Mum on the Run

Annie get your Run wrote: »

I think its time they re-merged the AR form with the Tri/Adventure race/Cycling forums

That's extremely impressive swim distance, I'd just about manage half that :rolleyes:

How's the back feeling this week?

Back feeling much better thanks! I'm still getting the odd twinge which serves as a reminder to take it easy and stick to the plan, but in general it's much improved.

Yeah it was nice to be back in the pool, but no time these days for a leisurely jacuzzi and steam after :rolleyes:

Saturday 20th

Session in the gym and a walk later on.

Sunday 21st

5 miles in total including 4 x 3.5 mins run. Think this was along the seafront, can’t really remember.

Monday 22nd

Beginners Pilates which felt much better than last week – less embarrassing anyway :rolleyes:. Went for a walk beforehand and threw in a few sneaky 30 second runs.

Tuesday 23rd

Session in the gym while BG Jr was otherwise occupied then a walk/run in the evening along the seafront 4 x 4 mins. Shout out from Red Runner here who was on his bike commute I think.

Wednesday 24th

Just a short walk today.

Thursday 25th

Nothing. Spent most of the day tied to the desk or behind the steering wheel. Then stuck in traffic at for an hour while it was 25 degrees out. Too tired to do anything after that.

Friday 26th

Last of the walk/runs today. Next time there will be no walk breaks! 4 x 4.5 minutes on grass with 30 second walk breaks. All good. Back feels fine when running. It gets a bit stiff and sore sometimes but that’s after sitting for ages or driving. Garmin tells me I’ve been running these intervals waaaay too fast so I will be slowing right down again now and keep an eye on the heart rate.
Didn’t swim at all this week; must try to include it in my routine going forward.

TOTAL WEEKLY (RUNNING) MILES: 6.1 (including 23.8 walking miles)

Saturday 27th

Full 3 sets in the gym and a long-ish walk later with a few 1 min jogs thrown in.

Sunday 28th

20 whole consecutive minutes running on the plan! I was super excited. Decided to run this by HR with the aim to keep an average of 130bpm or so. Knew this would be slow but hopefully will get faster for the same HR as I regain fitness. About a mile walk either side to warm up and cool down.

• 2.0 miles @ 9:53 (grass) HR 129

Monday 29th

Beginner Pilates. Very tough class, I think I’m going backwards :rolleyes:. Short jog afterwards, struggling to keep the HR in check, possibly due to the heat but more likely due to lack of fitness.

• 1.5 miles @ 10:13 (grass) HR 130

Tuesday 30th

Full 3 sets in the gym. Felt pretty good during this but later on had a disaster of a run. Body feeling sore and sluggish and just not right. All sorts of random muscles hurting and my form is disintegrating :mad:.

• 2.4 miles @ 10:29 (grass) HR 130

Wednesday 31st

A couple of miles on grass. A bit cooler out so easier to keep the HR low.

• 2.0 miles @ 10:02 (grass) HR 129

End of the month and very little to show for it. Back still nagging and niggling at me and nothing I do seems to make it better (or worse) so it’s time for another opinion.

Month 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013
January 154 141 101 86 0
February 127 134 109 75 0
March 151 114 124 109 0
April 121 127 129 101 24
May 20 127 133 95 81
June 110 110 86 72
July 139 181 2 101
August 91 208 31 37
September 136 133 83 43
October 144 155 93 64
November 147 170 107 69
December 105 113 119 94
573 1515 1666 987 585


Thursday 1st

Rest. The usual busy Thursday with no time to do anything. Dinner was a bag of chipper chips eaten in the drizzling rain on the way to a pub quiz :rolleyes:.

Friday 2nd

Dumped my Couch 2 5K runners (I’m leading a group of parents in BG Jr’s school through the programme once a week) to avail of a cancellation with my #1 osteopath. It’s like getting an audience with the pope so had to grab the appointment otherwise it’d be a few weeks before I could get in to see him. Trekked to the other side of the city but totally worth it as he was able to identify the source of my back pain and – fingers crossed – appears to have fixed it with a few clicks and manoeuvres of the spine. So so happy because I've been having a lot of pain and stiffness especially sitting and driving and this was making me not want to exercise (most unlike me!), and now it looks like I'm good to go.

TOTAL WEEKLY (RUNNING) MILES: 8.5 (including 18.4 walking miles)

Saturday 3rd

Had an epic lie-on, probably the longest sleep since I was a teenager. Body felt good, a few random muscular pains which the osteopath had said to expect, but felt fine otherwise. Enjoyed the run in the local park. Easy enough to keep the HR low as it was cool enough by the time I got out. A bit disappointed in the pace but I’ll stick with the HR training as I know it’ll pay off in the long run.

