Back On The Road...Barely

It has been a bit of a struggle to get my body to allow me to train a bit longer into an already LONG season. Since the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon I have had some serious muscle aches in my low back and right hip area. This is nothing new, but this time it is really taking a toll on my psyche. I just want to make it one more race. The plan, which is always a bit of a dream, was to recover off of TCM and go run Mankato Half-Marathon. Well, anybody who was planning on that event and didn't sign up, like me, was thrown a curve ball last week when an email went out that the race had filled it's capacity. What? The web site stated that they would be accepting day-of race registration and no where did it mention a field cap! (I would later get an email stating that they screwed up but couldn't change their mind now.) OK, I guess I have to respect that.

On Saturday my wife was spending a little time on FB and one of the side advertisements was from Team Ortho trying to get people run their race at the end of the month. A ten mile race was filled but there was a handful of slots left in the Half-Marathon. Count me in!! I quickly signed up and that is where I will focus my energy for the next two weeks. Then some serious down-time!!

As long as I can get my back to and low abdomen to loosen up I will be able to make a good race out of it. The weather should be great and the course looks like a lot of what I just ran on the TCM course. I'm looking forward to it.

Here is a very short recap of the running I have been doing since my marathon.

I took a week off then resumed running on Friday the 8th.

Friday 8th: Easy, slow run out on Woodland and side streets.

31:30 4 miles

I was planning on continuing my training and all of a sudden on Saturday morning I was out taking pictures of my son and when I went to stand up my back went out and locked me tight! It took most of the day to loosen and on Sunday night my wife figured out I had an extremely tight PSOAS muscles pulling my lumbar off to the right. I did a few stretches and things were a bit better. I took off Monday and Tuesday and had a massage Tuesday night. Things improved a bit but still a lot of stiffness and discomfort. For the rest of the week I focused on stretching and sleep. I am once again fatigued beyond myself and sleeping 9-10 hours a night. That's 2 plus hours extra per night than i am used to.

Friday: I was feeling better and ran a nice road loop to loosen up. Not too bad.

31:27 4 miles

Saturday: I hit the trails on a beautiful, sunny afternoon and completed the Hartley loops before making my way home via Rock Hill. I felt great and had a super run.

1:02:26 7.1 miles

Sunday: Waking up this morning didn't feel so good. I was feeling a lot of soreness that I had been feeling all last week and blame it on the terrain. Since I am planning a road half-marathon I should stick to the roads. My out and back this morning was a bit stiff and sore but I managed to feel a bit better at the runs end. That is a good sign I think. My plan is to run easy most of this week and do some pick-ups as my body will let me.

40:11 5.8 miles

Years Total: 2054.6 miles