Must need more supermans...

On Friday we were to wear out ‘dirty clothes’ to work. We had a lot of cleaning to do and also move a lot of heavy equipment in our data center. I was planning on getting an early run in before work but I just could not get out of bed – stayed up a little later than usual the night before. So I got to work early and knocked out my routine tasks. The rest of the morning was dodging the rain while we had to move large heavy things from one side of the building to the other side. With Vic out this week that makes me the next biggest guy – kind of sad – I’m 5’9” at 160 pounds. The other guys I work with are in the 120’s and 130’s. However, we did have some help from Kyle who was able to put his back into it! I took my hex weight set home – we have not been using the much at work but I had 5 / 20 / 30 / 35 / 40 dumb bells in my work area. I also recycled the 20 or so ‘whey protein powder containers’. I had been collecting them and I was going to make a raft. We determined through minimum math and lots of trial and error that it takes 3 containers to float 20 pounds. I would need 27 containers to be successful in keeping me and the vessel afloat. But alas, the raft will have to wait for another day.



I took a late lunch and with all of the rain and storms and such I decided to get my run in on the treadmill. I was going to run a fast 8 miles in about an hour but I wimped out. I warmed up slowly and did the first mile in 10 minutes – real slow warm-up. But, like I said I wimped out on the last mile – I’m not sure why I wimped out but I ran the next 6 miles in 42:xx so I the total run was 7 miles in 52:xx. It would have been easy to wrap up the 8 miles in 7 something more minutes but I just stopped. It was a hard run but not that hard.

Back at work we finished up the cleaning and moving. I often preach about functional strength and I am pretty strong for my stature. In the bench press and doing body weight exercises – I am – pound for pound – about as tough as any of the guys I work out with. But when it comes to maximum lifts, etc I top out pretty quick. Now, back to this functional strength – I always say that it really does not matter how much weight I can lift or pull or anything else – I just want to be able to pull myself up, run up some stairs, carry something around the yard, swing an axe or even climb a rope – this would be functional to me. And I think that I have done a good job achieving this goal. I have also always tried to keep the whole body strong – this means a strong core as well as extremities and cardio. I am fortunate that I have had very few injuries and I think that this balance has a lot to do with.

However, Friday night my lower back was killing me. I have never had back pain. This was not spinal pain just one of the muscles in my lower back was very sore. This would not allow for me to rest. I had trouble laying down, sitting up, rolling over, etc – there was no position where my back was not hurting. If I breathed deeply it hurt. I took some ibuprofen and suffered though the night. I always thought that I never had back pain because I lifted properly and I did back exercises (pull ups, chin ups, superman’s, and back extensions).

I had plans for Saturday afternoon so Jim was coming over at 6AM for a 3 – 4 hour ride. I was questionable about my back. Funny enough my back felt fine on the road bike – even in the drops. There were a few positions that it would sting and feel sharp but I tried my best to avoid those situations. Jim and I rode towards Jackson Station and we picked up Terry L and Marisa. We then headed out of Jackson Road to Classic Drive and ended up in the hilly section of the avenues to tackle 40th street and Richburg road. Terry proved to be a strong climber and Marisa easily held her own.

We had a few fast pulls when back on the trace but all in all it was a fun easy ride. We did cross paths with Robin and crew. They were doing a broken brick – bike 10 / run 2 REPEAT. I think that they said they did this 3 times for a total for 30 bike miles and 6 run miles. It looked tough. I split off from the group and ended my bike at about 52 miles. Jim eventually got over 100 miles with a short brick thrown in for good measure.

Saturday night was not much fun. My back was much worse and I used a heating pad, aspercream stuff and more ibuprofen. I did not sleep well. I think that I am going to have to 86 this entire day. I don’t want to but I know that a couple of days off are better than a couple of weeks off. Friday morning I was ready to do this ironman – now I am having trouble just standing.

Things sure change quickly.