Ouch!

Yesterday was my normal Saturday workout with Cal Coast. My Higdon plan is half done at this point (8th week is wrapping up), and I'm supposed to be running a 5K this weekend. But, I can't find anything that looks appealing close to home, so I did some juggling of the plan and put in a seven mile LSD run.

I woke up with a very sore back though, and was questioning my ability to finish the workout on my way to CDM. The pain was almost like sciatica - sharp pain in the right side my lower back right above the gluts. The longer I sat (even in my car), the worse the pain got. However, once I got on the trail, things seemed to loosen up and I was able to finish the seven miles without any pain. My goal pace was 10:45, and I think I finished in something like a 10:10. Considering all the hills I was satisfied.

But, things were just starting to get interesting. Once home, I was practically unable to move. My back stiffened right up, and to even stand was a chore. My wife has been pointing out all of these little things that I have been seeing since my cycling accident, and this is one of them. I hope I haven't done anything more serious! This is a strange malady though. There is no other pain, stiffness, or numbness associated with the presenting symptoms. If there was, I would be very concerned about sciatica. On the plane, I was reading about some of the other common running injuries. One that was described was a Piriformis strain. Turns out there is this muscle (the Piriformis) that when strained (running lots of miles on hard surfaces) presents symptoms very much like sciatica. The link here is the change in shoes - perhaps this is the problem. Looks like I'll need to see my doctor soon if the symptoms don't go away.