On The Road To Recovery

I just watched a video of Chris McCormack (Macca Takes Miami).  It was short and sweet, but really got me anxious to get back to real training and racing.  I am a big fan of his and although I don't foresee me every reaching the heights that he has reached in the sport of triathlon (unless I quit my job, train 40 hours a week, oh and lose about 40 lbs), I still think I can do some good things within my age group over the next few years if I train hard.

That brings me to where I am today....my back is still not so great.  I went to my sports doctor, Advanced Sports Chiropractic, yesterday and had some heat and electric stim, then stretched and rubbed down, followed by an ice pack.  I was told by Dr. Derek that it is definitely back spasms and just my muscles that are acting up (nothing with my joints which is a good thing).  I told him about my race this Sunday and he explained to me that I will probably not be setting a PR.  He thinks I will be able to run and do an OK job, but based on my lack of running over the past two weeks, I shouldn't expect to run anywhere near where I wanted to run.  I have another appointment with him on Friday morning so that he can stretch me out for the weekend.  I am going to keep an open mind for Sunday and take what my body, the course and the weather give me.  If I feel good at the start I will push the pace and see if I can hold it.  If I feel like crap, I'll just make it a nice up-tempo training run. 

As for training, I am going to try and get in the pool tonight after work and try to swim 2,000M (or more), of course depending on how my back feels.  Other than that I have been taking it easy since Tuesday night, when my back started to flare up again.  I really should have taken it easy on Sunday and Monday, but the weather was so nice I just wanted to be outside enjoying it on my bike and running.  Lesson learned I guess, I have to listen to my body a bit better and not be greedy.

The rest of my week is a pretty busy one:

Friday

• 7:00AM - Doctor
• 12:00PM - Pick-up race packet in Piscataway for the Unite Half Marathon
• 4:30PM - Pick-up girls from school
• 7:00PM - 9:30PM - Father/Daughter dance with my 7 year old

Saturday

• 11:00AM - Soccer Game (I am coaching my 7 year olds team)
• 1:00PM till dark - Dismantle and transport a "new" swing set to our house (then figure out where to put it)

Sunday

• 6:00AM - Get up and out of the house and make my way to Rutgers
• 8:30AM - Run the Unite Half Marathon, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ
• 2:00PM - 3:00PM - Soccer Game - yes another game to coach
• 4:00PM till dark - Work on the yard and swing set.

That's it.  There will be a lot of dancing, running around, coaching and physical labor over the next three to four days.  I hope that my body holds up.  Enjoy the weather today, I hear it is going to get cold and wet here in the tri-state area over the next four days.  Ciao!