Getting Old Sucks
I haven't posted much in awhile...been fighting a lower back and hip injury, and just didn't have much motivation to post. Back in early March I hurt myself on a training run with ENer Claudia Langarica. She was training for the Boston marathon, and I frequently run with her. Anyway, we were doing a 2 mile interval at 6:40 pace and I strained my lower back muscles and hip. Could barely walk that night. After a couple of MD visits, I learned I have degenerated L4 and L5 discs in my lower back and this was putting pressure on some nerves. So no running for 5 weeks, lots of PT, NSAIDs, stretching and strenghtening exercises for hip and lower back. I'm ok riding and swimming (meaning no pain during or after these activities). I'm finally back to easy running...like 2 or 3 miles at a time. I did a 5 miler last Thursday and no pain. That was my longest run since March. I'm going to slowly ramp things back up since I've got a 30K run at the end of the Long Course Worlds in 7 weeks. Coach R said to add 5' to each run each week and see how it goes. I'll probably just have to gut it out to finish LCW. 
Lessons learned: speed kills. I just have to focus on Z3 and Z4 stuff and leave that Z5 stuff for the younger folks.
I guess I wanted to just update folks so you didn't think I'd dropped of the face of the earth.
Comments
Hey Bruce,
Thanks for checking in and so sorry to hear more about your friction.
On a kinda related note, there's a "Bruce Thompson Plumbing" company in Saint George, I saw several of their vans this weekend and should have taken a pic for you
Bruce ... this is a safe place to kvetch; we've all got one thing or another we'd rather not be dealing with, I'm sure. Sounds like you;ve got the correct diagnosis - too long @ too fast a pace - and the correct approach - slowly ramp up distance and pace over a longer time than you'd like.
I think faster paces are OK, just in micro doses, meaning strides. My VDOT is down to 45 now, but I can still hit a pace of 5:30-6:00 with no aftereffects, when doing 20-30" long bursts. Also, a prolonged warm-up (20-30 minutes), with some of those strides before is now mandatory before I attempt any 7:20 or faster intervals (that's be 7:00 for you, I think).
I am just now starting to feel healed in my knees + quads, which I apparently abused this winter following IM AZ. It was a combination of any or all of the following:
By this time, it was the middle of March, and I was off to South America for a two week adventure. I learned my lesson, and came back a little more gingerly. It paid off (somewhat) in the HM I did yesterday, finishing 2nd - believe it or not, I got passed in the last 2-3 miles and couldn't/wouldn't pick it up to stick with the guy. Probably a good thing, because this morning my knees and quads are doing just fine, it's only my calves which are sore.
The double whammy of aging - by this, I mean once I got past 61, when I started to notice this - for me is, slowing down, and taking MUCH longer to recover, resulting in being easier to injure.
You've got a third issue, which is things just start to break down, become almost unrepairable, and need to be "babied". I've got a friend who has the exact same back/nerve issues, and worked for some time to be able to get back to running, successfully. He also continues to trek, ski, and keep up with his adult sons. I know you'll do just fine with this; keep to your plan.
I'm always reminded of a little scene from the end of the 2nd or 3rd season of Battlestar Galactica. The few remaining humans had been marooned on a planet by the Cylons, basically in a refugee camp. But some of the old guard continued with a resistence. Starbuck and the Chief were talking, something like this:
Starbuck: So what do we do now?
Chief: Keep fighting 'em 'till we can't, I guess.
Starbuck: It's what we do.
@ Al...as always thanks for your kind and wise words. I just needed to put this out there for the group to be aware of if I'm not quite my up to my former self. As you mentioned what Chief said, I'll keep fighting. Doing all the PT exercises 2x/day, stretches, etc.
I'm feeling better and have started running again. Nothing fast, just Z1 pace or slower, and trying to build back up some durability. So far so good. I ran 7 very slow miles this past Thursday nite, and everything else (especially quads) hurt except my back & hip. But everything felt fine on Friday am. For this week I ran a total 5 times for a total of 15 miles. 3 of the runs were 2 mile bricks and they weren't pretty running fitness-wise, but again, no back pain. So I'm just going to add 2 miles or 20' per week to my run totals thru mid-June in preparation for the LC Worlds on June 27. Three weeks ago I wasn't sure I could finish the 30k run in that event, but now I believe I can if I just stay conservative in both the training and the race pace. On a positive note, my swimming and riding are strong leading into the event, so if I pace myself conservatively, I should at least have plenty of strength for the 30k run.
I just want to finish. I feel like I need some extra motivation, so I signed up to race in honor of a fallen American soldier. A group called Medals of Honor.org connects endurance racers with families of the fallen. After the race, you send them your finishers medal, some pics, story and they forwarded it onto the family. I'll be honor to race for one of our fallen heros in a world championship. Will find out the soldiers name in a week or two. Gonna have a dog tag made with his/her name on it and will wear it during the race so my soldier is racing with me.
@ Rich...see above about Medals of Honor.org. Maybe something EN could look into, encourage participation. Seems like a cool way to honor our fallen, and it doesn't cost anything (just your finishers medal) to participate.
@ Rich again...I am the world's worst plumber, so that clearly wasn't me.
Niels
@ Niels...thanks for the encouragement. I continue to get better. This past Thursday I ran 11 miles at 8:48 avg pace, and no pain in hip or back. Felt fine the next day too. Today I rode 101 miles on North Shore routes, avged 19.9 mph, 198 AP, 209NP. I rode the first 43 miles with Matt Aaronson, then solo the rest of the way. Then ran 4 miles with each mile faster than the prior, finishing with last mile at 7:52 pace. I'm beat but it was a good test of where my fitness is. I'm now confident that barring any new or recurring injury, that I can finish the LC Worlds in 5 weeks.
Hope you are well.
Thanks Rick...
Glad you are on the mend. I have become persuaded that there is a cycle of training too hard which leads to hamstring tightness which leads to changes in pelvic rotation which leads to pain in the low back area. I had a similar deal after Thanksgiving last year when I went out and ran a PR 10 k and then came up lame in the right hamstring afterwards. It has taken most of the year to get back on track and if I hit it too hard even now, I get a flare up. It seems that stretching and core stabilization becomes more important as I try to maintain a race build and if I neglect the stretching, I tend to develop more symptoms. Just when I have less time, I have another thing to add to my training regimen.
My point is just don't slack up on the stretching as you begin to resume your pre-injury schedule or you risk having more problems.
ALSO : Reality check: I have a friend that just had his 4 vessel bypass at 49 so I am happy that I can go hard enough to have an athletic injury. Getting old does not suck as bad as the alternative but it certainly brings more character-building challenges along the way.