My back and I go back almost 60 years, but it’s really been the last 20 that we’ve had an on and off relationship. I think it all started somewhere in the early 90s when I was picking up a sack of concrete mix and threw my back out. After that every so often I would do something and my back would seize up on me, but it was never really a big problem and would usually go away after a few days. In 1999 I was rushing to get through a set of squats in the gym when I felt it. It was almost like a hissing sound and I could literally feel my desk herniating. I tried to ignore the problem but I ultimately went to see an orthopedic surgeon who told me that I had a significantly herniated L5-S1 disc. Ironically, he told me he’d seen a similar situation with a professional hockey player who herniated his desk while reaching into the refrigerator to get a soda. I share that because disks are a funny thing, and what causes them to herniate doesn’t necessarily correspond to a regular exercise program. More on that later. At the time I had been into running marathons, and though I lived in Colorado there weren’t a lot of triathlons in the area at that time.
My Ironman days were a decade ahead of me, and work had taken on a lot of extra time. So I stopped running and hoped for my back to get better and it didn’t. One day I started feeling tingling down my leg and I called the neurosurgeon’s office in order to make an appointment but they never called me back. I took this as a sign and started running again. That was nearly 20 years ago. To this day my back tightens up or “goes out“ on me every so often. I’ve tried Core exercises, I’ve tried Pilates, I’ve tried all sorts of things. I’ve had chiropractic, I’ve had regular massages. I’ve had acupuncture. I’m sure some of these things actually help, but it’s never been quite clear to me. So, that brings us to this week. In the ramp up to my hundred mile event last month I had my back seize up on me a few times. Since the event I’ve been fine and I’ve started to increase my training.
Two days ago I was leaning over to pick something up and my low back tightened up on me. I’ve already decided to run every day so the next two days I only did a mile or a mile and a half and it was OK, and today I went out and ran 4 miles and my back’s already improving as it generally does. I did get in the pool yesterday and I’m looking forward to regular swimming which over the years has always been a good stabilizer for my back problems. I’m also generally able to get on my bike and ride, which I did this morning as well.
My favorite back story was at Ironman Chattanooga in 2014, when three days before the race I was reaching over to put on my cycling shoe for a short ride when my low back seized up on me. By race day it felt a lot better but was still a little sore. That was the day I had my PR for an Iron Man. Go figure.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment