Injuries Suck

I was wiped after the half marathon and told myself hey – I am going to be good to me and take 2 days of rest. So I did. Felt so rested. I went back to my training schedule on Wednesday and swam. I felt OK.  I ran on Thursday and it was cold but it was a good run. By Thursday night, I felt a weird tightness when I breathed (always an awesome sign) – I thought maybe I am getting some flu or something. I woke up Friday morning and felt stiff and terrible so I took another day off. Saturday came and my back was killing me and the pain shot around from under my right shoulder blade to my ribs.

My kid announced he has joined the bike club at school and he doing a 50 mile ride with them – basically doing my max training ride just like that because he thinks it will be fun. I plan a different route and bike an easy 18 miles and I plan to run an easy 3. Biking was ok – so long as I used my aero bars and stretched out in relaxed position. I had a little trouble breathing (always a bad sign). I came home and put on my running shoes and headed out. After a half mile of incredible back pain and shooting spasms which prevented me breathing, I stopped and walked home. I was in complete despair – this week was supposed to be my peak training week for my upcoming triathlon. My kid came home having biked 55 miles with tough hills and said he was kinda tired and he thinks being clipped in would have helped (he has regular pedals). Wow – I told him he was amazing and he gave a big smile. Kids – all that energy!

I thought I just need a little rest but by Sunday night I was pale and in constant pain. I almost puked the back spasms got so bad and probably slept an hour or so. My husband had given me a muscle relaxer pill but I really don’t react to medicine well. I am incredibly sensitive and it just made me feel messed up and in pain. Monday I have two choices – go sit in the doctor’s office to learn I have a pulled muscle in my back and have him write me a script for a muscle relaxer and pay the deductible OR go to the Sports massage therapist. I went with the massage. She calmed my back down and stopped the pain from spreading but it was like a hard nut in my back. It’s in a muscle that runs under your shoulder blade and around your ribs. It was pissed off.

I have no idea how I injured it. Finishing the marathon, I felt tightness in my ribs so that might have been the start of it. I had a coughing fit on my run during the week and it hurt my lungs to cough so hard or – hell – I might have just slept funny. It’s been cold and I haven’t been stretching a lot because I stretch on the dock and its freaking cold outside. OK maybe it’s in the 40’s in the morning and 50’s during the day but my blood is thin and I am a wuss.

My massage gal told me to ice, ice and ice it some more. I go to the supermarket walking like I am 90 and almost cry when I realize they only sell 10 pound bags of ice. So pathetic. The ice helped instantly and with 2 Tylenol PM I got a solid 9 hours of sleep that night. Yeah I know I need a lot of sleep. I had to roll out of bed to get my kid to 5am practice and usually I hang out and do 6-7 swim because my kid swims for 2 hours. I decided to wait another day and ended up using the ice pack all day due to pain. My massage therapist suggested waiting till I had 12 pain free hours. This seemed like a sensible gauge to operate by – in addition as a post-50 year old, small injuries can settle in and linger due to a longer recovery period. I am currently approaching the first period of 12 hours of pain free. I plan to swim in the morning. The knot is gone and a lingering burn feeling remains in my back in that area.

I am comfortable with the realization that the triathlon will not be an amazing race for me…I will just try to have fun. I have no pictures this week because a picture of me on the couch lying on an ice bag is just too depressing to post.