Down but Not Out

I missed some key workouts again this week, in fact my back was so stiff that I took off Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Since it wasn't improving as fast as I had hoped I made an appointment with a back specialist.  Luckily they had an opening Thursday morning.  The doc did about an hour evaluation, having me do various movements and poking me here and there.  She was convinced that there was no damage to the back, but rather my lower back was very weak.  Along with extremely tight hamstrings; we are talking violin strings tight!  The doc was through with me and I was I introduced to my physical therapist, who had me warm up, do some stretches and the onto the weights. She measured my back strength and it registered somewhere between that of an 11year old girl and an 83 year old woman!  Not good.  She showed me all the weight training I would focus on over the next 6 weeks, threw on an ice pack and scheduled my next 3 weeks worth of visits.  

My back was feeling good, so that night I went for an 8 miler and everything felt great.  I got up early Friday morning for my next scheduled run and my body wasn't having it.  The PT coupled with the Thursday night run was just too much.  I was back out there on Saturday for an easy 8 miles, and did a shortened long run today of just under 18 miles.  The back felt fine, but my IT band and my PF were screaming at me from mile 14 on.  Not feeling worn out today though, as I managed to do some work in my much neglected yard.

So what happens now?  I plan on wading back into my training plan, doing PT twice a week, do the prescribed stretches twice a day and hopefully come out of this training cycle fitter than ever.  I realized that my training was far too one dimensional, but not until now did I realize the problems it was causing.  Not sure how much effect the missed days will have on my marathon time, but I am confident my fitness hasn't suffered too much and long term I will be all the healthier.  Speaking of fitness, I have a test coming up.  The MDRA 15k is this Sunday, so I can gauge where I am at.  Perfect timing, as my plan calls for 20 with 10 at MP.  So, I think I will warm up with 8 or so, race the 15k at about 6:40 pace and cool down with a few recovery miles.

Happy Running!