It would be really cool if I could tell you there were some relationship between my strained back and an encounter with a black bear that I recently had. E.G., I pulled my back while wrestling the furry beast in question...but I'm smart enough to know that if the bear had decided to engage me I wouldn't be here to write about it!
I did see a black bear while running on a remote logging road in Canada, but it took off immediately upon seeing me. I turned around anyway and headed back towards camp. It was pretty cool to see it, but the blast of adrenaline was enough from a distance. I would not have wanted to be any closer.
The back problem happened later. I had done the Rice St. Mile on a Thursday evening, a long run Friday morning followed by lifting, and then run 10 miles pretty easy on Saturday morning. At the end of that run, my back felt a little stiff, but I didn't think anything of it. I had offered to help a friend move later that day, and within an hour or so I had completely wrecked myself. I attempted to run the following day, but had to cut it short, and then had a hard time moving around at all for the next few days.
It is amazing how useless a bad back can leave you feeling. Now that I'm feeling a little better, I can find it amusing to think about the strategizing that I had to do to get my shoes on, or even to get up out of bed. In the end, this has been a minor setback. I was planning to run the MDRA 15k this weekend, but may hold off and shoot for the Mpls 13.1 half marathon the following weekend. My back is 95% and I'm sure I could race without problems, but I did miss a few days and was not able to do more than jogging last week, so it would be nice to get some solid training in before toeing the line.
Other race plans for the fall:
Victory 10k
City of Lakes 25k
TC 10 mile
After that, I don't know what I'll do. Possibly a couple of cross country races, but mostly just training for the Olympic Trials Marathon. So far, I haven't had too much trouble sticking to my plan of not doing any "crazy" races (i.e., ultras, mountain running, etc.) for the rest of the year, but I do find myself getting excited about what I might do next year, after the Trials are over. Who knows what sort of shenanigans I might get myself involved in? I do think I'll miss trail racing for the next few months, but it's also pretty exciting to focus on running fast.
I did see a black bear while running on a remote logging road in Canada, but it took off immediately upon seeing me. I turned around anyway and headed back towards camp. It was pretty cool to see it, but the blast of adrenaline was enough from a distance. I would not have wanted to be any closer.
The back problem happened later. I had done the Rice St. Mile on a Thursday evening, a long run Friday morning followed by lifting, and then run 10 miles pretty easy on Saturday morning. At the end of that run, my back felt a little stiff, but I didn't think anything of it. I had offered to help a friend move later that day, and within an hour or so I had completely wrecked myself. I attempted to run the following day, but had to cut it short, and then had a hard time moving around at all for the next few days.
It is amazing how useless a bad back can leave you feeling. Now that I'm feeling a little better, I can find it amusing to think about the strategizing that I had to do to get my shoes on, or even to get up out of bed. In the end, this has been a minor setback. I was planning to run the MDRA 15k this weekend, but may hold off and shoot for the Mpls 13.1 half marathon the following weekend. My back is 95% and I'm sure I could race without problems, but I did miss a few days and was not able to do more than jogging last week, so it would be nice to get some solid training in before toeing the line.
Other race plans for the fall:
Victory 10k
City of Lakes 25k
TC 10 mile
After that, I don't know what I'll do. Possibly a couple of cross country races, but mostly just training for the Olympic Trials Marathon. So far, I haven't had too much trouble sticking to my plan of not doing any "crazy" races (i.e., ultras, mountain running, etc.) for the rest of the year, but I do find myself getting excited about what I might do next year, after the Trials are over. Who knows what sort of shenanigans I might get myself involved in? I do think I'll miss trail racing for the next few months, but it's also pretty exciting to focus on running fast.
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