Monday, May 27, 2013

Once upon a time

Back many years ago when I worked for the City, I had some sciatica pain. It was bad, so bad that sometimes I could hardly walk. I think it came from too much walking on concrete in ill fitting boots, and not enough stretching and such. It took a bunch of physio sessions to deal with it, then another bout a bit later on, and I've been good since.

One of the guys I worked with was also having the same issues, only he was much further along. They had him scheduled for surgery, and in the meantime he had drugs. One night both of us were in secondary, dragging ourselves around, one step at a time. One tunnel was 220 m long, and it had a twin. Doing the tunnel round was nearly a Km, and this was before they let us have a trike down there. It was a long painful night.

We met in the control room, with him looking at a little spherical pill. I can't take it till I get home, because I can't drive after taking one pill". I suggested we split it, and after a bit of back and forth we did. It was the most amazing thing I've ever felt. Very shortly after I felt like dancing down the tunnel. I was strongly cautioned that the issue was still there.

Today I sat too long, hunched over and focussing on something, as the office got colder. I caught on too late, and was really creaky, with sciatica like pain, not my recently normal cranky legs. I did a really good twisting stretch session before supper, and was rewarded with a massive "CLUNK" in my back. Within a few minutes I was feeling like normal again, and did a core session after supper.

Then came the dancing. About 3/4 of the way through class I started pooping out. It was getting painful. I just barely managed to finish class. I did a bit more stretching when I got home, and I can tell my back isn't sure what to think. Time for bed.

Been reading about running, and while there seems to be two schools of thought on running better, one thing they all agree on is that core strength is critical. The two schools of thought seem to be 1 - Run lots, with periodization, and a variety of speeds and stuff, while trying to stave off overuse injury. 2 Run little but with great intensity along with a variety of other workout stuff. What are your thoughts?

Oh, and just after dance class I found out I have a funeral to go to on Friday. If you used to work at Skystone and don't know, email me or leave a comment. So young.

5 comments:

  1. 2. gives great bang for the buck in the short term, but it's more risky for injuries if you don't have a big running background. Maybe if someone doesn't enjoy running that much and likes to spend time doing a variety of activities. Still wouldn't recommend it to many.

    1. Doesn't have to be about staving off injury. Keep a log and pay close attention to how fast you build up, and recovery between key workouts(once you've built up a proper base) and you'll improve more over time.

    Overuse is most times underused in disguise. :D

    my two cents...

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    1. Thanks Darryl. I've often thought that lots of the "overuse" is from people trying too much too soon. I suck at gradual builds, but If I'm going to do a marathon next year, I'll have to be all about the gradual build.

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  2. Have to disagree with running man. At our age, Keith, less is more. I do back to back runs on weekends but the rest of the week I run every other day to give my body a chance to recover fully. Cross training another day or two is fine but it should be something gentle to counter the hard workouts - yoga, tai chi, etc. That's my approach anyway and so far it seems to have worked okay. Of course, I don't have any desire to get a whole lot faster. I just want to be able to keep running for as long and far as I can. ;-)

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    1. I need to get faster if I'm going to complete the marathon before everyone goes home, and they fold up the finish line. That happened to me once in a triathlon. Yes, I was still well under the cut off. I love the yoga, and often think that's how I got through the training for IMC. Would love to learn Tai Chi. Four days a week running would be a big week for me.

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  3. Janice, no you completely misunderstood me. And I think you missed part of #2 which you didn't mention in your own training. The high intensity with no base/buildup. That's bad, I'm sure you'd agree.

    Keith, yeah that's basically what I meant with my last statement. :)

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Looking forward to reading your comment!