3 weeks before the Madrid Marathon, I headed out on a Friday evening for my last long run of marathon training before I would kick off taper. The next morning, I would take the bus to Washington, DC to run the Cherry Blossom 10-miler.
Instead, I was crippled almost immediately after finishing my 22 miles with back pain that not only kept me from running Cherry Blossom but sidelined me for a week.
In the end, I still ran my heart out in Madrid (pain free).
Thursday night, I headed out for a 10 mile run. I was running low on time so I knew I'd have to cut the run short. I had had a niggle in my back for the past few days but when I came back from my run, I spent the rest of the night on a heating pad in terrible pain.
I got up for work Friday morning and 2 hours into my work day, I was in so much pain, I not only called out but took myself straight to the doctor. The doctor was...useless. He prescribed a muscle relaxer, an anti-inflammatory and an x-ray which...let's be real, if there's anything wrong with my back it would only show up in an MRI so that was pointless. I've spent the weekend taking the left over Vicodin from my last back injury along with the other drugs the doctor prescribed while laying in bed with a heating pad and not doing much else.
I'm optimistic. It took a total of 5 days off last time and the doctor told me to take 5-6 off this time. I'm hoping that by Wednesday or Thursday I can go for an easy test run to see how I'm feeling before heading up to Maine to run MDI.
It's funny because...when this happened last time, I was a hot mess. I was pissed that I was missing Cherry Blossom for the 2nd year in a row and I was terrified that I would miss Madrid. This time around, I'm feeling better already and I'm taking the break as rest that I probably need. I'm not sure how MDI will go but I'm confident that I'm still in great shape for New York and I'm staying optimistic and saying lots of prayers that I'm all better soon.
I don't think it's possible for marathon training to every go perfectly and this training cycle certainly hasn't gone perfect but you know what? It's going great. Temporary setback or not, I'm still loving this training cycle and excited for what the rest of it brings.
How do you handle setbacks in training or in life? Do you dwell on them or are you able to take them with a grain of salt? I can say for certain that this is the first time EVER that I'm handling a setback this well. I just hope that it's because I'm right that I'll be back on my feet in no time!
Instead, I was crippled almost immediately after finishing my 22 miles with back pain that not only kept me from running Cherry Blossom but sidelined me for a week.
In the end, I still ran my heart out in Madrid (pain free).
Thursday night, I headed out for a 10 mile run. I was running low on time so I knew I'd have to cut the run short. I had had a niggle in my back for the past few days but when I came back from my run, I spent the rest of the night on a heating pad in terrible pain.
I got up for work Friday morning and 2 hours into my work day, I was in so much pain, I not only called out but took myself straight to the doctor. The doctor was...useless. He prescribed a muscle relaxer, an anti-inflammatory and an x-ray which...let's be real, if there's anything wrong with my back it would only show up in an MRI so that was pointless. I've spent the weekend taking the left over Vicodin from my last back injury along with the other drugs the doctor prescribed while laying in bed with a heating pad and not doing much else.
I'm optimistic. It took a total of 5 days off last time and the doctor told me to take 5-6 off this time. I'm hoping that by Wednesday or Thursday I can go for an easy test run to see how I'm feeling before heading up to Maine to run MDI.
It's funny because...when this happened last time, I was a hot mess. I was pissed that I was missing Cherry Blossom for the 2nd year in a row and I was terrified that I would miss Madrid. This time around, I'm feeling better already and I'm taking the break as rest that I probably need. I'm not sure how MDI will go but I'm confident that I'm still in great shape for New York and I'm staying optimistic and saying lots of prayers that I'm all better soon.
I don't think it's possible for marathon training to every go perfectly and this training cycle certainly hasn't gone perfect but you know what? It's going great. Temporary setback or not, I'm still loving this training cycle and excited for what the rest of it brings.
How do you handle setbacks in training or in life? Do you dwell on them or are you able to take them with a grain of salt? I can say for certain that this is the first time EVER that I'm handling a setback this well. I just hope that it's because I'm right that I'll be back on my feet in no time!
Hope everyone had a great weekend!
My year has been full of setbacks, when you consider rehabbing 2 different injuries takes longer than just that period of no running. It sucks that I am not in as good of shape as last year, but I trained around my injuries, and I think my marathon next weekend will go well.
ReplyDeleteI think I've done as good of a job as possible of staying positive. Hope you can do the same and put the same amount of effort into getting better as you put into your normal workouts. Then maybe you won't lose too much fitness.
My boyfriend has lower back issues and he was told by his chiropractor, that ice is actually better than heat. I was surprised. Have you tried an Epson salt bath? All my PT's swear on it. You can buy it at Target.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with this. I don't handle setbacks well and don't always do what I should. MDI should be great!
ReplyDeleteHope your back get to feeling better, I'm glad you have a more optimistic approach this time, I think that will make a huge difference on recovery! I'm usually a dweller, but I'm trying to teach myself to take things easy and not let it stress me out so much!
ReplyDelete