Pain, Pain Go Away!

Pain pain go away!

I haven't posted as of late because my training  program got derailed in a MAJOR way.

Last Thursday I went to the gym to lift weights. USUALLY I lift a slightly lower weight during the season because I don't want to get injured. The key word in the previous sentence is "usually."

For some strange reason I decided to go all out like I was in the NFL draft or somthing and go heavy (for me) on the dumbell bench presses.

I get ready to do my first set and pick up the 90 pound  dumbells. The instant I pick up the weights my back goes out on me!

WTF!

I knew soon as I picked up the weight I was in trouble. Big trouble! But my pride wouldn't let me show it, so like an idiot I still did my 2 sets of 10, shoulder exercises AND cable extensions for my back! 

I know that was a mistake, but I couldn't just leave...lol

Needless to say, the next day I could barely get out of bed my back hurt so bad. I didn't write a blog because I didn't want to put that negative energy out there. Besides, who wants  to read a 300 cuss word blog and me feeling sorry for myself? I sure as hell don't...lol

So from Friday to Sunday I was on bedrest with a heating pad, legs propped up and plenty ibuprofen. I did a lot of reading and learned that back pain takes about 4 weeks to heal. How comvenient: my race was literally 4 weeks away!  Talk about panic!!!! There's no way I could lay around for 4 weeks, then go do a half ironman. No way! Maybe go take pictures, but not race.  

At this point I thought my race was cancelled, cuz I was in pain!

By Tuesday I started to feel a little better and started to be optimistic.

With more reading I also learned that the best way to overcome back pain is by being active, especially walking, yoga, and swimming. Right up my alley! Lol 

So Tuesday I did a light walk on the treadmill, getting off every couple minutes to stretch and do some yoga exercises. The total workout was 50 minutes. Afterwards I felt really good. My back was more stiff than sore.

Wednesday (yesterday) I went swimming. I know swimming is good for your joints, but I was really nervous, cuz I still have pain. Not as bad, but bad enough. 

I got in the pool and felt GREAT! I had no pain. For 60 glorious minutes I forgot all about my back. What was even better is my conditioning was still on point. I was starting to feel confident that I'd be able to race on 5-16-10.

Tonight I hit the pool again for an hour. I did my normal swim and again felt strong. I'm still focusing on my form and I feel good about my swim.

I'm still taking ibuprofen and using my heating pad. I'm doing a lot of walking at work and stretching whenever I can.

I also wanted to know if there were any foods that would help inflamation and discovered that spinach, brocolli, strawberries, and pineapple are good for inflamation. I didn't know that so I made sure to eat even more of it this week and ongoing. 

I'm going to the doctor tomorrow to have him look at it. I feel much better, but my race is 3 weeks away and I'm determined to race, ONLY if the doctor says I won't do any permanent damage to myself.

I'm not going to run w/o the doc's consent. Until then I'll just walk. I'll ask him if riding a stationary bike is ok also.

Deep down I think I'll be ok, but I'm not going to take any chances.  I've had more injuries in the last 6 weeks than in the last 2 years! This is ri-damn-diculous!

When watching people cross the finish line at triathlons, I'd see many people act like they WON the damn thing: arms up, cheesin, the look of serious accomplishment.

I can appreciate it more now because there's no telling what obstacles they had to overcome to start the race, let alone finish. But thsts^ how life is: it's about overcoming obstacles and moving on! 

Well, trust and believe I'm gonna cross that line like I won too! Lol  I would work on my "victory pose," but I'll wait till my back feels better! Lol 

Thanks for reading! Till next time, peace!