As I reported on Thursday, I knocked my back out of line during my 9 mile GA run Thursday morning, and have dealt with being crooked and feeling slightly uncomfortable with my lower back. yesterday was a scheduled day off, which I took advantage of, and today was supposed to be a recovery run of 5 miles. I didn’t do 5 miles today because I didn’t want to push it, but I did get in 15 minutes on the cross-country machine and 2 miles jogging lightly (almost like a recovery run). My strategy since Thursday to recover my back has been
- to ice my lower back for 5-10 minutes first
- immediately use a heating-pad for about 20-25 minutes after the ice
- light stretching, focusing on the back and hamstrings (doing the “cat” from Pilates helped)
- Ibuprofen
- TAKING IT EASY!!!
I can report that by following the above for two days, I survived today without any pain or soreness. My back actually feels pretty good. My 13 mile long run is supposed to be tomorrow, but I doubt we’ll make that. I think that if I follow what I did today, and run slow on the treadmill, stopping every 1/2 mile or so, I may be able to get through half that workout, we’ll see.
I think part of my problem is that I haven’t been stretching good enough. Most of what i’ve read about lower back pain while running is due to tight hamstrings. My hamstrings are ALWAYS tight, so it may have contributed to it. If you recall, I didn’t do anything specific to hurt my back, it just started getting sore on Thursday.
I’m going to head up to national running center to get new shoes today, its been awhile since I had new ones, that might be contributing to the back pain as well.