Weeks in Training - what training??

Yeah that's right, "what training"?  The past 2 weeks were not good as my training dwindled down to a full week of nothing, zip, zero, nada, zilch due to an injury.  Let's recap:

January 21 - strained a tendon attached to my sacrum during an 8 mile run.
January 22 - Ok, how about road biking? Still hurts.
January 23 - More road biking?  It should start to get better right?  Nope, no it REALLY hurts.
January 24 - How about some gentle Dailey Method core strength?  No pounding there.  Nope, now it's killing me.
January 25 - No training - hurts to walk.
January 26 - No training - hurts to walk.
January 27 - No training - hurts to walk.

January 28 - No training - hurts to walk.  Called for a doctors appointment.
January 29 - Feels slightly better.  How about double pole rollerskiing?  Only hurts to walk down stairs.  Sore after rollerskiing.
January 30 - Rollerskiing. Sore
January 31 - Rollerskiing. More Sore.
February 1 - Rollerskiing. Yeah, this isn't working - still hurts and getting worse.  Doctors appointment.  She's useless but I get my referral to physical therapy.
February 2 - How about really easy biking instead?  Nope, still hurts a little.
February 3 - More biking?  How about some pain fella?

February 4 - Try rollerskiing again.  A little better but there's still no way I can run on this.
February 5 - Easy, flat road bike.  No improvement.
February 6 - Easy, flat road bike.  No improvement.
February 7 - Easy, flat road bike.  No improvement.
February 8 - Easy, flat road bike.  No improvement.
February 9 - Ok, I give up.  No training.
February 10 - No training.

February 11 - No training.  Ok, this is feeling much better.  Still sore, but better.
February 12 - 5 mile easy morning road bike.  Another 5 in the afternoon. Ok, not bad.
February 13 - 8 mile flat mountain bike ride.  Ok, that hurts a lot more!  WTF?  Maybe my sacrum doesn't like the saddle on my mountain bike.
February 14 - No training.
February 15 - No training.
February 16 - No training.
February 17 - No training.

February 18 - No training.
February 19 - No training.  Pain is much reduced but still a little sore.

Summary one month into this injury?  I'm better but still not anywhere near being able to run or bike as often or as far as I'd like.  It's going to be a long hard road of physical therapy and a very gradual increase of physical activity.

The good news is that I've been able to do some things other than bike or run my ass off (pun intended).  Earlier this month I drove the support vehicle for my cycling team - Thirsty Bear Cycling.  I wouldn't want to make a job out of it, but helping the guys on the team was fun and I was able to take a lot of pictures.  Driving around Napa Valley on a couple sunny, warm winter days is time well spent.  Kelly and I also spent a day driving over to the coast by the road less traveled which in the back of my mind was also a scouting trip for future bike rides.  :-)

Going forward I've got a decent plan.  The PT has hooked me up with an exercise regimen, I'm stretching regularly, drinking coffee, sitting on a stability ball, taking anti-inflammatory supplements, drinking more coffee and hitting the hot tub twice per day.

.......and I've committed to swimming laps for at least 15 minutes a day in the outdoor pool.  Hey, it's California, so why not?!

Week in Training - January 28 to February 3

How do you train when you're injured?  Very carefully.  It's now been 2 weeks since I badly strained several muscles in my lower back / gluteus maximus and I'm coming to grips with what I can and can't do for training.  Running?  No way - it still hurts to walk (particularly down stairs).  Roller-skiing?  I thought so last week but now I'm thinking maybe not so much.  Cycling?  Last week I thought not so much but now I think yes......a little.

The old Salomon SNS bindings

Such is the struggle along the road to recovery.  Figuring what kind of training I can do (and for how long) to maintain fitness without re-injuring myself is now the challenge.  After doing four days of NOTHING I thought double-pole roller-skiing would be a good way to start back up.  It's non-impact and uses only core and upper body muscles so I was hopeful.

V2 roller-skis - still handmade in Milford, NH (USA)

Tuesday, January 29 - 7.6 mile double-pole roller-ski
Wednesday, January 30 - 7.6 mile double-pole roller-ski
Thursday, January 31 - 7.6 mile double-pole roller-ski
Friday, February 1 - 7.6 mile double-pole roller-ski

Swix carbon fiber ski poles from Norway

Now that I've lived with this injury a little longer I think roller-skiing (or too much roller-skiing??) may be making it worse.  My back/butt is pretty painful after these workouts and I think it's because roller-skiing is still activating stability muscles.  Or, to put it another way, I'm discovering through trial and error that my injured muscles are stability muscles.

Historic Hanger One as seen from the Motorola parking garage across Moffett Field

Why not ride my bike?  Because before getting hurt (and doing NOTHING for 4 days), I was riding my bike and said arse muscle was killing me.  So, following the advanced diagnostic technique of "if it hurts, don't do it", I decided not to do that which causes pain - biking.  In hindsight (no pun intended), I think my butt/lower back was so jacked up that anything was going to hurt.  Now that I have a better feeling for what's wrong, I think some easy, flat road cycling might actually be better than roller-skiing.

Saturday, February 2 - 15 mile road bike ride
Sunday, February 3 - 27 mile road bike ride

The new Juniper Networks building near Moffett Field

This week I'm looking forward to my first physical therapy visit and hope to get a better handle on what exactly is wrong and what I can do to make it better.  In the meantime, all I can do is ice, heat, stretch, hot tub and not poke at my injury with the sharp stick of too much training.