To the doctor

I've finally realized that my back isn't going to heal on it's own. It is no longer a sharp pain (unless I start becoming too active). I've made a doctor's appointment for next week (it was the earliest they could fit me in). It is now just an uncomfortable dull pain in my lower back. Going for walks feels good and riding my bike doesn't hurt it, other than that everything is slightly uncomfortable. sitting, sleeping, working out, running, picking something up, etc... all are uncomfortable. A little depressing knowing that all of the work I've done for fitness is now going the wrong direction.

On the other hand I have been doing a lot of walking lately. I probably walked about 5 miles Friday. And I've gone on long walks just about everyday. On Sunday I don't have a ride to church, and I am in charge of leading the service. I am planning on riding my bike the 23-25 miles there and if my back is alright I will ride my bike back the 23-25 miles. If not I'll just take the train back home.

My back felt better this morning, so I went to the gym to work out and do some running. It didn't take long for all of the back pains to come back. Everything I did seemed to hurt too. So I walked on the treadmill for 1km (18 minutes) and it seemed to help my back a little. I think I am just going to have to stop working-out and running for a while until my back is completely better. If it's not better by monday I will probably have to go to the doctor.

I Jogged .5 km to the gym

Walked 1 km at on the treadmill

Walked .5km home. And I'm counting every bit of it.

2KM for today.

Even though I haven't been able to do any kind of strenuous physical training I take comfort 1 Timothy 4:8

train yourself to be godly. ⁸For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

The important things to train for aren't done at the gym.

Breaking through the wall

Every runner talks about hitting "the Wall." It is simply your mind being a pansy and telling your body that you are done. If you keep going you realize you can do a lot more than you thought possible.

Yesterday may back started hurting again, and I decided I just need to get out of the house and get some exercise. So I went to the gym and did several back exercises. It seemed to be helping. So I got on the treadmill and started running. I think with every step my back got worse and worse. As an experienced runner I knew that I was just hitting a "wall" and if I kept going it would be alright.

Apparently "the Wall" does serve a purpose. By the time I hit my first mile I was barely able to move any more. I was barely able to change out of my gym close. I'm glad I didn't cry in the locker room, it would have been embarrassing.

The day didn't get any better either. I went grocery shopping and dropped a glass bottle of BBQ sauce and a bottle of 7-up. Made a huge mess on my clothes and the magazine rack at the grocery store. So I came home to wash my clothes and found out the the washing machine wasn't working. I had to climb under the sink with my bad back to try to hook up the washer again.

My back is feeling a little better today. I think that has something to do with the Advil. I hope it gets completely better so that I can get back to working out. I had the goal to be bench-pressing my body weight as part of my work-out, before we go back to the states this summer. But with my back problems I think I'll be lucky if my body weight is my max. That and the fact that I've gained 10 kilograms since I started working towards this goal. A little discouraging all in all. Right now I am benching 80 kilos 5x5. I hope to make it to 90 before we leave in about 6 weeks.

Ran: 1.6 Km

A NEW CONTENDER

A new competitor has stepped up to the plate. http://under200in2010.blogspot.com/ I want you to know that I'm not afraid of you.

Yesterday at the gym I was really motivated to run and decided that I was going to get as close to jogging a 10k as I could. The mind was willing, but the body was weak. I slowed down my running speed so that I could jog for a longer period, but I ended up just throwing off my pace. I barely made it 5k and I added about ten minutes onto my regular time. Maybe tomorrow I will try again at my regular pace and see how far I can get.

I've decided to start counting how many Kilometers I travel on my bicycle. I won't add this number to the total but will make a separate counter for it on the side. I have an odometer for my bicycle which I started using a couple of weeks ago.

Bicycling over the past couple weeks 67.6

Running from yesterday 5.27

I know you are probably wondering "is this guy using physical enhancers?" and the answer is YES if you consider awesomeness a physical enhancer.

Weird Workout Habits

I went on a 14k bicycle ride today and my mouth started hurting. I then realized that when I am jogging or exercising I tend to use my tongue to play with a filling in the top right half of my mouth. The filling feels weird, but I don't know why I do this when exercising.

Also I noticed yesterday that I sometimes curl my toes when I am jogging. I don't know when I started this or why. It leads me to wonder what other strange things do I do sub-consciously when I am working-out.

Do you have any strange exercise habits? If you don't exercise, do you have any strange couch-potato habits?

I ran 2k on the cross-training machine, and it took me about 8 minutes. Sadly i wasn't paying that close attention to the time. But it was around the 8 minute mark.

Running is no longer a four letter word

So I went running yesterday, and I realized that when I "hit the wall" it is no longer being out of breath and gasping for air, but fatigue in the legs. It is nice to know that my legs are giving out before my respiratory system. I only made it 3k yesterday because my lower back and ankles started hurting. I walked the last 2k. I need to find stretches for my lower back.

I would like to thank the little old lady that rode past me on her bicycle yesterday. Her perfume was strong enough cover up the smell of the farmer that was fertilizing his field. And for a short time I wasn't running so much as flying. If she had ridden past me later on the trip I might have made it the whole 5k, but wouldn't have remembered any of it.

Yesterday I ran 5 km.

http://www.runningmap.com/?id=176575

I used runningmap.com to chart and measure my course.

Note to self: do not use that route on trash day, and watch for dog crap.