Injury Scare

Sunday morning I went to a metabolic circuit class. On my second round through the stations, I went to do a Bosu ball burpee and as I kicked my feet back into the plank, I heard a crunch and felt a sharp pain in my back. Oh no! I had a lower back stress fracture back in my gymnastics days, but since then my back has never given me any problems.

Sunday and Monday it only hurt when I moved in certain ways. Tuesday I decided to go out for my scheduled 8 miles. It was mostly fine, but one or twice every mile I would take a step and get this stabbing pain and then my legs would almost buckle. Over the course of the day it got more and more sore, until it was just aching constantly. It hurt a lot.

Wednesday morning I went to the chiropractor. She is a miracle worker. As soon as I got off the table I could feel an immediate difference. I could move with out pain! No more aching! She told me she didn't think it would jeopardize my marathon, but that I need to come in at least twice a week for the next few weeks, and to stop running if I feel sharp pain.

Luckily the ice was on the water, not the roads today!

Unfortunately as the day went on I could feel the muscles in my back pulling and undoing all her work. By dinner it was aching steadily again. Which left me with a major dilemma: should I still do my 18 miler?

I woke up feeling much better and decided to go for it. I promised myself, and my husband, that if it hurt I would stop. But, I didn't need to stop! I felt some muscle tightness and slight soreness occasionally, but never enough to contemplate stopping. I think I'm going to be OK!

But, this reminds me that I need to take better care of myself! Here is my action plan to keep myself running strong until the marathon.

Warm-up, cool-down, and stretch. I always try to pack in as much running as possible in the time allowed so I definitely skimp on all of these. Especially when I am rolling right out of bed, my body needs to warm up before I jump into running. And it is better to end 5 minutes sooner and cool down and stretch.

Focus on my form and use appropriate weight. At the gym I am totally guilty of talking with a friend instead of concentrating on my form. Or, I see someone else pick up a heavier weight and feel like I need to go heavier too.

Build my core strength. I am very inconsistent with core work. I usually go to 3 classes a week at the gym that include some core work and I have been calling that good enough. It isn't. I need to do it on my own and make sure I am building well-rounded core strength.

Focus more on recovery.  I really, really struggle with taking rest days. I know though when I am tired that my form falls apart and this is what leads to injury. So I will force myself to take some rest days and use the massage gift certificates my wonderful husband gave me for Christmas.

Do you have back issues? What do you do to minimize them? How do you keep yourself injury free?