Friday, October 14, 2011

road-block

road-block
n.
definition - Something, such as a situation or condition, that prevents further progress toward an accomplishment.
Yep, this training season has been quite interesting. Lots of roadblocks this year. Let me recap for you:

  • Mid-May - I broke my toe, causing me to postpone marathon training for 6 weeks and miss two triathlons on my race schedule.

  • Mid-June - Found out I had strep throat...caused me to miss a few workouts - even with the broken toe, I was doing strength training (i.e. P90X), riding my bike and swimming. But, I should have rested longer, because a month later....
  • Mid-July - Just when I get to start running again, I manage to get Strep once again. And until June of this year, I had never had strep. Ever. This time, just to make sure I was 100% better, I took a week off from workouts of any kind.

This brings me to this week....
  • Mid October - Things had been going extremely well with my training for the past couple of months. However, remember that crazy "crick" in my neck before the 18-miler? It came back on Monday with a vengeance!

This is so odd, because it's the 3rd time this has happened since late August. I woke up feeling a little stiff in the neck, but nothing too terrible. I got dressed and headed out for an easy, peasy 3-miler. I came home and started getting ready for work and there I was, in the shower, when the pain hit. The same muscle cramping in my shoulders as before, but this time it was much worse.

I continued to get dressed, got the kiddos dressed and dropped them off at school. I rode the bus into downtown to work (big mistake!) and by the time I made it up to my office (lugging my laptop), I was in terrible pain. So much so, that I was on the verge of tears. I could not lift my arms to answer my phone or type on my keyboard. I needed to leave to go to the doctor, but because I rode the bus, I was stranded. My bus stops running after a certain point in the morning and doesn't run again until the afternoon. I finally got brave enough to pick up the phone (which hurt like hell) and call my doctor. He could fit me in that day, so then I had to ask my Dad to pick me up. Thank God for retired parents who live nearby!

Anyway, I went to my general practitioner who basically told me that I must have slept wrong and to take Advil. Gee, thanks (there goes $65 I will never get back into my HSA)! I did what he said and I felt better the next day, so I went to work. Unfortunately, I think I may have overdone it by working 12 hours, because on Wednesday my neck and shoulders hurt even more. Soooo, I asked some of my running peeps for a referral and that led me to my very 1st visit with a chiropractor.


I will refer to this doctor as DR. AWESOME. I didn't feel this way immediately after my 1st visit, because to be honest he didn't have any miracle cure. And, he did not prescribe any medication to mask the pain - which at that time I really wanted - pain killers and muscle relaxers - I guess wine would have to do. But, what he did do is take a x-ray, followed by some adjusting in my back and neck, electronic stimulation of my muscles, and some painful deep tissue massage.

There were no immediate results. Yes people, I expect miracles in this day in age!!! But, that evening, I noticed a difference! I really did!

I noticed a better range of motion with my head and arms. There was still quite a bit of pain, but it wasn't quite a severe as earlier that day. The next day I went back again and had more good results - last night I could lay down without almost crying and this morning I could actually reach up and turn off my alarm clock without crying out in pain! Thank you DR. AWESOME! While I'm not 100% better, the improvement is awesome! I am going back on Monday, which will hopefully be my last visit to DR. AWESOME.

The problem - I am not supposed to run until Monday for a few days. DR. AWESOME is worried that I might tense up my shoulders during the run, which might aggravate the area. I am pretty determined to run the 14 miles on my schedule for Saturday, but I may not. The problem is that I really don't have time to run that kind of mileage after my check-up on Monday. I'll let you know what I decide...

In the meantime, I am more than a little bummed. My training has not been where it needs to be for the past 3 weeks due to travel for work. While I have been running on the days I'm supposed to, I haven't been running the mileage I should be running - kinda hard to do when you're working 8 am - 5 pm, then taking college students to dinner until 8 or 9 pm, then going back to a hotel room to catch up on e-mails in the evening. Not that I don't enjoy it, but it does kinda make training difficult. I had vowed to get right on track for these final 4 weeks of training and then the stupid shoulder/neck/back thing had to happen. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!

So, I will end on these two quotes and will try to remember them when I encounter any future roadblocks:

If you're trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I've had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. ~Michael Jordan


For every failure, there's an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour. ~Mary Kay Ash

5 comments:

GM said...

Love the quotes. Good luck with your training.

RunToTheFinish said...

i have finally made a habit of going to my chiro every 4-5 weeks and it's made a huge difference in reducing all of my injuries.

I hope you are back at it soon!

Jill said...

I think a chiro or PT are worth their weight in gold, man my PT has really helped with all my aches and pains - not to mention the year from hell with my foot. Hope you continue to make solid progress!!

Unknown said...

I loved this post! I have a few Dr. Awesomes...I can't get enough. Gosh, so expensive though. Stay whole and healthy!!

Anne said...

You're making me regret not getting the chiropractic insurance at work this year. Glad Dr. Awesome was able to really work it out.