I Came to Run

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Last week I mentioned the fact that I tweaked my back somehow while doing a bootcamp session that past Sunday. I made a goal of doing what was best for my body, and not pushing myself to work out as long as my back continued to hurt. And so until yesterday, when I did a yoga practice, I’d been about as sedentary as one can be while living in New York and relying on public transportation to get around.

My back is feeling better, but boy am I ever in a funk. I felt so good coming off that week of consistent running, and it sucked to get derailed by an injury. Exercising consistently has always been a key factor for me when it comes to keeping depression at bay, and not having the option to get my run (or anything else for that matter) on really bummed me out. Needless to say, I am really happy that my back is feeling better and that I can get back to running this week. Feeling this crummy (physically and emotionally) is just no good.

I’m even happier, though, that I didn’t end up with a more long-term injury. Hurting my back served as a major wake-up call, and was a reminder that for years I’ve been getting off easy in that I’ve really neglected doing any strength training, and ignored developing the muscle that could have prevented an injury like this one (or a more serious one) from side-lining me. I think that when you’re a runner, it’s easy to get a bit complacent, and figure that since you’re doing pretty solid cardio (and doing some decent work on your quads, calves, and hamstrings), you’re in good shape overall. Chances are that if I’d spent more time working my core and my glutes, I wouldn’t have had to take last week off at all. Let this be a lesson to us all!

So, time to hit the weights, right? I’ll still need to take it easy this week given that the last thing I want is to work my way back into another injury, but I’m aiming to incorporate some dedicated core work, and maybe a strength training session or two (this is at least something I will be working toward if I don’t end up fitting it in this week). I’m trying to find a strength program that I think will work for me, so if you have any suggestions for beginner programs, let me know! In the meantime, I want the week to go something like this:

Monday: rest

Tuesday: 4 miles/core

Wednesday: 4 miles

Thursday: yoga/core

Friday: rest

Saturday: 6-8 miles

Sunday: 4 miles/core

Pretty simple, nothing fancy. I’m aiming for about 15-20 miles, although more than anything I’ll be trying to keep tabs on how I’m feeling. Hopefully I’ll be able to do enough to get a bit of an endorphin kick–something to shake me out of the doldrums I’ve been in the past few days.

My goal is to do three core workouts, and to run at least three times. I’m keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that this will be an improvement over the past seven days!

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