Week 4

This week was the first week that my running went as planned. I actually enjoyed the fartleks quite a bit, and found my pace ahead on the intervals. My legs felt stronger, and my "easy pace" is finally getting faster - in the 8:30/mile range. Highest mileage per week so far, at 48. All in all, a fantastic week!

Until Sunday's long run.

On Saturday, I felt a little bit of lower right back pain forming while on my easy 9 miler. This has happened in the past when my mileage starts increasing, and usually goes away. Didn't think anything of it. While chaperoning the Prom, I cut loose and danced a little bit, and felt the back pain then too. Just figured I am older than I used to be, and dancing with the teens was maybe not such a good idea. Sunday morning, I laced up the Mizunos for a long progression run, with some acceleration in the last 10 minutes. This run was going very well, and though at the turn around point I did feel a little heaviness in my legs, I held pace and felt great. But with 3 miles left to go, the lower back pain returned. And began to worsen, working its way into my glutes.

After hobbling back from the 12 miler, I could barely walk. Icing my back felt good, but the pain was worsening. It took away my breath as I put pressure on my right leg, which subsided somewhat when I used the roller, but returned shortly later. This was worse than my aches and pains of the past, yet the onset was not as sudden as a typical injury.

Therein lies the elephant in the room....slow onset injury....overuse injury....

I had most likely increased my mileage too quickly, by about 25% in one week. Wayyyyyy too much. On top of that, I have been neglecting strength training since going back to work and not having the hours in the day to get in a morning run plus an afternoon strength workout. This was a huge mistake, especially since in coming back from pregnancy, I had likely lost considerable muscle strength that had kept me healthy before. More loss than I had realized.

Now is the process of healing my back and glutes - likely a sciatic nerve problem - while adding strength training into my routine, and taking the mileage a little easier over the next few weeks.

Morale of the story: don't neglect strength training, runners! You MUST ensure that your frame is strong enough for the running stresses you are putting on it! It is so easy for us to forget the importance of this.