An old injury rears its ugly head

Ive been working hard again this week, doing lots of jobs at home and in the garden so I havent had much spare time so here is a quick recap:

Wednesday 30th March

Rest Day + strength and core work followed by foam roller / stretch session.

Thursday 31st March

Recovery Run am - 3. 25 miles - Heart Rate Zone 2

Interval Session pm - 6.9 miles - Heart Rate Zone 2 + Zone 4 Intervals

Friday 1st April

I was due a recovery run today, 30 min in zone 2 and hoped to get it done after work. Joanne phoned me at work and I had to get her prescription from the Doctors. Our surgery is on the other side of town so I walked there after work in the torrential rain! I didnt have the car and Joanne needed the medication for the weekend so I didnt have a choice. I ended up walking briskly for about 5 miles (work to Doctors to home) and as I had walked to work that morning (2 miles) I decided that would be my recovery session. I did my strength and core work later in the evening and felt great.

Saturday 2nd April

I woke this morning feeling very stiff through my lower back. I went to get out of bed and my back spasmed. I was locked in place and locked in pain. I must have slept at an awkward angle and trapped a nerve. I was gutted, I had big plans for my training this weekend - a steady run today and a recce of  part of the Lakeland 100 course on Sunday (about 28 miles).

Im getting used to this now, about 9 years ago I bent over to pick up a bin bag and displaced two discs in my lower back. Its been an ongoing problem since and I occasionally get pain and stiffness with no reason. As you probably realize, I do everything I can to counter act it - running, core work, strength work, stretching and good rest days but it still seems to catch up with me from time to time.

I just had to lay there for a while until the pain had passed then crawled on all fours to the freezer for some peas. I got to the sofa and managed to get the peas under my back and let the cold take some of the swelling down. After about 30 min or so I managed to get up and walk around - albeit nearly doubled over but moving around is the only way to sort it. I was at work in the evening so I had to get back on my feet for that - A few people from work were on leave this weekend so there was no-one to cover me,  I had to make it.

 After the cold of the peas and a  couple of CoCodimols I ran a hot bath to relax my back muscles. It worked and by late afternoon I was able to go to work. I was duty officer for a show so I took it easy and kept moving all night, my back improving all the time. I made a sensible decision to cancel my recce run on Sunday. I felt ok by the time I had finished work but I could still feel a tightness in the muscles. Its a risky recce route over some passes in the lakes and the last thing I want is to take stupid risks when I dont need to. If my back goes out there its a serious business, with exposure being a real problem. I will do the recce myself in the next few months.

For the meantime I will continue with my heart rate training once I feel up to it.