And It's The Back Again

On Monday morning I got up at the usual time and got ready for my run. Things were progressing like they do every other morning, me mostly on autopilot, until the point where I put on my socks (which happens just before going out, I do potter around bare feet before that). Just as I was balancing on my left leg to put on my right sock, just like I have done hundreds of times before, I felt like being stabbed in my lower back and for an instant a massive pain wave shot through my body.

This has happened before. In fact, this one wasn't the worst. Once it had hurt so badly I basically blacked out from sheer pain for a split second, so this was a mild one in comparison. I still manged to somewhat bend over, carefully, and put the sock on, and managed the shoes as well.

Running doesn't aggravate my lower back, so I went out for the run just like normal. In fact, it helped. Once the endorphins kicked in, the back was much more bearable.

In the office later that day I was uncomfortable rather than in pain. I managed to go to Yoga as well, and apart from the back no feeling quiet right when attempting a handstand (against the wall, don't get excited!) it was just fine. It was a bit better on Tuesday and another bit better on Wednesday, so I guess this will go away once more soon enough, but I know that there is some weakness somewhere and it does manifest itself in my lower back far more often than I would like.

The view from Windy Gap - not today, though

Anyway, like I said, I kept on running as if nothing had happened. Easy runs on Monday and Tuesday felt good and the legs seem to have gotten over Saturday's overenthusiastic pace very quickly, so I dared to head for the trails on Wednesday morning and went up Windy Gap for the first time this year. I didn't push the effort and running up to the Gap itself was challenging enough but I got through it in once piece and was actually quite pleased by how well it had gone. The light was still quite low. the overcast sky not helping, in the so there was not much of a view to be had, but that's not why I had gone up there anyway.

Running mountain trails has proven to be a very effective training tool in the past, even when preparing for a totally flat race, so I'll keep doing that. The Gap hasn't seen the last of me.

3 Apr

7+ miles, 57:01, 8:05 pace, HR 138

4 Apr

7 miles, 54:26, 7:46 pace, HR 142

5 Apr

10.7 miles, 1:35:38, 8:56 pace, HR 145

   Windy Gap

And So It Begins

Belfast is 17 weeks from now. After a few months of slowly, slowly rebuilding after it all had come crushing down in Albi, I am now moving into the next training phase. I was really pleased with my progress in February and now we're pushing it to the next level. As always, this will require to have an eye on recovery - if I cannot recover from my training it won't do any good (something I definitely saw last year).

Relaxing, Labrador style

I took it easy after Wednesday's evaluation and the legs soon felt recovered but my back was a bit stiff on Thursday. While I did wonder what was going on I did not take too much notice. It was still the same on Friday morning but it got really bad during the office day and at times I did grimace when getting out of my chair when the muscle seemed to go into spasms. I also slept very badly that night because every time I moved the back would spasm and invariably wake me up. The problem area is on the left side of my back at the lower end of the rib cage. Putting some warm pad on the area seems to provide some temporary relief but overall this is a bit troubling.

I'm pretty sure this isn't running related. Running does not aggravate it, though I do feel it at times. The coach suspects the yoga, I suspect carrying a 10kg bag of dog food as the culprit. Niamh wants me to have it seen but, being an idiot (as in "male"), I'm inclined to give it a few days to see if it improves all on its own first. Sitting in the car for a few hours yesterday was unlikely to have helped, though.

Anyway, I awoke on Sunday morning to rather wild and unwelcoming conditions. Checking the forecast seemed to indicate that the rain might lessen in a few hours but the wind would pick up, which made this a tricky choice. I really did not fancy 90 minutes on the treadmill so I waited a bit for the worst of the rain to subside and headed out. I got about 200 metres down from our driveway when encountering a massive fallen tree across the road but managed to climb over it. Looks like it really had been windy through the night! The rest of the road was clear, thankfully, and I went to my usual bad-weather option on the Ard-na-Sidhe road. Running the same stretch of road forwards and back isn't all that stimulating but I got into autopilot mode and just cruised through it. I was surprised how easy it felt, even after 11 miles, my longest run in ages, I had plenty left in the tank despite the wind and rain making things interesting at times.

And so it begins.

2 Mar

7 miles, 55:58, 8:00 pace, HR 144

3 Mar

8 miles, 1:04:52, 8:06 pace, HR 142

4 Mar

7 miles, 54:28, 7:46 pace, HR 150

5 Mar

11 miles, 1:27:20, 7:56 pace, HR 149

Two-A-Day

On Wednesday evening I decided that while my back was still in pretty bad shape (I was basically in chronic pain), running definitely did not make it worse; quite the opposite in fact, it seemed to provide relief, which may have been purely down to the endorphins. Therefore I didn't have to restrict myself to short runs only, I might as well resume "proper" training and accordingly I ran up to Windy Gap on Thursday morning. The weather has been nice all week with plenty of sunshine, if a little cold, but Thursday morning was probably the least nice time when it was quite overcast and Windy Gap stood up to its name. I only did one climb, which was quite enough only 11 days after Connemara, but the legs were able to take it, no bother.

