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