• 3.0 miles @ 10:07, HR 129

Sunday 4th

Possibly overdid it today and paid the price. Junior parkrun first thing was grand, not a peep out of the back. Made the mistake of pushing BG Jr on the zip line in the park later and felt a bit of a tweak. This was literally minutes after remarking to myself (silently ) that I was feeling great: loose and mobile for the first time in weeks. D’oh. Felt a bit silly as she’s well able to launch herself so I shouldn’t have given in and pushed her. The run later was a slog but no pain. Unfortunately my back seized up a while after (a spasm of some sort I’m guessing) and I’ve been sore and stiff since.

• 3.5 miles @ 10:17, HR 131

Monday 5th

REST, feeling sorry for myself.

Tuesday 6th

REST, over myself now. No choice but to take the day off work as BG Jr’s school was having an extra long Bank Holiday :rolleyes:. Went to Aquazone and ended up having* to hurtle down the water slides. My back felt no worse after it and if anything, is a little better today, so thumbs up to water park therapy.

*Any adult accompanying a small child has to be at the bottom to collect them after their slide. But you also have to accompany them to the top and wait with them. So unless you can clone yourself the only way down is Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee !

Wednesday 7th

Or weigh-in Wednesday as it shall henceforth be known until I get back to my ‘normal’ weight of approx. 8lbs lighter than I am now :eek:. The weight has been creeping up since before Xmas and while I’ve made a few futile attempts to lose it, the last 6 weeks in particular have been a disaster. Stood on the scales this morning and gulped :eek::eek:. Enough is enough. So I’ll document it here (the loss not the starting weight ). Took my resting HR out of curiosity and it’s still low enough (app says 41, traditional finger on pulse gives 43) so that’s something at least. Although Garmin has already downgraded my VO2 Max figure to 49 from 51 :rolleyes: .

Date Loss Total
07/06/2017 -0lb -0lb
14/06/2017
21/06/2017
28/06/2017
05/07/2017
12/07/2017
19/07/2017
26/07/2017
02/08/2017


Physio visit this evening. She didn’t like the look of my back at all and said it’s a slipped disc waiting to happen. Given that she also predicted this 4 years ago I’m going to have to accept this diagnosis and do what I’m told (for once ) in an effort to prevent it from happening again. So I’ve to do as much Pilates as possible, specific back exercises (McKenzies) swim and walk. That’s it until further notice.

Thursday 8th

Rest. Except for my prescribed back exercises. Supposed to be every 2 hours. Didn’t quite manage this as can’t exactly do them during work but managed about 3 sets.

Friday 9th

Back felt a little better this morning. Did Pilates, then went for a swim (1300m). Feeling like I have a little more mobility but everything still feels very tight so there’s no way I could run comfortably even if I had a pass.

TOTAL WEEKLY MILES: 6.5

Annie get your Run wrote: »

As a matter of interest are the Osteo and Physio saying the same thing or different things or are they working on different issues?

Saying different things. History repeating itself. Dumbo here just didn't want to believe it .

Annie get your Run wrote: »

No name calling of my friends allowed! I doubt there's a single person here who want to see when it comes to injury/illness, I'd be top of that list. I just wasn't sure which was which etc so looks like the physio's instructions are the ones to follow? So hopefully now you have a better idea you can get back on the road quickly.

That's it, although the physio referred to in my recent post is a physical therapist and has been my go-to therapist for years. For this injury I have also seen a GP who is also an osteopath, a physiotherapist, and another osteopath. You'd swear I had money to burn. All sounds a bit silly now that I see it written down, but we runners can get desperate :rolleyes:. Also, all of these individuals have performed 'miracles' for me in the past. The trick is knowing which one is going to be the miracle worker for a particular injury.

With any luck, now that I'm listening, I can hopefully avoid a full blown slipped disc.

RedRunner wrote: »

I believe from experts I have seen also that there is no such thing as a "slipped disc" They bulge and that's it. It must be frustrating getting conflicting advice though. I still have back issues but so far I'm managing to stay on top of it. The pilates definitely helps me so hopefully you can avoid that disaster that was lurking in the long grass too.

....now if only I could fix everything else that's broken with me too.

Keep the faith!

Thanks, R! Trying hard to keep the faith, but honestly it's hard to know who and what to believe. I just know that it hurts! And I can't run!

I did hear that before, that 'slipped disc' is a misnomer. What's strange though is that some people will have a bulging disc and no pain or symptoms whereas others will have one and be in a heap which is why backs are difficult to diagnose, even with MRIs etc.

I'm all over the Pilates now, but I never really let it slide (as in I always did at least 1 class a week) so I think my biggest mistake was letting the gym work slide after Christmas.

Must try to remember that I'm not 21 :rolleyes:

Kennyg71 wrote: »

Even at 41 you might have had a fighting chance :pac: hope it all settles soon.

Careful now ...