After logging 33 miles last week my back is KILLING ME! It seriously feels like someone took a broom stick and jabbed it into my upper back over and over again as hard as they could. It hurts so bad! I think there are a couple of reasons for it:
1) Bad posture at the end of my long runs.
2) Running on an incline on the treadmill and not adjusting my posture.
3) Not doing any cross training to strengthen my core.
It's my own lazy fault for not doing any cross training and now I'm suffering the consequences for it. Luckily there are still 8 weeks until the marathon so I think I have time to fix the problem. Starting now I'm going to do pilates at least 5 times a week to strengthen my core and my back. I'm also going to be less focused on speed and more focused on my form, especially engaging my core and keeping my dang back straight!
I did pilates after my run today and it felt good on my sore back muscles. Hopefully doing it more consistently will help. In the mean time I'm doing lots of back stretches and I scheduled a sports massage for Thursday.
Besides my back pain here's what the week looked like:
Monday:
8 miles on the treadmill with a 1 incline: avg. pace: 8:24.
This run was awesome and I felt so strong the whole time!
Wednesday:
4 mile speed workout on the treadmill. alternated running .5 mile at a 7:30 pace with a .25 mile recovery at a 8:34 pace. Overall avg. pace: 7:53
Friday:
Had to split my long run to make it work with the babysitter so I started by doing 5 miles on the treadmill (avg pace 8:42), and finished by running 12 miles outside: (avg pace 9:05) for a total of 17 miles.
It was the coldest long run I've done and I didn't wear enough layers. By the end my arms and fingers were so frozen I couldn't even zip up my jacket! I ran with my friend Kelly and it was a solid run but my legs were super tired at the end and my body was just so cold! I'm going to look into getting some warmer gear before my 18 miler this weekend.
Saturday:
4 mile recovery run on the treadmill: avg pace 9:13
Oh man my legs were tired for this run! Running 21 miles in less than 24 hours takes it's toll. It felt like my last leg of the Ragnar but I just pushed through it and figured it was good to practice running on tired legs.
One thing that has helped with the energy is drinking Chia seeds before my runs. I was only doing it before long runs but I started doing it before all my runs and I feel a big difference!
Here's my little secret to getting the seeds down, Mio liquid water enhancer. It's basically like Crystal light powder but in liquid form so it dissolves easier. Anyway, I use the strawberry watermelon flavor and it's good stuff!
So that's week 10. Week 11 will be all about the core work, which is fine since I guess next month is national Ab month anyway ; )
Oh and p.s. Guess who turned ONE last week?!
He had a lot of fun with his birthday cake : )
I'm sorry about your back, that sounds painful. I'm thinking you're right about the posture, sounds like that would do it. The good news is that I don't think it will be very debilitating like a foot, leg or knee injury would. You're doing great at keeping the injuries at bay. And I think your plan of attack will take care of this back pain pretty quickly.
ReplyDeleteI've been wanting to try the chia seed thing since you mentioned it. Looks DELICIOUS. haha... anything for more energy, right?? Good tip, too, on the flavor stuff. I will keep my eye out for it.
Alright, you're doing awesome, keep it up!
Way to go becca!! Just hearing about your long cold run forced me to start some hot tomatoe soup on the stove!! Way to go for completing the "stuff of my nightmares" ok maybe an exaggeration.....maybe :) and enjoy that massage you deserve it!!!
ReplyDeleteHope your back is feeling better! Never heard of chia seeds. But if they are helping you with energy, that's great! I like how you worked out the long run - you got it done!
ReplyDeleteHey chica! So sorry to hear about your back- am glad you are on the mend....chia seeds remind me of Ada back in MSO days she swore by them then and now I am hearing so much about them...gonna have to try em out! see you on myfitnesspal ;o)
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