Puttin' the Hurt to Myself

With my house remodeling done for now (a frozen pipe crisis in the new upstairs bathroom was averted yesterday) and my house put back together, I'm finding that I am getting myself back to "normal," meaning I am on my training plan.

Last week was a pleasant deviation from my written plan, since all I could do while out of town was run, but that was perfect. The weekend was great, as Shelley was willing to do what I needed to do or figure something out different for herself.

This week I am full on my plan, meaning all the strength work, running, biking, stretching, everything! As I've picked up my hours, I realize my diet needs to change. After I finish what's left in my fridge (or maybe before) of salad fixings, I am done with that shit. My body needs more carbs, so it's time for me to revert to my usual staple of brown rice or couscous with my evening meal. Besides, my body doesn't like digesting all that salad crap, don't ask me why! I've always thought my body was wired to process a lot of protein and very gentle carbs (and beer!).

As I've begun to add intensity to my workouts, too, my level of fatigue has increased, thankfully! Which gets me to sleep earlier and sleeping a bit longer. I'm not quite on my optimum sleep needs, but I figure that will happen soon enough, especially once I stop eating rabbit food at dinner!

My weight is about 2 lbs. up from where I'd like to be, and I feel like a total fatty. That will fix itself automatically as my stress levels go down, less drinking (not that I've been going overboard--but less is more in this case), more strength training, and I'll be good to go. On a positive note, I'm now up to 5 chinups (almost from a dead hang), so I'm pretty confident I'll hit my 10 in about 6 weeks!

That leaves one remaining challenge: the state of my back. This weekend will make 5 weeks since my little act of stupidity. I have nearly full range of motion in terms of twisting, and obviously, I'm able to do all my sports just fine, even getting through a 50-mile running week. I am experiencing no pain while exercising. I am now at the point where I am experiencing discomfort mainly while sitting, and through my own investigation and with confirmation from massage therapists, I am down to my QL (quadratus lumborum) and iliopsoas muscles being the last remaining ones that are still a bit distressed. Listen up peeps--these two muscles are key to triathlon and well, just holding you up, sitting, twisting. They are the workhorses for your back mechanics and hip flexors.

I had some awesome work done on these muscles Monday evening, and am arranging to get some quality massages during the next 2 weeks. These are deep muscles, and while I can do some work on them myself, there's nothing like having someone else put the hurt to me!

I have to say that 5 weeks seems like a long time to me to be dealing with unhappy muscles, but I know how crucial it is to keep the QL and iliopsoas happy, so I am being patient and conservative--although my definition of conservative probably doesn't match to most people's! My real test of the system will be ZebraMan next week, and I'm really excited about it! Ordinarily, I wouldn't take pics of event clothing before the fact, but hey, I got the suit, so here I am. Bonus, spot all the zebra things in the pics!