretty darn good (i.e. could have been worse).
    I reckon I'll be stronger in the end as it's forced me to be a bit more wary about my body, and to nail some off-season plyo/strength work.

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