February 21, 2009

Don't Try This at Home

Yesterday was a very nice day and I decided to take the kids out as a treat for working hard all week. When outside, I often play with them- jump rope, chase, basketball, etc. A few of the kids were doing the monkey bars. Monkey bars the regular way is a bit easy for them, so I was telling them to try to grab every other bar to make it more difficult. They weren't really understanding what I was saying, so I decided to show them. BAD IDEA. I climbed the ladder to the platform and grabbed the first bar. I swung off the platform and -BAM- my feet hit the ground like a ton of bricks, jarring my spine. Okay, that hurt badly. Apprently, if you are above 5 feet tall, you have no business on a playground. I immediately grabbed my lower back as pain radiated upward. As any experienced runner would do, I wondered if this would be an injury. Curiousity killed the cat as I decided to jog a bit around in circles to "test it out." All seemed okay, just a bit painful. The weird thing is that sitting hurts the most. Go figure. Moral of the story- act your age.

In other running matters, despite last weekend's disappointment, I had a fairly strong running week. Coach told me to take my workouts easy to make sure I started next week fresh. I had three key workouts this week:
Tuesday- 12 hill repeats (didn't run these full force, about 75%)
Thursday- 9 mile progression run @ 7:29, 7:25, 7:21, 7:14, 7:13, 7:09, 7:01, 6:40, 6:35
Saturday- 18 miles @ 7:40 (didn't push it too much b/c I was nursing the back and remembering coach's words of wisdom)

Total miles for the week (after tomorrow's easy run): 68

I just want to thank everyone for your kind words about last week's race. I am feeling MUCH better about things and have resumed my old work ethic. In my heart I know that hard work WILL pay eventually.

6 comments:

  1. great week. We seem to be running our long runs around the same pace, I don't know if that's a good thing or not...just saying.

    Hope your back feels better soon. Ask K for a rubdown if it's still sore tomorrow.

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  2. Hey! I am enjoying your blog...hope you don't mind me reading. Great half- I know not a PR...I had a year like that last year, but it is just a hump and things will come around. Onward and upward!!!

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  3. I really like how the light plays out in the clouds of your picture, that is a good shot, not sure if you meant it to be or not. Hope the back feels better!

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  4. Anonymous2/22/2009

    Hey LA,

    Hope your back is better, ohhhh the price of not acting your age... ;) Trust me, I would have done the same, in fact I never act my age when I play with my kids...

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  5. Hey...I've been lurking for a bit, so I thought I would come out and say hi.

    Hope your back heals well. You probably bruised your coccyx when you landed. If it's not too serious, it should feel better soon.

    Great race at pensacola BTW. I know it wasn't a P.R. but you still ran very very well.

    Best of luck in recovery

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  6. Haha....it's always the playing around with the kids where the bumps, bruises and body jolts occur...never the running or other training. Hope the aches and pains go away quickly!

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