Week 5 didn't exactly go according to plan, but it wasn't a total loss. I missed a few workouts due to my back, but that did force me to go to the voodoo doc which may or may not solve some back problems and hip alignment problems for me. Time will tell. I had a few good swim workouts and got a chance to try some pain relief creams. Aspercreme is okay, but nothing like the voodoo cream the doc gave me. I might have to pick some of that up. It's called Biofreeze.
Why am I now using Aspercreme? Funny you should ask. Remember a few posts back when I said form is king? I have become committed to improving my form in all 3 disciplines and this week I decided to start putting as much focus on my running form as I have been on swimming. The first thing I learned is that I'm a heel striker, which means I land with my heel first. That's bad. You want to land on the ball of your foot. Heel striking is probably responsible for some of my knee and back pain. So I started to work on that, but since I missed some workouts due to back pain I only ran once this week....today for 10 miles. Don't make changes to your form on a long run. I didn't even think about how landing on the balls of my feet would affect my calf muscles. They are so sore right now I'm not sure I'm going to be able to walk tomorrow. But the Aspercreme seems to be helping. Here's to Aspercreme.
Besides running, I also went to the pool today with Cheri. What a great workout. One of my best swim workouts yet. It really helped having Cheri there. I haven't swam with her in a few weeks and I've missed it. We have fun at the pool and I much prefer sharing a lane with her than some old dude with questionable hygiene. Cheri said she can tell my form and speed has improved so that was really encouraging.
Yesterday I watched as much Kona coverage as I could on the Internet. They did a great job covering it live. I wish someone would pick it up (Versus maybe?). It's a long day of coverage, but I would think it would get better ratings than a whole day of bull riding. Plus triathletes are a great group to advertise to. They like to spend money. Anyway, I had to go for a long ride and go to 2 birthday parties so I didn't get to watch as much coverage as I wanted but that's okay. Jess's birthday party was a lot of fun so missing Macca win is no real loss.
Hopefully week 6 goes well.
Week 5
Total Time: 10:43:12
Swim Yards = 6200
Bike Miles = 76.69
Run Miles = 10.13
Weights Time = 1:00
I went to see the voodoo doctor, the chiropractor, about my back today. I was skeptical going in because I've been there before and they always want to schedule about ten appointments right away. They scheduled me for 12. Holy smokes. They might as well just set up a cot in the back room for me.
But I'm going to give them a chance because they might actually be able to help. Here's the interesting part: when I went to the physical therapist for the first time he asked if my right leg was longer than my left. I said no. When I had my bike fitting, they asked if my right leg was longer than my left. I said I don't think so. Today, the voodoo doc told me my right leg was an inch longer. Great, I thought. I need special shoes. So she cracked my lower back and hips and checked my legs again and said they were even. My hips were misaligned. Coolio. No special shoes.
She also said I had some vertebrae in the middle of my back that were out of alignment, and those are the ones that contain the nerves that go to your knees. The pieces of the puzzle are coming together. Tendinitis?
It's all connected. The human body, that is. The hip bone is connected to the knee bone. The knee bone is connected to the neck bone. The neck bone...or however it goes.
They started out by scanning my back and showing me an image on the computer of the muscles in my back that were spasming and the intensity (red being the worst). The entire right side of my back was in a full on spasm. Solid red. The left wasn't as bad, but there was plenty of red. Then they hooked me up to some goofy machine that sent a current through my lower back to loosen up the muscles. They also threw on some ice packs and I heard the doctor say, "Mike's on ice. I'm going to develop his x-rays." Mike's on ice. I like that.
They gave me some voodoo cream I have to put on my back before bed, and I'm going back in on Friday. And then 3 times a week, probably until I die...which might be at the Ironman next year. It's a $15 co-pay each time I go. This may turn out to be the biggest financial commitment of my life... unless I die at the Ironman next year...which we can't rule out yet.
I wanted to work out today, but I decided to take my physical therapist's advice and listen to my body. My back was saying no, no, no. So I took another day off, and should be back to training tomorrow. Hopefully next week I'll be able to get in some good, hard workouts to make up for this week. The IM is still 11 months out so I'm not going to let a few missed workouts get to me. I'm sure there will be more because I never make it through a winter without getting sick.
