This one is tough. Last Saturday I ran a local Sprint Tri and felt great...kind of a tune up for my "A" race on June 10 (Ironman 70.3 Kansas). On Sunday doing mundane yard work I "tweeked" my lower back. I have done this before and am usually out of commission for a week or so. Monday to Tuesday I spent 24 hours in bed not able to move. By Wednesday I was moving like a crippled penguin, today (Friday) I was able to get a 15 minute walk in and felt okay...walking very gingerly. If all goes well I can probably get back to training by Monday (Memorial Day) which will put me two weeks from my race. As you can imagine this is right in the middle of my peak phase and I will have a total of 7-10 days of no training. What are your thoughts on me being able to bank on all the prior months of training to pick it back up during the last week of my peak phase and a taper week? I am willing to forgo this being my A race and just plan to finish...or do you think this is too risky to give it a go?
Have you been to a
Have you been to a chiropractor? A really bad tweak for me will be resolved in 2-3 days after a chiro visit. Typically sooner. Electrostim to relax the muscle spasm is something the chiropractor would do as well.
One follow up visit probably wouldn't be a bad idea if 5 days after the adjustment you still don't feel perfect.
Or you can just take NSAIDs like they are candy for a week or so.... Obviously I'm a fan of Chiropractic.
Good Luck!
Not to be the bad guy but it
Not to be the bad guy but it may take you more than that to recover. A chiro vist, pain killers, strctch, all is good but you are the best person to make the call, listen to your body and if you are not 100% sure you are ok, don't do it. Now, I am in thr 50 years old group, my approach to this may be different than yours
+ 1 to the chiro. I go in
+ 1 to the chiro. I go in for an adjustment about every 3 weeks even if the back feels good.
I have also found a consistent core routine helps to keep me aligned. I tend to avoid the NSAIDs
because they dont agree with my gut. If you have been consistent with your training you should have
a good base and be able to get back in time to race. Just dont try to over do your first couple of workouts.
Good luck and let us know how you do.
After all I have dealt with
After all I have dealt with with my back issues over the last 5 years, my advice is to have "tweaked" diagnosed by a Dr. then deal with it accordingly. I could have saved myself a lot of discomfort and disappointment by doing that from the beginning.
Really appreciate the
Really appreciate the advice. As it stands I think it will be a "Race day decision". I have done lot's of stretching and was able to get a slow 30 minute ride yesterday morning and a 60 minute ride later in the day. Today I will try an OWS (with support). My fear is I won't have a lot of intensity and long rides and runs in prior to the race....we'll see how it goes.
I generally agree with
I generally agree with what's been said, but I'll add my two cents: Better a bit under trained, than injured and a DNS. Given how little time you have until race day, you're much better off starting uninjured than you will be by trying to really build in the time you have left.
Good luck . . . I hope your back feels new again on race day.
--Richard
Thanks, Richard...that's my
Thanks, Richard...that's my new motto "Better under trained and uninjured than to DNS".
to answer the question about
to answer the question about how it will affect your race by not training. The only thing that will be affected is your swim. For your swim you want to peak 3-5 days before your race, so if you don't swim for 10 days, your swim could be dramatically affected. For biking and running its 3 weeks out that has the most affect on your performance. Your clearly past that part of your training so it won't be affected any.
That answers the affects of not training, but I wouldn't have the first clue as to how the back will affect the race. Your gonna need to see a doc. Routinely throwing your back out is not normal.
During earlier times when I
During earlier times when I was running much more often I had back issues and joint pains once in a while that doctors could not clearly diagnose. Although there was no clear cause I surely did not imagine my pain. Many years later now I understand much more about the cooperation of all tissue and receptor systems in my body and it is much less complicated than I first thought. My main focus theses days is on pelvic alignment and a flexible yet strong Sacro-Iliac Joint. Since this area is the core and key stone of our body (building) all other areas depend on its alignment and strength.
All pain issues have one thing in common: our muscles are not relaxed as they try to protect us from further problems. Muscle tensions excert pressure onto nerves and cause problems. Muscle tensions are always influenced by joint alignment and vise versa. The SIJ is the only joint that is not actively moved by muscles and therefore depend on correct alignment and muscle balance.
Re-balancing the structure is quite simple however most people stop necessary adjustment processes of our body too early and problems return. Even in the absence of pain we must take care of strutural alignment for at least six to eight weeks after and injury or pain issue. Self help exercises that allow self therapy especially before and after I run more than 30 minutes has help me and many of my friends to handle the problem. Free information on this: http://www.dorn-method.com
Thanks again for all the
Thanks again for all the helpful information. I wanted to let you know that I successfully started and finished Ironman Kansas 70.3 this past Sunday in what was called the worst conditions they have had since the inception of the race (35mph winds and 94 degrees). I will post a RR later...but as for my back...it held up. I did go to the Dr. and had full MRI three weeks out and was shown to have a severe herniation (chronic issue I've been dealing with) of L4/5 putting pressure on my sciatica. It had apparently pinched causing the acute issue I had. I was able to re-hab and got two injections, the last one on Tuesday prior to race Sunday. I knew going in I would suffer on the run the most since that was what I was holding back all my training on in those last weeks. I hit my nutrition perfect and managed my pacing to "finish" instead of achieve a goal time. Thanks again to "rachapkis" for helping me understand it would be better to show up under-trained than injured!
Bravo! As a fellow
Bravo! As a fellow "sciatic-sensitive" competitor I salute you for pushing through with this; sounds like you handled it really sensibly. Looking fwd to your RR!
Good don Tri-Monty! I have a
Good don Tri-Monty!
I have a similar situation:
I hurt my lower back after my marathon on March of this year. I rested for 2 months and began a 6 months training. I am in my week four. I was not 100% healed when I started the training. Tuesday I went white water rafting and hurt my back again. My lower backs hurt when I stand up and walk, after a few steps the pain go away. I do not want to lose my rhythm of going swimming pool; I feel that I have gain allot in the last 4 weeks. Is swimming bad for my lower back pain? I stop riding and running this week but I want to keep swimming.