Wheeler Farm Loops

AM - 2.8 miles. Weird morning. Felt awesome when I woke up (my resting heart rate has been 36 BPM the last 2 mornings, where its usually around 39). Andrea and I were just about 20 minutes into our run, going really easy, when I took a step, felt something shoot up from my butt up through my back, and instantly I felt like I had no strength in my back/core. Knowing discretion is the better part of valor, I just stopped and walked back while Andrea ran back home and came to pick me up w/ a car. I have no idea what brought this on... its definitely not an overuse injury. I think I just took a weird step and hit it just wrong. My theory is that I probably jerked some muscles in my back around while trying to waterski yesterday. I learned my lesson... its hard to do those kinds of things (especially some new type of movement pattern) when you are pushing the mileage. Gotta be careful. The rest of today will probably be a rest day, which I haven't had in a very long time, so maybe its a good thing?

Anyone ever experienced something like this before? A shooting pain just coming out of nowhere?

PM - 1 mile jog... it didn't feel right so I bagged it, then bagged up a ton of ice and froze down my back. 

No running today. My last day completely off was in September 2010. I rode the bike w/ Andrea while she ran, and then we went white water rafting (which surprisingly didn't really bother my back too much). 

AM - 13 miles. Woke up and felt quite a bit better, so decided to at least try and jog around the block... and just kept going. Ran 10 w/ Andrea then added on 3 more. We kept the pace super easy (~8 min / mile), but I felt fine, so that was really encouraging. I'm not doing any faster running this week, just easy jogging until I feel 100% again. Running today was FUN!... I was on the verge of a mental breakdown last night so it felt great to be back out on the roads!

PM - 6 miles easy. Picked up the pace a little at the end and felt ok. My back is feeling a lot better than yesterday, and even better this afternoon than this morning. I think Sunday's incident was just a muscle spasm. Heading back to SLC first thing tomorrow morning... goodbye humidity! :-)

AM - 8 miles. Had to get this one in early (at 4am) before flying from Knoxville back to SLC. Back is feeling even better than yesterday, although being on airplanes for the past 7 hours didn't really aid the recovery process. 

PM - 8.9 miles easy. Ran down to Sugarhouse, met Andrea, ran some loops on the grass... the usual routine. 

AM - 9.2 miles up to work. Another noticeable improvement in how my back feel this morning. Almost back to normal.

PM - 7 miles easy breezy. 

AM - 11.4 miles up to work via Parleys Trail / Wasatch. My back felt great. Couple more days of easy paced runs and I think it will be 100%.

PM - 7 miles. Ran from work to the parking area for Parley's trail above Tanner Park. Now we're in Park City for the weekend... got 2 nights at the Westgate condos at the Canyons in exchange for going to a 1 hr seminar / tour tomorrow afternoon. Pretty good deal! 

AM - 20 miles on the Jeremy Ranch road. Ran 14 w/ Andrea, then 6 more. Averaged just under 7 min pace for the entire thing. It was cloudy and cool this morning... really nice running weather. Other than the cows that try to create a blockade on the road, this is my favorite place to do long runs. The total elevation gain/loss for the 20 miles is ~800 feet, pretty much rolling the whole way.

PM - 4 miles. Up a dirt road at the Canyons... serious climb for an afternoon shakeout! 

From Random July 2011

Being stalked by cows...