Costly training run in Durham, NC
Was in Durham earlier this week on business. Woke up early Tuesday morning to do a 6-mile tempo run. It was a nice run, the temperature was in the 30s and the course included some nice hills to work on strength. Unfortunately, less than a mile from the hotel, I was running down a 2-lane highway and it was dark. There were some cars approaching, so I needed to get off the road and on the grass. I ran along for a little while and then THUMP! I stepped into a drainage ditch.
At first I was worried about my knee or ankle, but no pain there. Actually, no pain at all untl later that evening when I was back in Jacksonville. I was in the office doing e-mail, and then tried to get up to go to dinner. Incredibly sharp pain shot through my lower back. It was hard to sit down, stand up or lie down. I iced it, took 800 mg of Motrin and called the chiropractor the next morning.
I have been to the chiropractor twice this week trying to straighten my back out. The only training I have done is a 2-mile run this morning to see how it felt. Not good. This really stinks because tomorrow morning is the Pumpkin Run, a 10-mile run through the Evergreen Cemetery. I was hoping to take some more time off of my PR from last year (1:12:28). I don't think that's happening. Right now, I'm wondering if I will be able to do the race at all. The Mandarin 10k is next weekend, and I have plenty of time to shave off of my 10k PR. Perhaps the best thing to do is take it easy tomorrow, ease back into training next week, and hopefully have a good 10k next weekend.
The other thing I need to keep in mind is I am training for the Jacksonville Marathon. That is my "A" race. Killing myself tomorrow will surely disrupt training for the big goal. But trying to go easy in a race is so hard to do. . . .