"Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them"

Thought I'd drop in and just give a little update on my rehab progress.
Over the last couple of weeks have just been doing the exercises I got religiously. I was getting very frustrated that my back pain wasn't really going away and was beginning to wonder, were the injections a bad idea etc etc.

So I started a pain diary just to see if even I could see the tiniest improvement over a period. Would just rate my pain out of ten and describe the aches and pains and when I felt good or bad etc. at the end of the two weeks I could notice a very slight improvement. Went to see physio on Thursday last and he was happy with progress and said that everything I described was normal and expected.

So we set a target of return to running in December with long term goal of marathon in May or June. I'm thinking Limerick or Cork. Any other ideas?
Next phase has me doing weights work four times a week so my sessions now look something like this;

Single leg squats - 2 sets of 8
Reverse lunges with weights - 3 sets of 10 (1min rest between sets)
Dead lift - 1*5 @40kg,1*5@50kg,3*5@60kg
Double leg squats - 5sets of 5 with last two with weights.

So that's the regime for next two weeks until I see him again.

Last couple of weeks have not gone well. :-(

Had been going ok the first couple of days and then I got ill. Some kind of gastro-intestinal bug or something, then I had to travel to Germany with work and picked up a cold. When I got back last Thursday I resumed my weights work and during one of the 60kg reps I felt my back give way. I was'nt hurt bad enought to stop altogether so I dropped back down to 40kgs and did another couple of reps.
NExt day I was suffering and it felt pretty similar to when I first had a problem in August. It was to get worse though over the next couple of days. TO put it context, I had been rating my pain each day and before this I was a pretty constant 2/10 but Friday I rated myself 6/10, Saturday 8/10 and Sunday 9/10.
On Sunday I had pins and needles in my heel (briefly) and couldnt even put my socks on without assistance.

I contacted the physio on the Friday and his advice was to take it easy and he'd try get me back into him asap. I took yesterday and today off work and got to see the physio today. He reckons I've not done anything major, just aggravated the existing problem. He treated me with some spinal mobilisation and worked the glutes well. So its back to basics again and change of exercise routine which involves foam rolling and use of sliotar on my glutes, some other back oriented exercises and I'm back with physio again on Friday.

Pain rating is back to 7/10 today so hopefully keeps going in that direction and can continue to make improvements. It's so frustrating at the moment. To be honest all hopes and even thoughts of a Spring/Summer marathon now are really out of my head. I just want to get running again now at this stage and I'll take every day as it comes after that!

Some small progress since last setback. Still not running even though I think I could easily manage it. I think I will start on Jan 1 even if it is only a single mile. I'm convinced it is more likely to help rather than hinder my progress.

Thought I'd have to go back to the consultant a week or so ago as back was giving me real problems.Had made an appointment and all. But a night on the town and visit to lillies bordello later and the back was feeling much better. I kid you not. So cancelled the appointment and am back following the physio programme. Still have some pain but back down to 3-4/10 at its worst and mostly when I'm sitting. when I'm moving around it is grand.

Have a great Christmas all and hope to see some of you at a race or two in 2015!

Brief Review of 2014:

Well, where the hell do I start with this one? Looking back it has been both an excellent year and terrible one!

Like some football matches it was definitely a game of two halves with all of my successes coming in the first half of the year with PBs at 5k (20:30), 5 mile (35:30), 10K (43:50), HM (1:39:43) and marathon (3:52:xx). I owe a lot of my success to the advice of Career_Move and Menoscemo so thanks again guys for all your help. Of course all advice from all quarters on here has been excellent both direct and indirect.
I had the occasional hiccup injury-wise in first half of year but overall i am really pleased with the progress I made and was really looking forward to using that as a platform to move on and achieve greater things. In August that all changed with having to pull out of the Frank Duffy after 4 miles with hamstring trouble and then hurting my back badly(non running related).

So the second half of this year has been a write off running wise. I haven't run since October 28th and my running future hangs in the balance as recovery progress has had its setbacks and I'm not seeing the kind of progress I want. Hopefully patience and some good advice form my physio and neurosurgeon will pave a path to full recovery soon. I am an eternal optimist and will keeping going and explore every avenue possible to get back on the roads again.


So it is clear what the major disappointments for me were during the year. As far as highlights, from a running perspective, the Bohermeen HM was my race of the year, dipping in under 1:40 for the first time, with the London marathon as a close second. Although I didnt hit my goal time I still took 35mins of my previous time and the race experience and atmosphere was the best I've ever had.

On a personal note, meeting more boardsies,getting to put something back into boards by helping out on the marathon novice thread(not that any help was needed), putting more faces to usernames and getting to know some genuinely nice people has been a big bonus.

So looking forward to 2015, here's hoping we can all achieve our goals, continue in good health and avoid those nasty injuries. I may even change my log name and start afresh so keep an eye out for that.

Happy new year everyone. Let's give it socks in 2015:D

Beef wrote: »

Best of luck for 2015 Robbie!

Cheers Beef!