I must have read dozens of books about running in the last few years. In fact, Niamh keeps complaining that while I read virtually every day, I never seem to read any "real" books. Anyway, it's rare to come across an eye opener after reading so  much but this book definitely is one. I know I am not in the same league as some of the guys in there but then again, if I don't do the training I never will be. I decided to give it a good go until the 24 hours in July. I already implemented one big change; all week I have been doing 2 runs a day. I always knew (or at least suspected) that running twice would make me a better runner but family life always prevented me from doing so. And make no mistake, family will always come first. It was easy this week with Niamh and the kids in Dublin. Now they're back but with the kids still on their Easter holidays, it should be no problem. I'll have to see how it goes once they're back to school. They do have various activities most evenings, which might put a stop to my fancy ideas. I'll have to see if I can work around it without upsetting anyone.

The other big thing is that I'll try and run a marathon or ultra every fortnight. This will either make me or break me.

If someone asked me how my back was, my subjective impression would be that it's just as bad as ever. But if I stop and think about it I realise that it's actually a lot better already. It's still sore and I'm still in chronic discomfort, but my mobility is much better already. On Monday, putting on socks or shoes was a major problem and I only just managed to do so; now I can do it without any troubles and it doesn't leave me in searing pain for a minute either. It's just that improvement is so slow and gradual that it's almost unnoticeable. I won't be doing any gardening this weekend, which is a shame as the weather is so nice, there is plenty of work to be done and I might not get another chance, but I just can't.

After almost posting a PB in the county championship I was tempted to run the Good Friday race in Killarney but in the end managed to resist, mostly because of my back but it would probably have been rather bad for my recovering legs and body anyway. I might feel okay but it's still only 2 weeks since I ran an ultra at rather fast pace. Interestingly, running twice a day does not seem to cause any fatigue. This might be a good thing, but the often repeated warning from my former coach keeps doing the rounds in my head:

"When you get toward peak shape your brain ignores fatigue, this is good for racing but bad for training"

I'm basically building mileage at the moment, so I'm restraining myself from speed work in an attempt to limit the stressors. I did 12 runs this week, which makes the mileage just shoot up so quickly and easily, it almost feels like cheating.

17 Apr

am: 10.75 miles, 1:34:15, 8:46 pace, HR 140, Windy Gap

pm: 5+ miles, 38:01, 7:31 pace, HR 138

18 Apr

am: 10 miles, 1:16:08, 7:36 pace, HR 143

pm: 5 miles, 37:25, 7:28 pace, HR 141

19 Apr

am: 10 miles, 1:17:27, 7:44 pace, HR 137

pm: 5 miles, 37:45, 7:32 pace, HR 138

20 Apr

16.7 miles, 2:06:48, 7:35 pace, HR 143

Weekly Mileage: 88+

Splits

There are different kind of splits that we get to look at today. First of all, my 13.1-mile splits from Connemara:

1:33:51 (16th) 1:34:43 (14th)  1:40:35 (6th)

That's quite interesting I think. Despite slowing down by well over 6 minutes my third split was way better relative to the field than the other two. Of course, 6 minutes isn't too bad considering the two major hills, that mad headwind as well as the fatigue, but an ideal run would have seen me doing a faster final third. Mind, the only runner to pass me was Thomas Klimas, who has the highly unusual distinction of having run the final third faster than the previous two. The next best runner to achieve that came 93rd!

The other splits were the mile splits from the 5k last Sunday:

5:35 5:52 6:00

That's the third time I've started a 5k with exactly the same mile split of a 5:35 split. Weird. The second mile is a bit disappointing. I think had I known that I was so close to my PB I might have been able to push a bit harder. The third was actually okay, considering that it included the hill. Mind, I did lose 3 places there, so maybe not so okay after all.

There is one other thing that seems to have split that day, namely the muscle fibres around my lumbar spine. It's actually quite ironic. My main target for Sunday's race had been not to get injured. In that I succeeded, only to do my back in when mowing the grass later that day. It wasn't one specific moment, I just noticed at some point that my back was hurting but kept on going, after all there was a lawn to be done. Big mistake as it turns out, come evening I was in absolute agony.

I have had back trouble before. It's very painful but does go away after a few days. Running doesn't have any effect on it, neither positive nor negative. Sitting down is the major problem, which isn't ideal if you have a desk job as you might imagine. Interestingly, the supposedly comfy chairs in the office's conference room are by far the worst; I had a meeting there yesterday and became more and more uncomfortable until I was squirming in agony. Cycling is poison too, due to its sitting posture. Unfortunately it's my only way of getting in and out of work, but I'm in agony after each 5 mile journey.

Running has been on the back burner, less because of the post-race recovery but more because of my back. I had initially planned on doing a mountain run on Wednesday but postponed that. Seeing as running doesn't seem to make any difference at all it's probably unnecessary caution.

It's a shame as I have the run of the house this week. I could have been running as much as I wanted without having to mind that gaggle of misbehaving children that Niamh keeps insisting are all mine. Ah well. I did go running twice a day on Tuesday and Wednesday, though. The RPE was the same but the pace for the evening runs was about half a minute per mile faster. Interesting but entirely expected, it's what happens every time (not that I do much running in the evening, owing to the aforementioned little treasures).

14 Apr

5 miles, 41:30, 8:18 pace, HR 132

15 Apr

am: 5 miles, 39:01, 7:48 pace, HR 136

pm: 5+ miles, 36:54, 7:18 pace, HR 143

16 Apr

am: 6+ miles, 47:54, 7:51 pace, HR 136

pm: 5+ miles, 37:36, 7:27 pace, HR 141