My Back is Back

Seems like whenever I'm in training for a significant race, my back spontaneously combusts.  Usually it happens when I'm doing something uneventful - putting something in the back of the car or bending over to pick something up.  Once it freezes, I'm screwed.  It happened the day before the Mighty Man tri a few years back yet I somehow managed to make it to the startline the next morning, thanks to alternating bags of motel ice and hot showers.  And Advil.  Lots of Advil.  More recently it went south a few weeks before the LI Half Marathon.  This one took over a month to shake.  I still went to the park on race day in some quixotic attempt to run.  The warm up jog in the parking lot lasted 10 yards before I turned around, got back in the car, and drove home.  It had been my first attempt to run in three weeks.  It would be another week before I tried again.

Last Wednesday's ice storm forced me inside onto the spinbike.  "Forced" may be too strong a word as I like spinning as cross-training.  At some point during my spin, I leaned over to get a dropped towel.  That was just enough to tweak things...not so bad that I stopped, but enough that I noticed something had happened. Two hours later I was sitting at my desk with a stiff back.  Game over.

Luckily it only lasted a few days and on Sunday I felt well enough to try it out.  I headed over to Sunken Meadow and did a 9 mile loop out to the golf course and a few trips to the toll booth.  Felt ok afterwards, so it's back to training.  Monday was a 6 miler on the boardwalk and out to the golf course.  I was grateful to see that the boardwalk was virtually clear, giving me another option in Sunken Meadow.  Today I went back - only had time for 5 miles - but ran mile #4 as a tempo back from the golf course.  I've found that the PITA bothers me mostly when I pick up the pace.  I may be heading towards running Boston at my training pace which makes it a little less bothersome.  Not sure if I like the idea of not doing any real speed training, but it may all be moot if I only have one gear I'm comfortable running in.

143 miles down, 357 to go...