I’m happy to say that my back injury recovery is going well. I’ve earned myself a day off today after 6 days of working out again. I was going to run again today, but I thought I should give myself a day off instead. In the normal course of training, I give myself a day off every 2-3 days, so i’ve done more than I usually do, why push it. I did cross-train yesterday instead of running (which is why I contemplated running), by doing the bike and the cross-country machine.

My back still gets sore in the morning and at certain times during the days, so I know its still not 100%, however it feels better than it did, I would say about 85-90% right now. I don’t feel pain when working out, although it does get real tight, which causes the soreness. I intend to push the miles a bit tomorrow, probably doing 7-8 miles, depending on how it feels. I have to be able to work back up to a longer run so I can start training. Worst part is, thats a long on a treadmill, because tomorrows morning forecast is expected to be about 17 degrees outside, so i’m not even trying to go outside, I remember the struggles I had last year (put it this way, the boys were almost frozen).

I’m finding it increasingly more difficult to get pumped up to train in the middle of December. I think the weather has a lot to do with it, plus I don’t have any minor races scheduled yet. I do feel that I will take the shot at running the Bloomsburg YMCA race on New Years Eve, it gives me something to work towards, plus the turnout will probably be much larger because the “running out of time” race in Scranton was canceled this year. To be honest, the turnout was pretty good last year, so it might be an even larger race. I’ll make the final decision this weekend, again, depending on how my back feels. My concern is that even if I walk in there with the intention of not running fast, I always get too competitive and push it. I don’t want to reinjure myself (although it is 3 weeks out yet).

Regardless, on to my rest day, lots to do ….