Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Ouchies

My lower back started hurting on Sunday after sleeping in an awkward position (blame that damn cat of ours). It got really bad on Monday after sitting in the office chair for too many hours, which just goes to show how bad and unnatural the sitting position is. Luckily, things got gradually better and today I'm able to bend down again. Even more luckily, running was not affected. In fact, exercise was the one thing that helped the most, both running and cycling provided some much needed relief. Maybe that's the universe's punishment for never getting injured while running (yeah I know, that's just asking for trouble).

The weather has been very changeable this week, but so far I have managed to escape the worst. I did fear for today's run after watching the weather forecast but in fact I managed to run right between two major storm fronts during the night and around lunch time. Things might still get awkward later this week and the weekend.

I thought I might have been able to fix the HRM on my own after spending some considerable time cleaning up the rusty bits on the transmitter unit and getting some believable data on Monday and Tuesday, but unfortunately it all went wonky again on Wednesday and I am back to square one. The HR values this week are all more or less educated guesses, and any values since the Clonakilty marathon are suspect. Like I said, it does not really impact training at the moment, but I'm lacking a little bit of feedback that I would prefer to have. Silly technology. Why don't things just work?

Meanwhile I have been busy planning for next year. I have signed up for several races for 2014, ranging from 10 miles to 24 hours, the latter being the big A goal for next year of course. My running schedule is mostly decided but I am still undecided if I should do one or two other things as well like the Dingle Adventure Race, which I think was a very good training effort before the Bangor 24 hours race in 2012. I still have plenty of time to make up my mind. I'll be busy, that's for sure.
16 Dec
8 miles, 1:01:15, 7:39 pace, HR 144
17 Dec
8+ miles, 1:01:11, 7:35 pace, HR 146
18 Dec
10 miles, 1:17:45, 7:46 pace, HR 144

5 comments:

  1. I'm glad my HRM keeps chugging along. Probably reliable because of infrequent and short use ;) We had a hail storm here the other day. Probably the only 3 hours of the year when running would have been impossible.

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  2. I've also experienced HR monitor issues recently. Changing the battery seems to have no positive effect. I especially hate it when, for the first two kilometres, the blasted thing indicates that my HR is a whopping 209bpm! That while running recovery pace and breathing very easily. Since I use the HR metric to keep me from going to fast and, therefore, keep injuries at bay, this is a very real (first world) problem. Hope yours gets sorted out soon!

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  3. Sitting for long hours is terrible for the back, but it's hard to avoid with desk jobs. I often feel that I need an hour of yoga just to recover from a few hours of work. Some offices have standing desks now, those are supposed to be better... I'm glad you can bend down again and keep on running without injuries!

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  4. Welcome to the club regarding gadget issues. My HR strap simply stoped transmitting 3 months ago, had to buy a new one. And guess what happened yesterday, my Garmin FR110 just went blank, died. My only luck is that I'm still within the warranty period. But will take ages to get a refund or replacement during the holidays. You have the FR 310xt right? Did you have any main issues?

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  5. Vava, Buh-Bump electrode cream will cure the problem of high early readings.

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