Back on diet - 1

I gave up pretty early in the first part of my marathon training on the diet idea. It was unadvised by my training plan - I.e. THE book - considering that running is hard enough, don't put any additional mental stress on top of it. "You need fuel" they say "let's the body balance itself".

Right, it is pretty hard to run 12 miles with the hunger turning your stomach inside out.

**not related**
The end of the Front street one mile.
Run, Forrest, Run
No kidding, this race is sponsored by Bubba Gump restaurant.

Anyway, all good things have an end, and having one month to fill between now and the second part of the marathon training, which will end the race day, obviously, I decided to go back on losing those 10 pounds. At least, 5. My reasoning is that it will be way easier to complete this damn marathon without those 5 pounds than with them.

For this,I devised a new plan.

First, I looked at the planning. I still have to go 8 weeks of dedicated marathon training. Marathon is mid-January, And I like the idea of a couple of weeks of buffer, specially around the holidays. By the way, most of the people get their over weight quota around this period, it will be challenging not to. Technically, November and December will be where I will be ramping up my running mileage and I don't want to look at my intakes too closely. Hopefully, the fact that I will be running a lot will prevent me to gain weight and might even help to lose some. I will be running more than 30 miles a week at that point, every week, if everything goes according to THE plan.

Which give us October. One month, 4 weeks, 5 pounds. 

Cool.

Should be doable.

Certified

Now that I have started to run again,slowly but surely, 5-6 miles a day. 

Watching this shoulder carefully. And this leg. And this other leg. 

And the lower back. And the upper back.

I think you got the point.

Told you. But now it is official !

Back in business

The pain in the shoulder receded a bit. Enough to go for 2 easy runs this week-end. Still, I was pretty slow, I guess the last cold front that hit us was still on me. Anyway, what a relief to be able to move the body a bit.
I tried swimming at the beach, but after a couple of minutes, the pain - more like tension - came back, and i decided to not take any chance and call it off for now.

Home to Ohana Ranch - Single way

It is dry here. Cactus flourish.

As well as painted mailboxes

Some Flowers ...

And more. We are still in Hawaii, after all

Gonna see my chiro again tomorrow, and if nothing moved too much, this chapter will be closed for now.
Only training change overall, more stretching (Neck - Shoulder), more often.
Jeez.

Do not forget

It has been a little less than one week since I locked my shoulder.

For the first time this morning, the pain was down to a diffuse feeling, still painful, more like an ache, around the right shoulder. Rest, muscle relaxant (Cyclobenzaprine) and Pain killer(Ibuprofen) seems to have been the deal. I feel comfortable enough to begin to stretch the region.

Medication

Now the real challenge will be to continue the exercises - for ever.

New book to read .. and follow.

Interesting quote from this book:

"Did you know that the risk of a muscle-skeletal injury for someone who works on a computer four or more hours per day is nine times greater than it is for a person who spends just one hour per day on the computer?"

Now the real challenge continue, as the situation get better, still have to perform those exercises every day, on top of all other stretches for the lower back, and the typical runner stretches.

I have right now the feeling I will pass more time to bend and pull then anything-else.

But, hell, if this is what it takes ....

History likes to repeat itself

Life is funny. Just before the race, I injured my psoas, and now just before a well deserved sailing vacation/training I was really looking forward to, my shoulder gave up.

All started by a cold, a bad sleeping position and a stiff neck.

Home made cast. it does help. A bit. Ibuprofen helps more.

It seems now to have degenerated into full lock of the arm, from the next to the shoulder, with pain going down to the hand.

Symptoms tend to involve a pinched nerve, certainly a displaced disk. My chiropractor rebuilt me once two days ago, but always with chiropractic, relief is short lived. My understanding is that until you manage to relieve the muscle tension, it is likely than the first effort will pull on your spine again, and pain will follow. The only real treatment is stretching, yoga and muscle strength. 

Sounds familiar.

In my case, it is obviously directly related to the use of the mouse when working, poor posture and lack of neck stretching. 

Sounds familiar.

Surfing and bad paddle technique doesn't help either.

I guess all the work we disk for the lower back and kitesurfing, will have to be done for the upper back and surfing. 

Sounds familiar.

But first, the pain needs to go away before we can start any sort of exercise. RICE. Rest, Ice, compression, elevation.

Sounds boring.

It is.

Damn familiar.