In my six years of running, I’ve been a lucky runner. I’ve run four marathons and 25+ half-marathons without too many issues. I generally up my mileage slowly and responsibly, and I’m good at stopping at the first sign of injury. I have battled runner’s knee a few times, but I’ve generally been back running within a week.
This time, though, is a little different. I started feeling this back/glute pain early last week after lugging a heavy bag back from the subway. I dismissed it, and kept on with my regular running schedule and did LTF and Pilates at work on top of my runs both days. Dumb. By the time I finished Pilates on Wednesday night, I could barely walk without being in terrible pain. But since I was going away, I resolved to take it easy at the beach and take care of it when I got back.
So Tuesday, I headed over to Finish Line to get fixed up. I was on the verge of tears of frustration, and I walked in and saw Abby immediately and got a huge hug. It turned out that she was observing with the PT that’s working on me, so while Caroline worked into my soft tissue, Abby kept me distracted.
Turns out PT Friend Meg was right, and I am having some disc issues. It’s really common in active women in their late 20s/early 30s, she said. And, yup. My boss/favorite person Jordan struggled with the same thing last year. We were chatting yesterday and I told her how frustrated I was that I couldn’t run, and how much I realized I depend on those endorphins. She reminded me to really enjoy what I could do.
I’m cleared to do yoga, the elliptical (WOO HOO…) and swimming. I quit NYHRC a few months back because I was sick of the tiny pool, but I’m going to look to see if there are any pools in the area I can drop in to, and for now I’m doing a whole bunch of yoga/yoga-ish classes, like my beloved Uplift Sculpt Fusion.
Hopefully this should only be for a week or two, but until I’m cleared to run, I’m going to make the best of what I can do and back off anything if it starts hurting.
Have you ever been injured while training for something? How did you deal?
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Dear dumb discs please get better. Until then, I'm happy to do Uplift Sculpt Fusion, yoga or swim with you buddy! :)
You can sign up for free pool access through the NYC Parks and Rec department! Red Hook, Williamsburg, and a bunch in Manhattan too. http://www.nycgovparks.org/reg/lap-swim
ahh bummer! yet like you know all of us who have gone through an injury tend to come out stronger!
2 years ago when I was 28 I got a herniated L5/S1 disc in my back and to this day I have no idea how I did it! I couldn't run for months and at its worst I had a super tight calf and numbness in my foot; luckily it got better with 3x a week PT and I didn't have to have any surgery.
Feel better soon!
I am right in the middle of recovering from a herniated disc in my lower back (I'm 31 and was really active leading up to the injury so sounds like I'm a common example). It took a lot of trial and error to figure out what activities I could/couldn't do. Right now I'm on a running/walking mix and Pilates schedule. It super sucks, but it does offer good perspective and I feel lucky for the few things I can do. It also gave me good perspective about the fitness culture of doing more and pushing harder, and how there are lots of different ways to exercise in a healthy and beneficial way without injury. Acupuncture, PT and icing have been the most helpful for me, but it's definitely a very personal recovery. I hope you find what works for you and recover quickly!
Feel better soon!! Being injured sucks!
ugh i can totally sympathize with you - I injured my back in High School and then herniated a disc a few years back. It's tough to be sidelined and unable to workout, but my advice (built on years of re-injuring my poor back haha) is don't push it :) Wishing you a speedy recovery and some enjoyable rest time
Feel better soon. The NYU pool at Palladium is very nice and the community membership is fairly reasonable, if you don't mind treking to 14th and 3rd. I also have a friend who likes the Baruch pool, which may be a little closer to you.
Ooooh! All good to know, thanks :) Baruch is def closer to me.
So sorry to hear about your discs!! I hope they heal as quickly as possible, but it sounds like you have some great back up plans to get those endorphins.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
That all said w00t swimming!
I was out with a broken foot last summer (broke it, then raced on it twice, woops). I did a TON of pool running and biking and swimming while I was away from running, and less than 4 weeks after I took my first running step post-break, I set a 5k PR - at the end of a sprint tri. As in, it was the fastest I'd ever covered 5k, period. And I did it after swimming and biking for 50 minutes. So, I think if you have a solid cross training and injury comeback plan, it can work in your favor.
Ha, I knew you'd be commenting with something about swimming :)